As a small business owner, you may have already been on the receiving end of this lecture – ‘You shouldn’t be using a Hotmail account for your business email!’ But do you know why that is?
Using a free email account for business purposes is a questionable decision for many reasons but Hotmail is a notch worse than the rest. Why? Well, where do we start…
The black hole – i.e. Hotmail
The obvious reason is that as a business, good communication is essential.
Therefore, it’s important that not only your emails get through, but you receive all your emails too. Hotmail emails are renowned for going astray. Whether they’re incoming or outgoing, Hotmail have a knack for pushing them into a black hole. Where do they go? We will never know!
By the way, this isn’t a one in 100 emails or less, this issue is felt by Hotmail users every single day. It’s like playing Russian roulette with your business activities, will you receive your customers request or not? There’s probably a 50/50 chance on that one.
“I’ll just tell Hotmail the issue and they will resolve it.” – Good Luck!
The thing is, you paid nothing for this email service. Hotmail have no obligation to resolve any issue you may have with their service because you aren’t their customer. If you’re not a customer, don’t expect customer service. There are of course options to contact their help team, but nine times out of ten, you’re going to receive a generic response.
How customers perceive you
The minute we see a business is using a Hotmail account for their emails, our perception changes. ‘These guys aren’t serious about their business.’ ‘They’re using a Hotmail account, so I’ll place a bet on the person behind the screen being far from tech savvy.’
While yes, you’re right, we are a) more versed on the topic and b) tech savvy is our middle name. But, this perception isn’t uncommon throughout threads on social media. You may very well be tech savvy, so don’t couple your schmick looking website or cohesive Instagram feed with a Hotmail email.
Be consistent with your brands image and prove you’re willing to invest in the small cost of a reliable and supported paid email service. Anyway, mail@auzi.com is much more professional than auzi@hotmail.com.
Most importantly, mail@auzi.com is safe from the Hotmail black hole – let’s not risk it.
