BUSINESS BRANDED EMAIL

Over the years I’ve dealt with thousands of customers, exchanged thousands of business cards and sent another couple of thousand emails back and forth. The one thing that has always caught my eye, especially on someone’s business card is the use of a free domain or another business’ domain name (botsnet.bw or btcmail, gmail.com, yahoo.com, vbn.co.bw etc) used as part of their email address. It seems there are lots of business owners who are not using  business branded emails but prefer to use services such Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo as well as some of our local ISP branded domains.

Here are 5 reasons why you NEED to have a business branded email.

1. PROFESSIONALISM

You are a professional, representing a professional practice, and your email address should reflect this. Your colleagues’ email addresses should reflect this branded professionalism as well. Your email is usually one of the first avenues of contact that you have with potential customers or buyers. Get rid of that Gmail address and start representing your business in a professional manner.

Think about it. Here you are, a Managing Director or Marketing Director of your company, seeking business from your potential customer and you’re not willing to invest in the way you present yourself through your emails? Some people that are not brand conscious may ignore it but I can guarantee that for others, that’s the last time you will ever hear from them.

2. BRANDING & MARKETING

Why promote other businesses by having their brand on your business card? In other words, you are indirectly selling their product and NOT getting paid for it! You should be promoting your business name. Branding and marketing are two of the most important components in any business. A simple thing like having your business name on a domain speaks volumes about your outlook on branding. It suggests that you consider even the smallest details and that you take your brand very seriously. In recent months, two well known ISP companies in Botswana had to undergo the painful undertaking of informing their customers that they would be forcing a change of domain name attached to customer email addresses, forcing their customers to change their email addresses, in a sense. Can you imagine the horror of now having to inform all your contacts and associates that due to circumstances beyond your control, you are now forced to adopt a new domain and change your email address! Well, the truth is that the ISP is within their right to do that. They are at liberty to do what ever they want. Why? Because the domain belongs to them. It’s their property, their brand, extended to their customers. In such cases, the customer isn’t in control!

Purchasing your own domain gives you full ownership of that domain, thus giving you control on how, when and what that domain can be used for. For example, if you were running with a btcmail or Gmail domain name, you could forget about trying to host your business website on it!

3. CAN MY BUSINESS  BE TRUSTED?

One of the most important qualities of a business is credibility. Showing that you use a free Gmail or Yahoo email for  your business doesn’t instil trust. So, let me ask you a question. Would you entrust your business to a law firm, for example, that used something like lawyer.mothusi@yahoo.com? I’m sure you would be highly suspicious. What about a printing business or an IT repair shop?

4. SECURITY, PRIVACY AND SUPPORT

Privacy Violations with Free Email Services

To quote an interesting article on the subject of  privacy; “There are a multitude of privacy issues, with which Gmail and Yahoo Email, to name just two, have been plagued over the past several years. Google has had breach of privacy issues ever since changing its privacy policy in March 2012, allowing them to store and use data from their various internet services to create detailed user profiles. And it’s no secret that Google’s robots read your Gmail messages, and that Google mines and stores an enormous amount of data. Yahoo email has its own history of spam and hacked accounts. Consider that all free email services may be creating huge marketing databases for some future use.“ – Meg Guiseppi 

In fact, if you are a top executive busy job hunting whilst using these free domains consider reading Meg Guiseppi‘s article.

If you depended on your email address as being an integral business communication tool, why use such a risky platform or service? If things go wrong with your email address, who is going to assist you? Remember, these services are free and if and when your account goes down, you are on your own.

5. BUY BOTSWANA | Support Local!

Here’s an extract from BOCRA’s (Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority) .BW website:

LET’S FIX THIS – DITCH YOUR FREE EMAIL ADDRESS

Getting a domain name is a very painless and easy process. It’s inexpensive and quick! Bit-Bite offers domain registration and email hosting services. We can help you .com, .net, .org, .co.bw domains in a matter of minutes. If you’re still using one of those generic email providers, and you’ve read this post, the first thing you should do is setup your business email.

1. Click HERE to get started.
2. We can setup all your accounts and get you up and running in a couple of hours
3. Want to know more about our email hosting service? Click Here
4. If you need a representative from our company to personally call or pay you a visit, please call us on 240 3186

Hey everyone,

Thanks for taking some time to learn and appreciate what we’ve worked so hard bringing to your computers and devices. We are excited to announce that we finally have new features installed that a lot of you have been asking us about. The aim of this article is to equip you with your new tools and handles on how to better manage your emails.

With our email platform, you should already be able to access your emails from the following from and devices clients:

1. Microsoft Office Outlook for both Mac and Windows
2. