Building a small business is all about gaining the trust of customers and investors. So how do you gain their trust? By showing them you’re serious about what you do. A professional email address gives the impression you’re invested in your business’s success and that you care about how people view it.
Often the first interaction anyone has with a business is via email.
A custom business email address helps people feel comfortable handing over their hard-earned money — because they believe you’ll be around for a while.
A free email address, like Gmail, suggests your business might be more of a side hustle or hobby. This can lead people to worry about whether you’ll be around in a year (or next month). They might begin to question the level of service they’ll receive, too.
By overcoming doubts your potential customers may have early on, you increase the chances of them buying from you. Investing in a custom email address is the ideal way to reduce buyers’ fears.
Editor’s note: Working for yourself? GoDaddy can help set you up with its free logo maker, free website builder and a Microsoft 365 business email account.
Why your email address matters
Think back to when you set up your very first email address. The chances are you were 10 to 15 years old and your main intention in choosing a name was to sound cool.
Think fabvix999@aol.com or footballersam@yahoo.com.
Yet so many Brits still use these first email accounts in their everyday lives.
Whilst these emails may be okay for ordering groceries or signing up to a yoga class, the email address of a teenager doesn’t come across as very professional. Using classybabe92@hotmail.com as your business email or to apply for jobs will not convey the best impression.
At worst, emails from these addresses could be dismissed outright by potential customers and employers.
Remember, your email address is one of the most fundamental forms of your online identity – you need one that makes you look mature, serious, slick, and competent.
Personal versus professional email address
Your personal email address is where you receive:
- Bills
- Photos from your grandparents
- Online shopping updates
It’s your space for Netflix and Spotify subscriptions. The most common personal email apps are provided by Apple and Gmail.
A professional email address has the business domain name after the @ symbol. So instead of looking like MarcSmith@gmail.co.uk it would be Marc@WeddingPhotography.co.uk.
Using a free email address is an easy way to kick off business communications when you’re testing the waters.
But not only does a personal email address reduce the trust factor for your business — it gets messy.
You’ll need to create a bunch of folders to hold your business emails such as:
- Accounting
- Clients
- Complaints
- Leads
- Networking
- Outsourcing
This helps to keep your inbox clear. As you act on an email, you’re able to move it to the relevant folder.
With a personal email address, your inbox will be a mix of emails from your family, friends and service providers — along with all of your latest business emails. Making it much harder to prioritise, respond to and keep track of your business emails.
What are the pros and cons of a professional email address?
For business owners — even solopreneurs — who want to impress likely customers, lenders and suppliers with their professionalism, there are very few cons.
There’s a small cost for a custom domain name and an email account such as Microsoft 365 Email Essentials including email hosting.
But the points for having a professional email address far outweigh the costs:
- A custom email address has a higher chance of avoiding spam filters and is more likely to be opened by potential customers, vendors and contractors.
- It builds credibility, setting you apart from all the spammers who use free email.
- It promotes your business without using up your marketing budget. This makes it a fabulous way to boost brand awareness.
- It meets industry compliance standards. Some businesses require sensitive documents like contracts, bills, and regulatory messages to pass solely between professional email inboxes.
One of the reasons for this is that professional email services often include advanced security features, such as anti-phishing and spam protection, that can block more than 99.9% of malicious attacks. This level of protection far outshines that included with free email accounts.
For around £23.88 per year, you get to turn the perception of your business from just another part-time hustle to a reliable and professional business that is going places.
You may also like: How to build brand awareness
Why do first impressions matter?
When many people think of branding they think of logos, fonts, colours and slogans. Yet, the concept goes way beyond the visual. The best brands build bonds with people by interacting with them in an authentic, human, trustworthy way.
Your customers will expect to see your brand on the emails they receive from you. If communications come from a different name, it will cast doubts in their mind about all three of the elements just mentioned.
Think about it, would you be more likely to think an email from jane@yourbrandname.com or janey675@gmail.com was genuine?
The difference is immediate and obvious. The first signals a legitimate business, while the second raises red flags and may be gobbled up by the spam filter of the recipient before it even gets to their inbox.
Marketing is all about shaping people’s perceptions. Getting them to view a product or service in a new way to prompt those ‘must have’ feelings. It’s also about convincing them that you’re trustworthy because no one spends money when they feel a tingle of concern.
Unlike your mum or your best friend, your target audience doesn’t know who you are.
You’d comfortably hand over £20 to family or friends if they needed it. But when a stranger asks for money or a click, it triggers all kinds of alarms.
