Email: MyName@MyBusiness.com
Your email address is a factor in how you are perceived as a business whether you like it or not. In fact, you may be LOSING potential bookings without even knowing it.
Let's look at a few email examples (not actual email addresses). Look at each one of these email addresses and put some thought into what you can figure out about each email user.
1. bowhunter1983@hotmail.com
2. billandmarykenward@comcast.net
3. rlodge4445@aol.com
4. chrisjohnson@gmail.com
5. nascarfan1212@hotmail.com
6. info@thewalleyefishinglodge.com
7. ryan@ryansguideservice.com
8. billy.dean@yale.edu
9. chris.brown@bp.com
Let's Break It Down
Based on these email addresses, what do I know? Let's start to put together some ideas on what these email addresses could mean.
- 1. bowhunter1983@hotmail.com - This hotmail user is an avid bowhunter and is probably 28 years old (unless there are exactly 1,982 other bowhunters using hotmail).
- 2. billandmarykenward@comcast.net - Bill and Mary Kenward are probably married and have Comcast as their internet service provider.
- 3. rlodge4445@aol.com - rlodge4445 could mean "Ryan Lodge" or "Rainy Lodge" or "Raider Lodge" and the 4445 could be anything at all.
- 4. chrisjohnson@gmail.com - Chris Johnson was a probably a early adopter to technology getting a gmail.com account with no dots, underscores or numbers. Having a very common first and last name like Chris Johnson and getting this email address show's that Chris may understand computers and uses Google services.
- 5. nascarfan1212@hotmail.com - We have a Nascar fan that will probably not answer phone calls on Sundays and probably has a garage keypad code of 1212.
- 6. info@thewalleyefishinglodge.com - There could be a few different people sharing this email address since it uses "info" at the beginning instead of someone's name. We also know it's a walleye fishing lodge and they have their own website I can browse before I even reply to their email.
- 7. ryan@ryansguideservice.com - Ryan has his own guiding service, his own website and personalized professional email address. He's on the right track and could be known as a savvy marketer.
- 8. billy.dean@yale.edu - Billy Dean works for Yale and if I want information on Billy, I'm going to search "Billy Dean Yale" on Google and I bet we can find what he teaches and where to find him at the University.
- 9. chris.brown@bp.com - Chris Brown works for BP and is emailing from his work address. I can Google "Chris Brown BP" and see if I can find his company title and his role in the company. He may be a higher up in the company and could be a high quality lead.
What have we learned?
So now that you have looked at all of this, you may be thinking… how do people perceive my current email address? Well, use the above example and ask yourself, "what do people know about me"?
You may be happy with the fact that they know you are a Nascar fan by your email address, but when it comes to your business, you want to give yourself every advantage to make the sale. So it may be a bad business decision to have a rookie looking email address.
Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or ISP email addresses
As a general principal, having "free" hotmail, yahoo, msn, aol, or ISP email addresses can make you look cheap, fradulent, and unprofessional. Millions of people use them, so generally they include a lot of numbers next to names, which makes those emails not only less professional in principal, but also harder to remember, and type correctly into a new message or your leads list in practice.
- Cheap - Potential clients could look at you or your operation as cheap. People may think you don't have a website, or don't know how to market yourself.
- Fraudulent - Many fraudulent businesses use free e-mail services because the accounts can be setup anonymously. I'm more confident replying to an email address connected to an actual business or website I can search and track. Those addresses are automatically more legitimate to customers and other companies.
- Unprofessional - If I do business with a .com company, regardless of their size or gross revenue, I expect them to have a professional email at theircompanyname.com.
In addition, what happens if you move and have to change your ISP from Comcast to Qwest or some other company, and have to change that comcast.net email address? Your customers will be sending email to an address that no longer exists, and will wonder if it's actually you when you email them from a new myqwest.com email they're not familiar with. It's simply bad business and it's time to get a professional email address for your company.
So, how do I get a professional email address?
If you are a current 3plains customer, we'd love to help you get it all setup. Let us know and we'll get you an email address that best suits you and your business.