Are you looking for some easy ways to market your business without spending a ton of money? Well, one simple way to build brand recognition is to set up a branded email address. But what is a branded email address vs. an unbranded one? In this article, I’ll tackle that question and explain how you can set up your branded email address right away.
When I first started online, I didn’t have an email address. At the time, I didn’t have a website either. So, I set up a Yahoo email address and used Yahoo to send and receive emails. Once I started my business and built my website, I wanted to have an email address branded to my site.
Ok, so what is a ‘branded email address’?
The Difference Between a Branded and an Unbranded Email Address
In this video, I’ll give you a quick overview of the difference between a branded and an unbranded email address. If you’re growing an online business of any kind, the information I’m about to give you is very important.
Unbranded Email Address
An unbranded email comes from a company like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, etc. Anyone can go online and set up an email with one of these companies for free. Examples of unbranded email addresses are yourname@yahoo.com or yourname@gmail.com.
It’s cheap and easy to set up. However, there are some big downsides to choosing an unbranded email address for your business…
- You’re missing an opportunity to brand your business
- It’s viewed as less professional.
- Signals to your prospect that you’re not an established, credible business.
- Less secure than a branded email address
- More likely to go to someone’s spam folder!
Branded Email Address
A branded email address includes your business name. Examples of a branded email address are 
A branded email address tells your website visitor, “This is a professional business that you can trust.” In addition, you’re building your brand recognition every time someone sees your email address.
Have you ever done this? You get a branded email from someone and want to learn more about their business. So you trim the web address in your browser to look at their website
For example, take this:
and trim off the christina@, and you get websitecreationworkshop.com
Do you see how a branded email address can drive traffic to your website? It shows people you are serious about your website and business!
More Reasons to Get a Branded Email Address…
In addition to branding and driving traffic to your website, there are other reasons that a branded email is better for your business…
- Better customer support since it’s set up through your paid domain or hosting registrar.
- It’s more secure
- Helps you to build trust and a relationship with your clients and prospects
- Your emails are less likely to go to someone’s spam or junk folder
- You can create as many emails as you want and manage them in one place
Examples of Branded vs. Unbranded Email Addresses
Where Do You Get a Branded Email Address?
You can get your branded email address from your hosting company or your domain registrar. Read this article if you’re not sure of the difference between a domain name and hosting. So which one should you choose? It depends on how you plan to use your website down the road.
Your Domain Registrar
This is often the simpler route, and here’s why it can work in your favor. Your email stays put even if you change hosting companies. Website owners switch hosts more often than people realize, whether it’s for better pricing, better support, or better performance. If your email is tied to your registrar instead of your host, you won’t have to worry about losing access or resetting anything when you make that move.
Your Hosting Company
This can be a good option too, especially if you like managing everything in one place. Many hosting companies bundle email with your hosting plan, so it may already be included or available as a small add-on. It also means one dashboard, one login, and one bill for your website and your email.
The tradeoff is that if you ever switch hosting companies, your email usually has to move too. That can mean some downtime or extra setup work while everything transfers over.
My own email address is set up through my hosting company. If I had the chance to do it over, I’d set it up through my domain registrar instead. That way, if I ever switch hosting companies again, my email won’t have to move with it.
A Word of Warning
You don’t want to use these email addresses as they are often blocked by email providers as spam:
info@
orders@
hello@
admin@
hey@
contact@
sales@
webmaster@
support@ (Note: we use support@, but that was before we knew better)
Final Thoughts…
If you’re still using an unbranded email address, it’s time to make the switch. Prospects notice when your email comes from AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, or even Gmail, and it doesn’t do your business any favors.
A branded email address is one of the easiest, most affordable ways to build trust with your audience. It shows you’re serious about your business, and it keeps your brand front and center every time you hit send.
You don’t have to do everything at once. Start by switching your primary email address, then build out more as your business grows.
If you don’t have a website yet, go here to find out when our next Website Creation Workshop™ will be.