People’s perception of you and your brand is based on what you present to the world. So, they’ll decide what kind of business you are by looking at your:
- Photos
- Posts
- Graphics
- Writing tone of voice
- Business email address
A professional email address is vital if you want people to see your venture as a genuine business.
Choosing your custom domain name
Your business name and domain name are part of the very first impression your audience will get about your brand.
They both need to be:
- Easy to remember
- Not too long
- Consistent with your business personality
Ideally, your domain name will match your business name, because consistency is vital in marketing. Having different names for your business, social accounts and domain causes confusion.
Find the perfect domain name now:
If your business name is short, try adding words people might use to find your services to your domain name. In addition to telling people what you offer, including keywords in your domain name may improve your search rankings.
Things to avoid
When choosing a custom domain name, avoid hyphens (-). Hyphens are difficult to communicate when you’re telling people your domain name out loud.
Other special characters, such as an asterisk or bracket, are not allowed in domain names.
Also, try to stay away from doubling up on the same letter. Domain names with double letters are guaranteed to have people dropping a letter, adding one where there shouldn’t be and a lot of misspellings. Names with double letters make remembering how to spell them difficult.
Once you’ve found an affordable domain name you love, check if it’s available as a social media handle too.
Even if you’re not planning on using every social media platform, it’s a smart move to grab the handle on each one in case you decide to use it in the future.
You may also like: Is a dot com better for my business?
Buying your first domain
Before you buy a domain name, you’ll need to find out if it’s available.
Only one person or business may use a specific domain name.
Go to a reliable domain registrar such as GoDaddy to purchase the domain you’re looking for (if it’s available).
Once you know the domain name you’d like to register is available, it’s a simple purchase.
Many domain registrars provide the option for you to buy more than a year’s worth of registration. It’s a good idea to tick the box that makes it an automatically recurring registration. This will help you avoid losing your domain name to someone else when the registration runs out.
Along with registering your company name with the .co.uk and .com extensions, consider also registering it for .uk as it will shorten your URL. Choose .london too, if your business is located in, or related to, that city.
Registering your domain under multiple extensions helps to protect your brand from imitators or scammers.
You may also like: All your domain name questions answered
What if the domain name I want isn’t available?
Finding the perfect name for your small business is an important first step. But once you’ve found it, discovering the domain name is already in use brings frustration. It can even put your business launch plan on hold.
If you’re stuck with finding the right business name, try this free Business Name Generator.
The are many ways to switch up a business name to get an available domain name. Some of the strategies might even give your business a competitive advantage!
So, if you’re caught in the unlucky situation of finding your chosen domain name is already taken — it’s time to get creative.
Some of the best email addresses are based on these strategies:
- Add a location – A simple way to find an alternate that’s likely to be available is by adding your location to your business name. For local businesses, this would be the town you’re based in. National businesses can add UK and online businesses can choose from their local city or UK. For example, DaveWilson.co.uk becomes DaveWilsonBristol.co.uk. Location keywords help to improve your chances of getting your business ranked in Google’s local pack and also help people find you.
- Flip the name – This technique works especially well if you’re using your own full name as the business name. Try swapping the order of the words, for example, DaveWilson.co.uk would become WilsonDave.co.uk.
- Add a verb – Especially suited to single-word business names, adding a verb not only gives you a better chance of being able to grab an available domain but also prompts people to click on it. For example, Hiking.co.uk could become GoHiking.co.uk or Notebook.co.uk could be TryNotebook.co.uk.
- Add a keyword – Business names don’t always tell people what you do, so add a keyword that gives them an idea of what your business is about. Try turning Modify.co.uk into ModifyDesign.co.uk or Bloomly.co.uk into BloomlyCandles.co.uk. Along with helping you find an available domain name, keywords in your URLs improve your chances of getting ranked higher in search engines such as Google.
Once you’ve registered your new domain name, it’s time to set up your professional email address.
Creating a professional email address
What is included with professional email?
There are multiple ways professional email services surpass free ones:
Storage capacity: Professional accounts often offer substantially more storage than free ones, meaning you don’t have to be constantly deleting emails and you can receive emails with hefty attachments, like images, presentations, and more.
Collaboration tools: You can count on things like calendar syncing, document sharing, spreadsheet collaboration, and presentation tools with many professional email platforms.
Video conferencing: Many services now include integrated video conferencing and chat features, making it easy to conduct team meetings or business calls without forking out on additional subscriptions like Zoom, etc.
Email branding: Features enable you to add your logo to emails, customise signatures, and complete contact information, further concreting your brand image.
