How (and Why) I Set Up Custom Emails

No matter what your brand is, and why people are emailing you, having a custom email address will always work to your advantage. It’s a seemingly small detail that instantly gives your brand a boost in your credibility, and portrays it as much more professional than your competitors who are using generic emails.

The best part is setting this up can be done within a day, and there is a free option that works really well for brands that are on a budget. As long as you own your domain (which is even more important), nothing is stopping you from having a custom email that corresponds with it.

If you have a team, it’s also great to be able to be the administrator of their company email accounts. Besides that, it creates a culture of professionalism and a feeling of being an important part of a real team, knowing that they have personal company emails.

The Ideal Option
The Free Option (It's Still Good!)

The Ideal Option

GSuite gives you all the benefits of having a GMail, and all the benefits of having a custom email address. GMail has already proven to be the superior generic email service; besides their great inbox features, having a GMail account gives you access to a number of cloud based applications that make work and personal tasks a whole lot easier.

For small businesses, the Basic plan provides GSuite email addresses for $6 a month per user. This is especially useful for teams that rely on Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides to work. You also will have unlimited use of Google Hangouts and Meets with your professional email, which is a great look for both internal calls and calls with customers or clients. All of these are already popular tools for remote collaboration and cloud storage. GSuite accounts each get 30GB free in Google Drive, and file sharing can be customized to be limited to accounts within the organization.

There are larger plans for organizations that require more file storage, more robust security features, and premium support from Google. You can check out the details and discover which plan is best for you on their website.

It’s also easier to set up your Google Business panel with a GMail address, and that’s a tool that I would argue every company needs. Personal brands in some situations may need to set this up too.

The only reason that GSuite may not be the right solution for you, is if you are not ready to pay for it or if your organization simply doesn’t require the use of cloud based tools.

The Free Option (It's Still Good!)

I use Zoho Workplace’s Forever Free plan for my clients who are on a tight budget or who are really only interested in sending and receiving emails. The plan allows up to 5 free email addresses on your custom domain. It has to be linked to a phone number, and you can only set up one domain per phone number.

Zoho Workplace also has similar cloud based applications to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. There is also a calendar, and cloud storage. The issue with them is collaborators will not be as familiar with the interface as they are with Google’s and they are just not as technically robust.

You have to scroll for a bit to actually access this plan option, it’s not something they promote anymore. Check out their pricing page here.

This plan is a good option to start with if you are still figuring out your brand and haven’t started making a consistent profit. Otherwise, those monthly bills start to add up and become a strain on your finances, especially if you need multiple accounts for your brand.

Each of these tools have resources on how to set them up if you are confident in your ability to get them done. I also have a service where I set up domains, hosting, Google Business, and email. Whatever you choose, it doesn’t have to be permanent. Switching is a hassle that you want to avoid unless absolutely necessary, but it can be done.