What are the Benefits of a Professional Email Address?
Email is still king. Despite the billions chatting away on social media, most of us turn to email when it comes to the important stuff. It remains the go-to for everything from running a business and connecting with customers, to job hunting or reaching out to service providers. That’s why having a professional email address matters. For a business, custom email shows the world that you’re credible and serious about what you do. It can also help to keep your inbox secure, and messages landing where they should — not lost, ignored, or stuck in a spam folder. What is a professional email address? A professional email address is a custom address that uses your domain name after the @ symbol, like you@yourbusiness.co.uk. Professional email, branded email, business email, custom email — they all describe the same thing. The domain name is the core of your email address. When you get a domain, you can create an email address (or lots of email addresses) linked to it. Each email address has two parts: ☐ Local part: The part before the @ (like info, bookings, or John) ☐ Domain part: The part after the “@” (like yourbusiness.uk) Having the right domain extension (TLD) matters, too. A well-chosen ending like .co.uk, .ltd, or .info will build trust and help you stand out. It’s a great way to put your online brand in the spotlight. Don’t worry — you really don’t need to be a tech expert to get a custom domain email. It’s easy to get your own pro email address! See also: Names That Click: How to Choose the Right Domain Name and What is a Top-Level Domain (TLD)? The benefits of using a professional email address Research shows that 83% of consumers still prefer email for business communication. 99% check their inbox daily or almost daily, with 58% making it the first check of the day before anything else. With that, here are a few benefits of using a professional email address: ✓ Make a strong first impression First impressions count. Imagine you’re a freelancer reaching out to potential clients. A branded email instantly shows you’re a pro and that you’re serious about what you do. You might be applying for your dream job or sending your portfolio to a client. A bespoke custom email helps to bring credibility to your name and build trust on the receiving end. ✓ Instant credibility and trust Would you open an email from randomguy@freemail.com? Probably not. You might not even see it, if it gets marked as spam. Compare that to receiving an email from john@webdesigner.studio? It’s more credible and far more likely to be opened. ✓ Stand out from the competition In a crowded market, the little details matter. A professional email gives you an edge over competitors still using generic addresses. It makes you look more polished, credible, and ready to do business. ✓ Stay out of spam filters Free, generic email addresses are more likely to get flagged as spam—especially if they look untrustworthy. A custom email that matches your domain reassures recipients that your messages are genuine, helping them land in inboxes instead of junk folders. Smart email campaigns can drive big results, but only if they’re seen. Emails with personalised subject lines, by the way, are 26% more likely to be opened. See also: No More Spam, Please! How Can I Stop Getting Spam Emails? ✓ No ads, just email Unlike so many free email providers, 123 Reg gives you an ad-free experience. No annoying banners or distractions — just a clean, professional inbox where you can focus on what matters. ✓ Promotes brand awareness Every message you send is a chance to reinforce your brand. Instead of advertising a free email provider, your custom email promotes you. Email marketing alone has an average return of £36 for every £1 spent, making it one of the most effective branding tools available. ✓ Expert support when you need it Forgot your password? Locked out of your email account? Those free email services don’t always offer help when things go wrong. With 123 Reg, you get expert support whenever you need it, so you’re never left stuck with email issues. You can set up a custom email address that works across all your devices, whenever and wherever you need. ✓ It can be cheap… and easy With 123 Reg Email Starter, you can get a professional email address for as little as £2.99 a month. It’s ad-free, matches your domain, and works for your business. If you need more storage as your business grows, you can upgrade to the Pro package for as little as £3.49 a month. How can you get your own custom email address? Simple! Just pick a domain name that suits your brand — like .com, .co.uk, or something unique like .pro, .life, or .studio. You can either grab your domain first and add email later or buy a domain and email at the same time. Looking for a productivity package? With Microsoft 365 Business Professional, you get pro email together with the Office desktop apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also includes SharePoint for easy team collaboration and file sharing. All the tools you need to save time and hit your business goals. See also: Why Microsoft 365 is Such a Valuable Resource For Your Online Business Wrap up Getting a professional email address is a simple change with big benefits for your business. It makes the right impression, builds trust, and helps keep your messages out of spam. And you can do it all for little more than the price of a coffee each month. See also: Why Every Business Needs a Professional Email Address
