5 Reasons Why I Recommend a Gmail Address, Even for Business

My website clients often ask me what I recommend for an e-mail address. Wouldn’t it be the most professional to use their website? (For example theirname@theirwebsite.com.) My answer? Maybe, but actually, no. And here’s why.

Five Reasons to Use Gmail Instead of Any Other Address for Your Small Business

1. Gmail is the most reliable.

It is FAR more reliable than other services, such as AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, your cable provider, etc. In fact, it’s even more reliable than a @yourwebsite.com address. Why? Their server. Can you imagine finding a server more reliable than Google’s? I think not. Even if your website’s server temporarily goes down, your e-mail is still working.

2. Gmail has the “smartest” spam filtering.

Rarely will a legitimate e-mail end up in your spam or junk folder. Likewise, rarely will a spam message make it into your regular mail. I’ve tested many, many other services, and have not found any of them to be even half as smart as Gmail’s.

3. Gmail does the best job of handling forwarded mail from another address–any address–and especially another Gmail address.

Almost every single one of my clients who has an @theirwebsite.com address doesn’t actually check it directly. Rather, they forward it to be received where? Their “preferred” address (usually their personal Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, etc.) In most cases when my clients are having problems receiving their mail correctly, it has to do with the fact that it is forwarded to Outook, Hotmail, Yahoo, their cable provider, etc. Keeping in mind that this article is about using a Gmail address in the first place, if it’s “too late” and you are already using an @yourwebsite.com address, Gmail works the best for forwarding and receiving them properly. If you do use a Gmail address for business and want it to forward all into one place with your personal Gmail address, it works most reliably for that too. You can even set it to automatically mark which ones are business so they’re easier to identify in the list.

4. Gmail integrates seamlessly with a suite of other Google services that are free, convenient, and work dependably.

Things like Google Documents (where you can make forms for people to fill out), Google Drive (where you can store images, documents, etc, and even share them with others), and many other services are available from Google and work seamlessly, with one sign-in, all via your Gmail address.

5. Gmail is perceived as an acceptable, just as professional, option for e-mail.

In the past, people felt it was less professional for a business to use any address other than @yourwebsite.com. However, in the past few years, using a Gmail address has become so mainstream as to make that train of thought a thing from the past. However, that perception is not the same for all services. Ask yourself, what would you think if you received an email from your accountant @aol.com? What about gmail? (There may be some who disagree with this one, but working with many small businesses, I can tell you from experience, that not using Gmail has gone the same way as putting two spaces between sentences.)

I can actually think of several more reasons why Gmail is preferable to any other e-mail address, but these are the top five. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with these? (Particularly #5?) Disagree? Feel free to comment below!