Would you be concerned about a business using a gmail address?

sk66

sk66

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I have a commercial website on a shared hosting server, and email has been a major PITA at times. A lot of times the mail server IP/domain used is on one or more blacklists, so my sent emails end up being blocked/filtered. I know there are options such as Sendgrid, Google Workspace, or a dedicated server that will allow me to use my own .com for email but those are additional expenses/hassles I don't really want. All of my emails are transactional (purchase/shipping notice, etc); no marketing. And many are initiated by the customer with an e-mail link.

I have just gotten emails going through and testing well again (I think)... for the moment. But I also came across a much simpler option of using mybusinessname@gmail.com; my only concern is that it seems just a bit odd and might be concerning to the average potential customer. So while I was dealing with the issue last week I switched all of the email to the @gmail address, and it seems to be working well. And now I'm trying to decide which route I should take going forward. I would probably go with Sendgrid (free) if I go back to using my .com address; but I have been unsuccessful in getting it setup so far.

Thoughts please?
 
Gmail is a trusted and well recognised email address and I don’t think it lacks any credibility, in fact many clients would probably welcome something easy to remember, which it is. You can also use a gmail account to get Google reviews and a free map listing.
 
Most of the businesses I have worked for or with use either MS Outlook or Gmail, never had a problem with either.
 
It depends on the type and size of business. A massive conglomerate should have an IT department capable of keeping on top of its own e-mail system but a one man band has much better things to do with his/her time.
 
I’ve used gmail for years for my business without issue, I’ve also used a business email address and haven’t seen any difference in people’s thinking when contacting me.
 
It's an interesting dilemma and a lot depends on the domain suffix in reality. Like some others, I tend to think that if a business has a domain for a website, why not be using the same domain for its email?
However, I have used domains with .eu. .email. .net, .me.com, and .co.uk, and the only one that has avoided spam filters virtually all the time is the .co.uk.
I know a gmail account should be fine for a micro business, and I wouldn't dismis a business that only had that for email, so long as it wasn't fred at gmail.com. But if they have a web domain, it appears a bit odd to me.
 
lindsay said:
It's an interesting dilemma and a lot depends on the domain suffix in reality. Like some others, I tend to think that if a business has a domain for a website, why not be using the same domain for its email?
However, I have used domains with .eu. .email. .net, .me.com, and .co.uk, and the only one that has avoided spam filters virtually all the time is the .co.uk.
I know a gmail account should be fine for a micro business, and I wouldn't dismis a business that only had that for email, so long as it wasn't fred at gmail.com. But if they have a web domain, it appears a bit odd to me.
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This also in my view especially the bit I have underlined
 
sk66 said:
I have a commercial website on a shared hosting server, and email has been a major PITA at times. A lot of times the mail server IP/domain used is on one or more blacklists, so my sent emails end up being blocked/filtered. I know there are options such as Sendgrid, Google Workspace, or a dedicated server that will allow me to use my own .com for email but those are additional expenses/hassles I don't really want. All of my emails are transactional (purchase/shipping notice, etc); no marketing. And many are initiated by the customer with an e-mail link.

I have just gotten emails going through and testing well again (I think)... for the moment. But I also came across a much simpler option of using mybusinessname@gmail.com; my only concern is that it seems just a bit odd and might be concerning to the average potential customer. So while I was dealing with the issue last week I switched all of the email to the @gmail address, and it seems to be working well. And now I'm trying to decide which route I should take going forward. I would probably go with Sendgrid (free) if I go back to using my .com address; but I have been unsuccessful in getting it setup so far.

Thoughts please?
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Have you thought about going down the VPS route? That should resolve the issue of shared serves and blacklisted email servers.

IONOS VPS are pretty good value for money. I run my website on their XL VPS which is only £25/month. It's a very large site with 10,000's of product pages, +/- 1000 visitors a day. It's never skipped a beat and is much faster an responsive than TSO Host was which was costing me 4 times as much a couple of years back.

Depending on your needs IONOS do VPS's for as little a £2/month
 
ecoleman said:
Yes, email isn’t hard and usually comes with web hosting so I can’t see any reason for a business with a website not to have their own email address.

Gmail is a throw away anonymous email address, makes me wonder what you’re hiding
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IDK about that... email seems to be pretty difficult to me; particularly when there are a lot of factors outside of your control. And these days having a website and associated e-mail is about zero guarantee that a company is legitimate.

But I do appreciate the opinion... it seems a little odd to me as well.
 
wibbly said:
I’ve used gmail for years for my business without issue, I’ve also used a business email address and haven’t seen any difference in people’s thinking when contacting me.
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Sorry but.. how can you possibly know that ? If anyone hasn't contacted you because they think you look cheap using a throwaway email. how can you possibly know ?
 
Change hosts
 
I'd expect a photographer to be on top of the tech needed to take, process and output photographs.

If the photographer has a website, then having an email address that is the same as a domain name seems to me to be in the same league of tech ability. Unless it is MySpace, or something like that.
 
For a "one man band", non-IT business gmail is fine. However whoever is hosting your domain really should be keeping on top of their mail server admin. I suspect they have other clients and some of them are spamming numpties (whether deliberately or accidentally) which is why they keep ending up on blacklists.
 
KIPAX said:
Sorry but.. how can you possibly know that ? If anyone hasn't contacted you because they think you look cheap using a throwaway email. how can you possibly know ?
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Easily... as I said originally, I 'haven’t seen any difference in people’s thinking when contacting me'.

No one has ever said to me when they've been in touch, I'd love to buy from you but I won't because your email address is a gmail address.
 
Pound Coin said:
I'd expect a photographer to be on top of the tech needed to take, process and output photographs.

If the photographer has a website, then having an email address that is the same as a domain name seems to me to be in the same league of tech ability. Unless it is MySpace, or something like that.
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Do you know how to code an SPF entry or DMARC/HELO? I didn't... still don't really know what I'm doing.
 
sk66 said:
Do you know how to code an SPF entry or DMARC/HELO? I didn't... still don't really know what I'm doing.
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I know about troubleshooting email problems and then instructing my hosting co to sort it.

I’m not sure why these things aren't automatically done, but it’s not a big deal to get it fixed, in my experience.
 
sk66 said:
I have checked and corrected the SPF entries... I was having an issue where every time I sent an email it would go through a different server not on the list.
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That would certainly have negative effects on your mail delivery success rates!

If you are considering using Gmail anyway, then you could always attach your own domain to a Google Workspace account and that send using Google's SMTP servers.
 
Musicman said:
That would certainly have negative effects on your mail delivery success rates!

If you are considering using Gmail anyway, then you could always attach your own domain to a Google Workspace account and that send using Google's SMTP servers.
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I'm considering it... the cost is pretty minimal. But I like the idea of a VPS.
 
me and my missus ltd company using a gmail address, its free its totally secure and just works.
personally i wouldn't give it a second thought, but for me the address would have to the companies name not a persons
 
No for a one man band but as you increase in size it’s no bad thing to get a dedicated email server. I run a non photography business and have a dedicated email server and it looks more professional than a gmail address. I also have a photography website of which I make a tiny amount of income from and use a gmail address despite having the ability to have a dedicated email.

I also know of multi million pound business happily using gmail addresses!!
 
wibbly said:
Easily... as I said originally, I 'haven’t seen any difference in people’s thinking when contacting me'.

No one has ever said to me when they've been in touch, I'd love to buy from you but I won't because your email address is a gmail address.
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Woooosh :)
 
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