Why Every Business Needs a Professional Email Address
Still using a free email account for your small business? While it might be saving you a little now, that generic address could be costing you your credibility in the long run. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your brand identity or simply to stay more organised, professional email can make all the difference. It’s a simple but powerful way to show customers you’re serious about what you do. What is a custom professional email address? A custom domain email address is an email that uses your own domain name, like you@yourbusiness.co.uk, rather than generic choices like @hotmail or @gmail. Professional email, branded email, business email, custom email — there’s a few different ways to describe the same basic idea. Having an email address with your own domain is a step up from free email services in that it’s unique to you and your business. It works to highlight your brand with every message you send. When it comes to running successful online business, there are few better ways to make a great first impression. How does custom email work? At the heart of a custom email address is your domain name. That’s the bit after the @ symbol. When you own a domain, you can create email addresses tied to that domain. This all works through the Domain Name System (DNS), telling the internet where to send your emails and making sure they land in the right inboxes. Each email address is made up of two parts: ☒ Local part: Before the “@” bit (e.g., john, info, sales) ☒ Domain part: The unique address after the “@” (e.g., yourbusiness.co.uk) Your domain’s DNS settings use something called ‘Mail Exchange’ (MX) records to tell which servers handle your emails. But hold up — you don’t need to know the ins and outs of all this to get a great business email address that works for you. It’s easily done! What are the benefits of having professional email with your own domain name? Custom email addresses give your business a professional edge. They help build trust, show that you’re serious, and make your brand more memorable. It’s all about standing out in crowded inboxes — and sending the right message. ☐ Professionalism and Brand Identity First impressions count, and that’s especially true when it comes to email. While a free generic email might do the trick for personal messages, it’s not going to be up to scratch for most businesses. A custom email address with your own domain name does more than just help you stand out; it shows the world you’re serious about what you do. Using a custom email address makes your campaigns feel polished and trustworthy. Customers are more likely to open emails from a sender that looks authentic. ☐ Trust and credibility Professional email builds brand recognition. Every time someone sees your domain in their inbox, it reinforces your name and message. It’s not just marketing—it’s a chance to make your brand stick. People are more likely to take you seriously when your email matches your business name. It’s a little change that can make a big difference. ☐ Effective email marketing Email marketing is one of the best ways to connect with customers and grow your business. Whether it’s a special offer, a newsletter, or a friendly update, it keeps your audience in the loop. But to stand out in crowded inboxes, you need more than just a great message. Adding a custom email address into the mix can make it even better. ☐ Customisation and flexibility Custom email gives you the freedom to create emails that suit your team. From sales@ to support@, you can create individual addresses that work for your business. ☐ Productivity Any custom email provider worth their salt will also give you tools to help your business succeed online. With Professional Email from 123 Reg, you get ample storage and productivity tools, including Calendars and Tasks. If you choose the right Microsoft 365 plan you can get custom domain email plus the full suite of M365 office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. Custom vs Free Email – at a glance: Custom Domain Email Free Email Uses your own domain, like @yourbusiness.co.uk Uses a provider’s domain, like @gmail.com or hotmail.com Looks professional and builds trust Looks casual, fine for personal use Full control over usernames and setup Little or no control over your email address Can set up multiple accounts Usually tied to one personal account Requires a domain and hosting plan Free, with restricted functionality What’s wrong with using a free email address? While free email providers like Hotmail and Gmail might seem to be the cheap and easy choice, they come with drawbacks when it comes to doing business online. To start with the obvious, most free email services come with advertising. These ads can be more noticeable with some providers than others (in Gmail, for example, they appear in a tab of the inbox, looking like regular emails but marked as “sponsored”). This can make inboxes cluttered and harder to manage. Free email providers don’t give the same level of control as you expect with a custom email. You’re at the mercy of the provider’s features and security measures, which might not be as robust as you need. You’re also missing out on storage space and all sorts of additional business tools. For security, free email accounts can fall short — in part because they may not offer the same level of protection, but also because free providers tend not to prioritise customer support or recovery options the way paid providers do, leaving customers exposed to data loss — or unable access their emails! Above all, the biggest downside of using a free email address is probably what it means for branding. An email like you@hotmail.com doesn’t convey professionalism or trust, and that can be a big turn-off for potential customers. In fact, it might even make your
