Gmail is very likely the most popular email service in the world, and many make use of the freely available @gmail email addresses. However, when it comes to your business email address, the one from which you send out email campaigns to your mailing list, things get a little messy.

SPAM.

The email twilight zone.

No business wants to see its carefully crafted campaigns reach the SPAM box to die there. To help you avoid this dreary fate, we have collected for you all of the reasons (regulatory and marketing) why an email address with your own domain will serve you better than a Gmail address, when arriving at your subscribers’ inboxes:

The DMARC Standard

Google has announced a change in its security policies aimed at mitigating the SPAM and phishing (a scam that “fishes” for users’ confidential and private information by impersonating fake sites) phenomena, such that email that is not properly vetted by installed software, will be blocked from reaching its destination.

Google’s goal is to introduce new industry standards designed to reduce online crime rates, prevent fraudulent emails from reaching their targets, provide additional layers of protection (in addition to DomainKeys, DKIM, and SPF settings) and to reward those who meet all of the standards by ensuring that their emails make it to their intended inboxes.

What does all this mean? The very real impact of this is that any email sent via a third party (for example, your e-mail system) and with a Gmail address in the “From” line (e.g. myname@gmail.com), will be rejected by most email providers, who will block the email (“Bounce Back”).

Email Deliverability

As your subscriber list grows (which is a very good thing!!) and you start sending email campaigns to much wider distributions, so to are your mailers more likely to be blocked or be flagged as SPAM. Also, if email providers (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail) are not familiar with or do not recognize the sending software system, then your campaigns may go directly to, you guessed it… the SPAM box. By combining an email address containing your own domain with an e-mail system such as ActiveTrail, which supports commonly accepted industry standards, you can ensure that your campaigns will reach their destinations and not your recipients’ SPAM boxes!

The ActiveTrail system performs automatic testing prior to dispatching campaigns.

Reliability

Imagine, if you will, that you receive an email from jack.james21@gmail.com claiming that he is an online marketing expert and that his company can help your business become more profitable. Would you believe him? Definitely not. Another thing you could ask yourself might be – how many emails from free e-mail addresses have you seen in your SPAM box? Many and more. The thinking behind this is that it is overly easy to create free email addresses and to send SPAM to random people. Do you want to be considered such a “fisherman”? If you want potential customers to take your business seriously and to be thought of as a maven in your chosen niche or business area – invest in purchasing your own domain.

Brand Recall

By using a Gmail address instead of your own domain, you miss out on an excellent branding opportunity! Let people see the name of your business, again and again, in the “From” line. This gives your brand greater exposure, and makes it easier for your subscribers to remember your business and your service/product offerings. Moreover, everybody knows that an email address such as jack@jackwebsite.com, has an associated website www.jackwebsite.com. Consequently, if a recipient sees your email address (with your own domain name), it can spark their curiosity and motivate them to visit your website.

Start thinking of your email address as a storefront displaying an “OPEN” sign

Have you ever, by chance, opened an email without first checking who the sender is? Probably not. By using an email address, such as jack.james21@gmail .com, you are, for all intents and purposes, promoting Gmail instead of your own business. Think of it this way, every time you send email to your subscribers, you are sending them your business card. Furthermore, using an email address that users can identify with shows that you care about them and are open for business!

So, what should you do next?

1. Buy a domain.
2. Update your email address in the email marketing system.

Logon to ActiveTrail (upper right-hand corner): Account >> Settings >> Notification Email >> enter a new email address

Summary
There are many reasons why you should stop using Gmail addresses in your email marketing system and begin using an email with your own domain. At the top of the list, of course, is the strict DMARC standard, but there are equally important marketing reasons, as well.

To ensure that your emails reach your destination – your prospect’s inboxes (and not SPAM) – we recommend purchasing your own domain and using a leading-edge email marketing system, such as ActiveTrail, that performs comprehensive testing on each campaign before it’s sent out.

Want to know how to create an effective newsletter?  Click here