Using gmail, hotmail or other private ISP's for your business email

[eMagCreator]

I am interested in what other people think when businesses are using gmail or other private ISP emails for business usage?

My first impression is that it makes businesses look small and unprofessional and it would worry me buying from them as they probably don't check their emails or organize their business very well.

 

[SneakSMS]

I don't think it creates a great impression. Ultimately, a service like gmail can be used to handle the emails, but they should be set up to go to, and come from the company's domain.

 

[MarkN]

I don't think it creates a great impression. Ultimately, a service like gmail can be used to handle the emails, but they should be set up to go to, and come from the company's domain.

I agree. Another thing that annoys me (but probably shouldn't) is when I get an email with the senders name all in lower case.

 

[KDMINX]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Depends what they are. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']If they're an old fashioned "Mom and Pop" guest house then a yahoo address would be a bit quaint. [/FONT]

If they’re a one-man builder then it wouldn’t bother me either.

Otherwise, these days you need a proper email address, it’s so easy and cheap I can’t really see a good reason not to do it...

 

[The Numbergroup Team]

I agree, it does look unprofressional! Any Tom, Dick or Harry can get a Hotmail,Yahoo,Gmail etc account

 

[Bruceflea]

i agree with the above, think it looks unprofessional and makes the company look smaller than it may actually be.

 

[sanjiv]

I would agree that it looks unprofessional especially as domains are so cheap.

 

[BizGurl]

I guess it depends on the type of business. If it was a freelancer or really small business, than I don't see the problem, as long as the email addy is appropriate.. Obviously for a bigger company than I'd expect better. If a company has it's own website, I'd definately expect a propper email address with domain name.

I agree about the senders name being all in lower-case thought.
Not profesh at all.

 

[FE]

I think it looks terrible. A domain name with some mailboxes are so cheap there is no need not to use your company name / domain for communicating

 

[craigc0302]

Anyone who uses a hotmail or Gmail email for conducting business if they have there own website is lazy and i wouldnt personally deal with them.

However im sure there are other businesses out there who dont have a need for a website but use forums or similar to get business then i would see no problem with them having a gmail type email address.

But id treat each situation different !

 

[harryboon]

A professional email address only costs.....what £10 if that!

 

[Urban Publications]

Have to agree with the masses on this one Im afraid

The only thing I would recommend you use hotmail accounts is when you set up other accounts like this one, facebook, twitter etc etc etc. so your business email address doesnt get flooded with
"Someone Answered Post" or "New friend Request" and all the other crap that gets bombarded into your email account as soon as you put it anywhere on the net.

 

[ultro]

I use Google apps for my business email and it's great. This is very different to a 'gmail' account - my emails come from my main domain, and are hosted in a different place. This is very different to [email protected] - mine come from [email protected]. I've got about 25 people working for me at the moment, and when I did my own email hosting I spent far too long sorting it all out with spam etc. For a SME it's a very professional system that really removes a lot of the issues. Also - the google docs are a great addition for doing collaboration within a team.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

unless of course, they work for google, yahoo etc.

 

[Urban Publications]

Also - the google docs are a great addition for doing collaboration within a team.

I would strongly advise checking out all the security issues google has been having with this. This may not be the right place for people with more delicate documents, alot of the main banks now supply you with a system that is by far more secure than google docs will ever be.

 

[Ashley_Price]

It does always amaze me when you go to someone's website (i.e. they have their own domain address, etc.) and then you check the email address and it's for Gmail, Yahoo, et al.

I guess the purpose is to try and cut down on Spam - but that's a non-argument, if you are using that as the main address for your business then you've still got to wade through the spam to get to the proper work emails.

Why not simply have two addresses. I have the info@ address which is used on our website, etc., but there is also a personal one that comes from me direct to clients when I first contact them, so it's rarely on the internet.