How to Create a Free Business Email Address (in 4 Ways)
Are you still sending out business emails with that old Hotmail account? It could be time to switch from a personal email to a new professional email address. Once you’re up and running with a website, switching to a business email — one that matches your site’s domain name — is an easy shift, but a really impactful one to make. Having your own shows customers who you are and what you do. A business email address has the potential to raise your brand image and let everyone know that you are a pro. By Will Stevens. With contributions from Joanne Dewberry. What is a professional email address? Custom professional email address use a business’s website name after the @ sign (for example: yourname@123-reg.co.uk) rather than a generic one, such as Hotmail.com or yahoo.com. You can use this address for all sort of things including email marketing, customer service and more. Why you should use a custom email address When you first start a small business, brand identity is one of the most important aspects to consider. Branding is so much more than a gorgeous logo; it encompasses your core values and ethos, alongside the colours you choose, and images — whether branding images or in the products you sell. You need to take into consideration every aspect of how your business is portrayed online. Having a custom business email address is such an important factor. A branded business email is important for anyone doing online business. Using Yahoo! or another generic provider name may convey a less-than-positive image to customers. First impressions count. A custom business email address is a key component in streamlining your branding. It’s the same principle whether you’re trying to sell electrical goods, running a plumbing business, or running a cafe: a bad email address makes it very difficult to gain trust. People may even ignore you altogether — especially if they don’t recognise who the email is coming from, or if it ends up in the spam folder. Switching to a custom business email address is one of the best steps you can take to boost your credibility and help with your branding. Your email address in three parts We get so used to seeing them that we lose sight of their significance, but a good email address can help you stand out from the crowd. There are three core parts to consider for making a custom business email address that works: ✓ The username: This identifies a specific person (ie joanne@123-reg.co.uk) or group. You will have probably noticed that most businesses create a generic identifier such as hello@, support@, info@, or help@. This level of personalisation means you can create a variety of email addresses either for each member of staff or for specific tasks whereby numerous staff members have access to one inbox based purely on the email needs of your small business. ✓ The @: Connects the person or salutation (such as hello@, info@) to the domain that follows it. ✓ The domain name: This is determined by the email account, host, or client (i.e., gmail.com, hotmail.com, or in the case of creating a custom professional email your unique business domain name ie. 123-reg.co.uk Put it all together, and you have info@123-reg.co.uk or help@123-reg.co.uk, for example. What’s a domain name? A domain name is the unique, easy-to-remember address which you use to access any website. It comes directly after www. and is your identity online. The best email address for a professional email is an email that includes your business domain. Ideally, your domain name contains your business names or fits your business — for example, B&Q’s domain name is www.diy.com. Although it doesn’t include the business name, it is quickly and easily identifiable and easy to share and promote. Four ways to set up a free business email address It’s always good to get things for free, so here are four ways you can set up a free business email address. Remember that if you wish a free custom email address from 123 Reg, you will have to buy a qualifying product. If you’re already a 123 Reg customer, be sure not to miss out! Here’s how you can set up a free business email account. 1. Use the 123 Reg Website Builder If you create your site with the 123 Reg Website Builder, you’ll get five free email address on the Online Shop Starter and Online Shop Standard plans. If you’re using our Online Shop, you’ll get five free email addresses. 2. Buy 123 Reg hosting package All our Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting and Premium Hosting packages come with the option to set up multiple free business email accounts. Check the details of your plan to see if it entitles you to an email address. 