Last week, we started a 5-part series entitled “Top 5 Mistakes for Businesses in the Digital Age”. In this series, we tackle the top 5 most common mistakes made by businesses while establishing their social media and web presence. On to Part 2…here we go!!

2. Having a Published Business Email Address Using a Personal Email Service

In Part 1, we talked about having a business name and website domain name that doesn’t match. Today, we will touch on a topic that’s somewhat related and just as important. Along the same lines of ensuring you have a contiguous identify across all forms of your media and online presence, is the recommendation to have an official email address that matches your website domain name. Have you ever gotten a business card from someone or had a flyer on your car door only to read it and it and see “Contact Us @ name@gmail.com” or “For booking info, contact name@hotmail.com”? As organized as your business may be and as successful as it may be, you are more than likely turning potential clients away by not having an email address that matches your website domain name.

If you poll most consumers, the use of a personal email service for your business email can give the impression of being untrustworthy or unofficial. This may also give the impression that your business is less than established and/or disorganized. For most business owners, it is a good practice to have a general “support” email address i.e. info@domain.com or services@domain.com in addition to your individual address i.e yourname@domain.com.

It is one of the smallest investments you can make monetarily, but it can have some of the most significant consequences to your company’s customer base and eventually bottom line.

Thanks for reading part 2 and let us know in the comments below your thoughts on today’s topic. In Part 3, we will talk about best practices with regards to marketing on social media.  Stay tuned for part 3…

Author: Justin Cox