Email is primary and part of someone’s identification as a user. The same holds true for a business. Therefore, it is quintessential to have an email specifically for your business. As a business, should you use an email with @gmail.com, or is it necessary to have an email host that will carry your business with @creativenomads.digital (this is ours, by the way)? When it comes to your business email, having it branded to your URL builds your credibility and also helps drive traffic to your website.
When coming up with your business email, you better decide which one, from the email hosting providers, is right for your business. Many business owners choose a very affordable web hosting account, and some even arrange to get free email hosting. On the other hand, perhaps they only have a small team and just want to keep it conservative. Whatever option you choose, make sure you’ve carefully weighed the options and understand the results.
Why Is It Important to Choose the Right Email Host for Your Business
For Security
Availability of paid email hosting is more secure than the simple free email from huge companies such as Google and Yahoo. However, those companies do not encrypt your email end-to-end (if you have @gmail.com or @yahoo.com); thus, they are not securing all your emails and are more prone to hackers. They will also not object if the government decides to take a look at your emails. Plus, they also have a history wherein they previously breached specific data.
Provide Credibility and Convenience
Getting your business name in anything is a plus sign for marketing purposes. It can connote that you are professional and legit. At the same time, it will be easy for clients to remember your business if your email is [email protected] rather than this [email protected]. Again, this is because you have an email address that fits your business name.
Having Control
Choosing an email hosting provider will give you more control over the kind of service that you deserve. In addition, since you are paying for the email host, you have direct access to the customer representative of the email hosting company. It’s part of what you paid for!
Fortunately, there are numerous email hosting platforms to choose from. Of course, depending on your budget and requirements. You do not have to get stuck with an email hosting provider that doesn’t provide good customer service. Here are some of your email hosting options:
Email Host #1 Google Workspace (commonly known as G-Suite)
This is one of the best options for most businesses that deliver reasonable deliverability rates, and users can access other tools in G-suite.
The basic Business Starter Plan usually starts at $6 per month per user, with 24/7 customer support available to extend a helping hand whenever you need it.
Email Host #2 Microsoft Office 365
This is suitable for companies that already have access to Microsoft Office software and are comfortable using them. In addition, Microsoft Office 365 and G-Suite resemble each other since they have Word, Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint.
The price point for this starts at $12.50 per month. Once you get the entire Microsoft package, you will also gain access to online and desktop versions of their video conferencing (Microsoft Teams), file sharing, and office applications.
Email Host #3 Zoho Mail
They offer simple and secure email hosting, but they provide limited cloud storage and have limited advanced features.
The most significant advantage of this is that they offer a very affordable starter plan that is good for starting a small business with a limited budget. For email hosting only, Zoho mail has a $1 per user per month, but if you prefer the complete Zoho workspace, then it’s $3 per user per month.
Email Host #4 Rackspace
If your priority is just email hosting at an affordable rate, then this can be your option. It offers a business’s support for a hosting email service at a reasonable cost. Based on feedback, Rackspace takes customer service and support seriously, and you can experience easy migration from your old email host into your new Rackspace email hosting service.
Pricing for Rackspace starts at $4.70 per month and can go up to $9.90 per month, depending on your storage requirements.
Email Host #5 Hey
Hey! This email hosting service is made by the famous project management software, Basecamp. In which they aim to declutter the traditional email inbox. It has a built-in ‘filter’ that asks permission from the user if they want to receive emails from unknown, new email senders. Another salient feature is tracking pixel blocking because it acts like a VPN wherein it shares its IP address rather than the sender’s email address.
And for the price, it doesn’t come cheap, yet they offer a 14-day free trial, but you need to pay a flat rate of $99 per year, including 100GB of storage.
Final Point
There are other exciting options for email hosting services that will suit your business needs. In our company, we use Google Workspace. The reasons? Because it offers 24/7 customer support, ample cloud storage, and excellent AI features to aid in my team’s productivity, and it is affordable. They also use Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption that protects the email while being sent.
But the bottom line is to choose the best email hosting provider you are comfortable using. There’s no use in paying the monthly cost for it if you do not maximize its features. Remember: there are 2 primary qualifications that you should look for: (1) an email host that can contribute to your productivity qualifications and (2) an email host that can be used with a hosting web service.
Now, take your pick and make your email look legit!
