Five reasons why you should have a custom email address

Sure, there are trends and fads in our digital lives, but some things never go out of style. Like email! Even today, it’s still an essential—and highly relevant—communications and marketing tool for you and your business.  

Sorry, messenger pigeons.  

An email address isn’t just a bunch of characters and symbols mashed together, either. Rather, it’s a digital identifier that signals to the world who you are and what you represent. Or—it has the potential to be.   

To take your email to whole new level, you can register a .CA domain name and then create your very own custom email address (like [email protected]).  

Aside from scoring cool points, having a custom email address can be very useful whether you’re starting a new business, branching out on your own as a freelancer or building up your online presence.  

Let’s dig in and look at five compelling reasons why:  

Reason one: custom email addresses provide a higher level of professionalism and credibility  

Even if you’re on day one of your business, having a custom email address that matches your domain says that you’re professional and well-established.  

Your customers can be a cautious bunch—and for good reason, too. Before they lay down their hard-earned loonies for your products and services, they’ll look for signs that your business is legitimate. One of those signs, of course, is whether your email address appears to be connected to a real business.  

Picture this: you, as a customer, are in the market for some new contact lenses, you’re checking out two different companies and come across their email contact info.  

Now, let’s say the first company’s email is [email protected] while the other is [email protected]. Both businesses could be totally on the level, but which of the two are you more likely to trust based on their email address?   

The same goes for receiving emails from businesses. Your audience will expect to see emails coming from your custom address, not from a generic Gmail, Outlook or Hotmail address. If your emails look spammy, there’s little chance they’re getting opened.  

Reason two: Custom email addresses are…customizable to your needs.  

If your business ends up growing or taking on new employees, you can easily create new addresses for different positions or “departments,” such as [email protected]. 

You can also set up accounts specifically for customer inquiries and support, like [email protected], or [email protected]. This gives your customers more options for communicating with you and having their needs met.  

Reason three: custom email addresses boost brand awareness  

Your custom email address is a core part of your business and a powerful marketing tool. Think about it: your email address is one of the first things customers will see if they’re trying to get in touch with you. Chances are, it’s going to show up on your business cards, social media channels, email signatures—and more.  

So, your custom email address is a fantastic way to get your branded business name into every single communications piece you put out into the world. And from our perch, any time you can get your brand into peoples’ hands is a big win.  

Reason four: more security and control   

Many custom email (and web hosting) services provide more advanced, enterprise-grade security features, like end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication. It also shows customers you’re going the extra mile to protect their data and privacy!  

Another key benefit of a custom email address is that you can manage all email accounts under your domain. So, if an employee leaves, all their emails and contacts don’t simply disappear with them. Instead, you can set their account to redirect elsewhere.  

Reason five: it’s easy to do!  

Creating a custom email address with your .CA domain name is far easier than you might’ve thought. Start by checking with your registrar (the people who sold you your domain) about getting an email address set up.  

Most registrars offer this service as part of your domain registration and can help you get set up in minutes.  

Even if you’re not planning on launching a website anytime soon, you can go ahead and get a domain name and start using your custom .CA email address to build your brand online. 

Custom email address dos and don’ts  

When coming up with your custom email address, do: 

• Go with something that’s easily spelled, pronounceable and memorable.  
• Keep your custom address short.  
• Have your custom address be closely related to your business. If your business name is, say, “Tuco’s Tacos,” then your email might be something like,  [email protected]. 
• Use your own name, if possible, in your custom email address. This helps build a human connection to you right off the bat.  
• If you have multiple people (or email accounts), keep the formatting of your custom email addresses as consistent as possible — i.e., [email protected], [email protected], etc.  

Here’s what to avoid:  

• Don’t make your custom email address wildly different from your business name. This only creates confusion and can make you look untrustworthy.  
• Avoid creating an epically long custom email address filled with punctuation, numbers or special characters that can be easily misspelled.  

With a good custom email address in hand, you have a powerful marketing tool and something your audiences can immediately identify you with.