Communicating through email is one of your primary means of communication. It’s important to make sure that your credibility surrounds that communication and that your Email address is one that speaks “professionalism” not matter what. After all, it’s for business.

When people see your email address, if you have a Yahoo or Gmail account, you may be giving the impression that you are not as serious about your business as you should be. It is all about the perception. Free email addresses definitely serve a purpose but when it comes to your business, you should steer clear of anything that takes away from your credibility and potentially detracts from your professional reputation.

There are several common misperceptions that can possibly come from using the wrong email address:

Your business email address from a free service may seem unprofessional and thus may cause people to judge the legitimacy of your products and/or services based on that

When people see an email account that is from a free service, they may consider that you are reluctant to spend money and therefore, the products and services that you offer may not be of the highest quality. How people perceive you and your business is critical to the success of your business. Having a free email address may make other business people who are considering doing business with  you think twice before they enter into a relationship with you. As easy way to remedy this is by registering your business’s domain name so that can have business emails. You will see that this will open up a large amount of new business opportunities for you.

Not registering your domain name give other people the impression that you are a spendthrift and that you are not serious about doing business

Registering your domain name is very inexpensive and if you don’t register yours, people may believe that if you are unwilling to spend such a small amount of money on something that is so important, you most likely will not be willing to spend any money on other things that are important to them and their business. This of course, also spreads to the perception that your products and/or services are of inferior quality. Why would someone want to spend any money on inferior products and/or services that won’t last and won’t do what they need and want it to do?

Using a free email service makes you appear as though you don’t have credibility and the question may come up in the minds of other people as to whether your business will actually be around in the long term

You can’t run a successful business without credibility. You can never have enough credibility. The people with whom you do business need to totally trust that you will always work with their best interest in mind. Trustworthiness and credibility are an essential part of a successful business. If other people are willing to invest their hard-earned money, they need to be able to trust the fact that your business will be around for a very long time. Having a legitimate business address will help them to feel comfortable with that.

Your business may be vulnerable to hackers if you have a free email address

If you are a victim of online hackers, that will make your clients vulnerable as well. No matter what happens to you and your business, you must always protect the interests of your clients. It isn’t worth all of the hassle that can potentially come from using a free email address for your business and saving a few dollars may very well cost you a lot in other ways.

Conclusion

As delicate as the situation is if you have a free email address for your business and as many negative things that can transpire from that, it is very easy to fix all of the situations that may occur. It is worth spending a small amount of money so that you can register your domain and so that the perception that other people have of your business is one of credibility and trustworthiness. It is important to remember that nothing in life is really free. You may not always know when you sign up what the price is going to be; however, you may encounter issues anywhere from spam to deliverability problems to  customer service issues. You always have to give something back to whomever is offering you something. The relationships that you share with your clients should not be short ones but should endure for a very long time.