3. Buy Microsoft 365 from 123 Reg Microsoft 365 comes with a full range of productivity tools and a free custom email address. This is a great option if you need an email address as well as tools like Office 365, Excel and more. Bonus option: 123 Reg Email Hosting If you don’t own a 123 Reg product that comes with a free professional email address, you can use 123 Reg Email Hosting. (You’ll still need to have your own domain name to set up your email address.) Need more than one email address for your business? Give our team a call on 0330 221 1007 and we’ll be happy to help? How to set up your 123 Reg business email address If you have a 123 Reg product that comes with a free email address, or you’re using 123 Reg Email Hosting, you can set up your account through your Control Panel. Scroll down to the Email section and select Manage email. On the next page, click Create and then select Mailbox. You can then create your business email address. You’ll need to decide what you want the bit before the @ of your email address to be and, if you have more than
Interview: Fighting Malware with Anirban Banerjee
2012 continues to be a year of great excitement for 123-reg. We are thrilled to announce the release of Site Scanner, powered by Stop the Hacker. For those not in the know, Site Scanner is a SaaS based malware monitoring tool that scrutinises a user’s website, notifying the customer when malicious code/viruses are found via email and in the 123-reg control panel. Furthermore, the software provides the user information on where the damaging code is located (the line of code it starts and ends on) and provides steps on how to eradicate it. Protecting your online business against malicious code couldn’t be more important in 2012. This year has seen the issue of internet security rise to the front pages of the national newspapers. Whilst events such as the Linkedin security breach are unfortunate, they are helpful in educating the market. 123-reg spoke to Anirban Banerjee, Co-Founder of StopTheHacker Inc., in a bid to help inform website owners of the growing threat of malware and detail how purchasing Site Scanner can give you peace of mind. A blacklisted website can have serious implications for any online business in terms of lost revenue, potential customers and credibility. We asked Banerjee about the threats to 123-reg customers who run websites with little or no malware detection service. ‘Malicious hackers are targeting websites in order to compromise them. If your website gets compromised and is misused to distribute malware to innocent visitors, the infected website is put on a blacklist by Google and other search engines.’ The potentially spiralling affects could be disastrous for your online business as Banerjee explains. ‘If your website is blacklisted, users will be blocked from coming to your website. This could lead to a loss of revenue. Moreover, this could result in an irreparable loss to the reputation of your website and business.’ The threat of being blacklisted by Google is one that is not only very real but one that every website owner needs to protect against. Once malware infects a website, it harms both the company and its customers. Website owners typically have no idea they have been infected, and many do believe that anti-virus protection software is enough. However, it is not. ‘9,500 websites get added to the Google blacklist every single day. Given the UK market is quite big; this represents a substantial number of UK businesses. It takes 7-10 days for a blacklisted website to clean up its act, on average, this process can cost thousands of pounds in lost revenue before even considering the potential revenue lost from your brands’ reputation being tarnished.’ Prevention is better than cure, but having said that, Site Scanner also acts as a quick reaction, something users can take heart from. If malicious code is found on the user’s website at any time, they are sent an email detailing exactly where the code is, and just as importantly, how to delete it. ‘Site Scanner incorporates the best of breed technology when it comes to malware detection, Antivirus engines, signature databases and reputation monitoring. It will help 123-reg customers by providing them with peace of mind. Together, we will help fight the battle for them!’ Central to seeking a partnership, 123-reg looked-for a provider with a real passion for the online security industry. What 123-reg customers should also take from the partnership is Banerjee’s passion for helping people secure their websites as well as the quality of product that his company provides. ‘Our goal is to make website security ubiquitous. Having a secure website and not worrying about hackers installing malware on your site and getting blacklisted shouldn’t be a luxury, everyone should have access to a high quality, reliable and accurate malware detection prevention like Site Scanner.’ Releasing a product like Site Scanner highlights 123-reg’s commitment to helping its customers secure their websites. 123-reg is working with everyone involved with Site Scanner to bring website security to millions of users. Remember, you don’t have to be a high traffic website to be targeted. Even if you see yourself as a small site, you are attractive to hackers because your site will have more vulnerable openings for hackers.