AI assistance: Some professional services come with AI features that help you draft emails, change the email tone, and organise data, saving you time.
Mobile access: Pro email accounts are designed to work seamlessly across all devices, from smartphones to desktops, so you can answer emails anywhere at any time.
GoDaddy provides business email addresses with:
- 10GB of email storage
- Syncing of your calendar and emails on all devices
- Secure email hosting
![Person managing email on his phone and laptop]](https://www.godaddy.com/resources/au/wp-content/uploads/person-managing-email-on-his-phone-and-laptop-min.jpg?size=3840x0)
Often businesses will start with a standard email address such as Hello@YourDomain.co.uk or Admin@YourDomain.co.uk.
Email marketers recommend using your first name before the @ symbol because it builds a personal connection and helps evade spam filters.
Some businesses choose to use the full first and last name before the @ symbol. But this starts to get lengthy, depending on the name.
Another option is to use your initials, so it would be dw@YourDomain.co.uk or your first initial with your last name, such as dwilson@YourDomain.co.uk.
If your surname is long or difficult to spell, try creating a memorable email address by adding keywords about your business, services, products or location like the examples below.
- DavesGraphics@YourDomain.co.uk
- DavesDesign@YourDomain.co.uk
- DavesLogos@Yourdomain.co.uk
- DaveChelsea@yourdomain.co.uk
Professional email address format examples
As mentioned, the typical format for an email is firstname.lastname@domain.co.uk.
However, there are other formats you could try.
- firstnameinitial.lastname@domain.co.uk
- firstname.lastnameinitial@domain.co.uk
- firstnameinitiallastname@domain.co.uk
- firstname@domain.co.uk
- lastname.firstname@domain.co.uk
Let’s see how these translate to the real world, using the name Jason Smith:
- j.smith@domain.co.uk
- jason.s@domain.co.uk
- jasons@domain.co.uk
- jsmith@domain.co.uk
- smith.jason@domain.co.uk
What about hyphenated names?
For hyphenated surnames, remove the hyphen and try these formats.
Let’s use the example name Jessica Graham-Cumming:
- jessica.grahamcumming@domain.co.uk
- jessica.gc@domain.co.uk
- j.grahamc@domain.co.uk
- jgcumming@domain.co.uk
People connect with people — not faceless businesses. By adding a personal touch to your email address, you’ll begin to build more positive and long-lasting relationships with potential and current customers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Email
Do small businesses really need a professional email?
100% yes. A professional email address will help a small business appear credible and trustworthy to clients, customers, and partners. It demonstrates that you have put some thought and effort into your business and aim for longevity. Even if you are a solopreneur or have a small side hustle, a professional email address will reflect positively on you.
What makes a good business email address?
A good business email should be on-brand, easy to remember, and simple to spell when communicated verbally. Effective formats include info@yourbusiness.com, yourname@yourbusiness.com, or firstname@yourbusiness.com.
Can I use a free email service for my business?
Yes, there’s no law to say you can’t run your business from a gmail or yahoo account. It just won’t look very professional and free services may come with limitations like limited storage capacity, fewer security features, no collaboration tools, and limited to no customer support.
What is email hosting?
Email hosting refers to the infrastructure and servers that are needed to send, receive, and store email data. It allows businesses to use a custom domain and associated branded email addresses as well as professional features like increased storage and security, and independence from free email providers.
How is a professional email different from a personal email?
Professional email uses your business domain, while personal email uses a provider domain. Professional email builds trust and credibility, includes more storage and better security, gives you control over the domain, and reinforces your brand with every message.
Will my professional email work on mobile devices?
Yes, professional business email services are designed to work across all devices, so you can access them on your phone, tablet, or desktop, depending on your needs. You can set up your email through dedicated apps or your device’s built-in mail application to send, receive, and manage business communications from anywhere.
Don't forget
Often the first interaction anyone has with a business is via email. You can increase the chance that they’ll open your email with a professional email address.
It includes your business name and tells recipients you’re a serious enterprise.
Remember, a professional email account:
- Helps to distinguish you from spam and scam emails
- Improves security by giving you control over who can create email addresses using your domain name
- Gains more views with mobile device users
- Keeps your branding and communication consistent
- Matches your email and website domains, creating brand consistency and recognition. Sending an email that matches your website domain gives clients peace of mind, as it showcases you as a legitimate company. This alignment between your website (www.yourbusiness.com) and email (name@yourbusiness.com) strengthens your professional image and builds trust.
For a small expense, a professional email address is an underestimated asset in growing your business and gaining the trust of your target audience.
Pricing estimates were accurate at the time of publication.