 

[eMagCreator]

Thanks for the responses, I am glad I am not the only one who thinks this as I thought maybe I was a bit harsh but as many of you have said, it is lazy not to have a business email when it is so easy and cheap to set-up.

 

[TotallySport]

I agree. Another thing that annoys me (but probably shouldn't) is when I get an email with the senders name all in lower case.

you should always send an receive email addresses in lower case, some servers are case sensative and if you put in capitals they won't be picked up, in practise you should reply to an email address however it is sent to you, but it's almost an unwritten rule to always use lower case, and if you want to sperate words use full stops, hyphans or under score.

 

[sanjiv]

He is talking about the name that comes up when you receive an email.

 

[Ozzy]

you should always send an receive email addresses in lower case, some servers are case sensative and if you put in capitals they won't be picked up, in practise you should reply to an email address however it is sent to you, but it's almost an unwritten rule to always use lower case, and if you want to sperate words use full stops, hyphans or under score.

How difficult was that to type in all lower case?

Personally I feel emails, IM's (Skype, etc) should all be presented no different that if sending a written letter. I also think it shows prefessionalism if the persons email address is formatted nicely (and that does include the display name in the From field Having Capital Letters).

Sorry, I'm also on the band wagon that people should really using a professional email address in business. It's even cheaper than a tenner, you can get them for about a fiver a year!

 

[TotallySport]

He is talking about the name that comes up when you receive an email.

Ah, ok i shouldn't reply to threads inbetween doing things

 

[TotallySport]

How difficult was that to type in all lower case?

lol, sorry I didn't realise I did, I will blame my shift button.

 

[british steve]

To be honest if you cant aford the few quid required to buy your own domain name then you probably should not be running a business! You can build and host your own website for less than £5 per month.

 

[LisaV]

How about if you're a freelancer? Would you advise to get a 'proper' email account then?

 

[british steve]

How about if you're a freelancer? Would you advise to get a 'proper' email account then?

I would have thought even more so if you’re a freelancer. Can’t really see it inspiring confidence if your domain is some thing like “computer genius @hotmail” or similar! I would not bother to contact you

 

[sanjiv]

How about if you're a freelancer? Would you advise to get a 'proper' email account then?

Yes

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

so many options.

 

[LisaV]

I would have thought even more so if you’re a freelancer. Can’t really see it inspiring confidence if your domain is some thing like “computer genius @hotmail” or similar! I would not bother to contact you

Oops! I actually have a sensibly named one but can see your point. Which is the cheapest then?

 

[british steve]

Oops! I actually have a sensibly named one but can see your point. Which is the cheapest then?

I have my domains via Fasthosts, a .co.uk will cost you under £10 for 2 years domain registration. Do not use the same hosts for domain registration and hosting - keep the two seperate. In this day and age it is a sad fact but most webhosts will screw you any chance they get, and if they are hosting your domain as well then you are double screwed as you cant just build a new site and re-direct your domains to your new site.

Steer well clear of Fasthosts for webspace as they really are a bunch of Turkeys! For domain names no problem.

 

[wholesalecity]

Don't worry, our company is wholesale-dress.net.
and email address like [email protected] actually is based on gmail.
we pay gmail and buy such kind of service.
so you can enjoy the service of gmail and got your own website name.
what you need to do is to pay some money to gamil.

 

[Anthony2010]

My first impression is that it makes businesses look small and unprofessional and it would worry me buying from them as they probably don't check their emails or organize their business very well.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I recently took the email address of someone and they had cleverly incorporated the "at" into their email name.

So the person was called "Nick Atterby" [obviously this really isn't really - but will demonstrate the email address]. So his email address was [email protected]. Doesn't read very clever, but if say it...

 

[smallbusiness-uk]

at the end of the day, e-mails are there to make it easier for your customers to contact you out of office hours too, i dont think it makes you appear unprofessional at all, some of the people we deal with use Gmail and yahoo and it has never indicated to us that said business is unprofessional because of theyre e-mail address.

it is an additional cost that some people dont feel necessary when the free accounts are just as good

 

[Anelly]

it looks unprofessional. If you have a business then you need a self-hosted e-mail address.

