With business communication now being largely digital, it is more important than ever to make sure that your email is secure, reliable, and functional. If you’re still using AOL, Yahoo Mail, or similar platforms for your business, it may be time to upgrade.
Benefits of Upgrading Your Email:
Match Your Website with a Branded Email Address
First impressions can be lasting, and set the tone for your communication with clients, vendors, and business partners. Your email address can tell recipients a lot about you. How would you feel if you received a million-dollar business proposal from nerdcrossing@yahoo.com? Compare that to receiving the same proposal from sales@nerdcrossing.com. See the difference? Using your website domain in your email address automatically elevates you as an entity from an individual to a professional business.
Nerd Tip: A branded sender email address helps route your message to recipient Inboxes rather than Spam. This is especially important if you use a bulk email platform like Constant Contact or MailChimp. These types of services now require you to assign a branded email address as a default sender to improve delivery.
Additional Security Features
While free platforms have some protections against spam and malicious messages, they may not be ideal for preserving privacy and protecting intellectual property. Remember: If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. Your free email provider could be using your information for anything from serving you more ads to training AI systems. Upgrading to a paid email solution gives you access to additional features that will help you secure your communications. These can include better spam filtering, robust encryption, attachment scanning, and link scanning.
Better Customer Service
Have you ever lost your Gmail password and locked yourself out of your account? Getting back into your email can be complicated or outright impossible with free email providers—especially if you don’t have recovery options set up in your account. With a paid service, you get real customer service and support lines that can help you troubleshoot issues, refine rules and workflows, and even provide recovery options so your business processes don’t come to a sudden halt when something goes wrong.
What Should You Be Using Instead?
There are a number of options out there for upgrading your email services. Shop around, request demos, and compare the options to make sure the one you choose meets your business needs. A few options include:
MS Outlook/Exchange:
A tried and true solution for long-time users of Outlook. The familiar look and trustworthy functionality makes this an easy transition into more functionality.
Google Workspace:
If you like Gmail, upgrading to Workspace preserves all your favorite features, while giving you access to much more. Google is an excellent platform for putting many of your collaborative business processes under one roof.
Proton Mail:
A lesser-known option, but no less powerful, Proton offers tiered plans for both businesses and individuals, and services that include cloud storage, VPN, password management, and more.
Need Help?
Are you ready to upgrade but don’t know where to start? Need help deciding which email solution is right for your business? Nerd Crossing has you covered. Our IT professionals have over 15 years of experience helping businesses meet their productivity needs. If you’re ready to dive in, we’re ready to swim! Click below to schedule a free consultation with our expert Nerds.