I’ve talked before about why you shouldn’t use a Hotmail or Gmail account for your business. But there’s another mistake many business email users make, and that’s not to put a “From” name into their email system.

If you don’t do that, most email services will simply take the first part of the email address and use that.

For example, I’ve had two emails today, one from “Info” and the other from “Sales.” How impersonal is that? Even though each was signed with a person’s name, I had to open them to find out who they were from. I was tempted to reply “Hello Sales…..”

Aside from the impersonality, it also means some people will assume they are spam emails and delete them. There’s a simple solution, just add your name – the email address can still be sales@yourdomain.com but when I check the inbox it will show “Your Name.” If you want to make sure the reader knows it’s a company email, then use something like “Mike – Camel Media Group.”

There’s one other big no as far as I’m concerned. And that’s the penchant for (admittedly larger companies) who seem to now send emails from noreply@yourdomain.com and then add some text into the email explaining that it has been sent from an email address that isn’t monitored.

Why?

And why do I then have to go to their websites and hunt around for an address that works if I do want to ask a question?

It’s simply poor customer service.

Send yourself an email now, and get all your staff to do the same:

• What message are you all sending out?
• Is the branding and information in the signature consistent?