 

[David Chamberlain]

I use gmail to manage all my emails, and I have 1 gmail account to manage all my POP3 emails..

Makes life a lot easier...I have over 40 websites - meaning more than 40 email addresses. Every email gets filed and labeled to in the relevant folder, and important ones get flagged!

So although gmail.com isn't professional for a business owner, don't discount gmail as a place to manage all your emails!

 

[zigojacko]

Depends on the nature of the company, if it's an office based business providing a service, then I think it's important to use an email address@domain for any correspondence if I'm honest.

What would you think if your business account manager at Barclays Bank were to email you from a hotmail or gmail email account?

I think this should also be the case for any ecommerce/etail business selling online. You have to build trust with the consumers and using a professional email address on your domain goes a long way in ensuring shoppers that may part with money on your website are willing to do so.

I don't think it's an issue for other businesses such as tradesmen; Plumbers, carpenters, electricians etc.

 

[CKG]

Lets get real here.

It really doesn't matter to anyone who matters.

I have an @aol.com email address that came with my broadband subscription that I use for business. I count the MOD and most of the front line public sector services (NHS, Police etc) among my customers and believe it or not they don't care either.

So what if I look small for it - I am compared to them.

If some snot for brains buffoon wont deal with me because aol supplied my email address they probably weren't worth dealing with in the first place.

Incidentally I got a price for some work or other a while back from a UKBF member who took objection to my aol email address.

The guy clearly needed to get a life.

 

[smallbusiness-uk]

Lets get real here.

It really doesn't matter to anyone who matters.

I have an @aol.com email address that came with my broadband subscription that I use for business. I count the MOD and most of the front line public sector services (NHS, Police etc) among my customers and believe it or not they don't care either.

So what if I look small for it - I am compared to them.

If some snot for brains buffoon wont deal with me because aol supplied my email address they probably weren't worth dealing with in the first place.

Incidentally I got a price for some work or other a while back from a UKBF member who took objection to my aol email address.

The guy clearly needed to get a life.

arrrggghhhhh AOL...Illuminati!!!!!

 

[emailexpert]

I definately do not agree with everything that has been said so far. IMHO there is a world of difference between [email protected] and [email protected]

In any case if you are concerned about the impression you will make, have the best of both worlds. Branded Gmail.

You can have Gmail service and use your own domain name, it is free for up to 50 users in any case. Gmail is definately the way to go for the SME business without a shadow of a doubt.

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

 

[jelly3]

I definately do not agree with everything that has been said so far. IMHO there is a world of difference between [email protected] and [email protected]

In any case if you are concerned about the impression you will make, have the best of both worlds. Branded Gmail.

You can have Gmail service and use your own domain name, it is free for up to 50 users in any case. Gmail is definately the way to go for the SME business without a shadow of a doubt.

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

Your the only respondent who has said exactly what I was going to say.

The rest of you,
Google allow you to send & receive all your me@mydomain emails though gmail now.
You need to get with the times.

Pretty sure some of you not so long ago would have stated that you would only deal companies called HamilitonSmythe.com and not webuyanycar.com

 

[captaincloser]

Do I look big in this email address ?

I have used Lycos.com since i first got a computer and it does NOT make me look big or small. It is perfect. I am like a pig in a blanket with my 'amateur' email. It is a very professional mail management system and can be accessed at all times from anywhere.

The inverted snobbery of the Hyacinth Bucket posts on this thread is somewhat revealing I would hazard to guess ?

If you wouldn't buy from/sell to /contact a company because you do not like the look of their email address you surely will have a few other 'issues' in business is my non-medical guess.

The very fact that 'professional' email addresses cost 'less than a tenner' (we are told here) probably sums this thread up better than I can.