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Email etiquette – what does your email address say about you?

Have you ever looked at the email addresses used by SMEs and sole traders?  Your email address is a part of your email etiquette and on-line image. The other day at a networking event I studied people’s email addresses.  There were the big corporates who have their own domain name.  Then there were the SMEs and sole traders.  The latter ranged from Yahoo and Gmail addresses to very long personal domain names of 25+ characters.  Plenty of scope there for mistyping!

In business your email address is part of your email etiquette or email dress code as it called in ‘Brilliant Email’.  It’s the accessories.  If you are a serious business player think carefully about your email address.  To buy a domain name is cheap and a good investment.  For men it’s like a good pair of cuff links.  For women it’s the equivalent to investing in some diamonds or pearls.

Gmail, Yahoo, BTinternet, Hotmail  etc are fine for domestic use, a second business address for all the non essential emails like newsletters etc and for casual business use eg non-executive directors.  However, for serious business players,  I am not so sure.  What do you think?

One response to “Email etiquette – what does your email address say about you?”

1. Murray Cowell says:

   March 9, 2011 at 5:08 pm

   Excellent advice on how an email address reflects on the image of the user. Gmail, Yahoo, BTinternet and Hotmail addresses are a definite no-no if you want to be taken seriously.

   It's way too easy to set up a new Hotmail account, and scammers use such addresses to mask their dodgy activities, knowing that they can move on quickly and easily.

   To be taken seriously in business, there is no substitute for an email address from your own busines domain. As most businesses already have a website, it's quite easy to organise email from the same domain. That way you can show that you mean business and you are here to stay.