How to beat the mail postage price increase
Royal Mail’s recent price increase has left many small businesses fearing that their business may not survive this change. The cost of first class stamps have risen 30%, from 46p to 60p, and second class 38%, from 36p to 50p, a massive burden that many businesses, at least in the short term will have to absorb themselves. Four in five small businesses in the UK believe this change will affect their business as well as the way they communicate with customers. Recent research conducted by Pitney Bowes revealed that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are concerned that the postal rate increase will have such a negative impact that their business may not be able to recover afterwards. These are businesses that were relying on Royal Mail to send out correspondence and orders to their customers. Cut costs with electronic mail The change in postal rates is actually forcing businesses to look for alternative methods to communicate with their customers. Sure, you cannot download a shirt or a bike, but you can try cutting costs by switching to electronic email to keep in touch with customers and send them special offers. With email, it’s so much easier and a lot cheaper to send e-cards, bills or marketing material. Take our professional email hosting service for instance. You can create your email address personalised to your domain, such as office@yourbusiness.co.uk, and you can access it anywhere, anytime you want. With email hosting, you will be able to manage all your emails, calendars and contacts from a single location. Also, you can communicate easier and faster with your customers and ensure your messages get to their inbox and are not lost along the way. How are you planning to cut costs?
A Messaging Experience
That’s the detail of the newly unveiled “modern messaging system” from Facebook. But what does it all mean? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggests it is based on the way high school students communicate. According to their recent feedback to him they don’t like email “It’s too formal” Zuckerberg noted. Yet, Zuckerberg was also at pains to state “this is not an email killer” it was the “messaging experience” email included that he was unveiling, to make communication simpler. The key factors for communication of the future according to Zuckerberg: * seamless * informal * immediate * personal * simple * minimal * short So Facebook under this new project is to offer seamless messaging, conversation history, and a social inbox. The idea is it is cross-media: email, chat, SMS — all kept in a single social inbox. Plus all of your conversation history with people is kept in a central location. To my own eye that seems a logical move, the kind of way your brain would link information. You don’t store all your SMS chats in one part of your memory away from all the email chats, you store them according to conversations and who they were with. Conversations no longer end when you put down the telephone receiver. You might very well follow up with an SMS, or chat using an online messenger. It’s those often fragmented ‘gems’ that Facebook aims to collate and store for you to readily refer back to. It is all about encouraging 365/24/7 communication and as part of that Facebook is set to soon launch an updated iPhone app too. There will also be @facebook.com email addresses available too – although how and when these will be allocated are yet to be seen, the allocation procedure for Facebook pages has been complicated enough! You won’t need a Facebook email address to use the tool. you can use any address. The big issue with that and the whole concept however will be privacy. The word most often thrown at Facebook by its detractors, the impact on privacy of communication is unknown as yet but is sure to become a hot topic again as Facebook rolls out this new project over the next few months. Meanwhile, hot on the heels of Facebook attempting to change the way we chat, Apple has posted a cryptic message on its Web site, teasing the world about an “exciting” iTunes announcement that’s coming in the next 24 hours. If you’ve not yet seen the rumours, suggestions range from The Beatles back catalogue finally becoming available to iTunes, to the potentially MP3 killing streaming music service. We’ll hold off our comments on this one until the final announcement (3pm London Time today) as we’ve given up second guessing the Apple marketeers, but as Christmas draws near, the competition for brand awareness is certainly hotting up in the internet arena. What are your thoughts on Facebook’s messaging system?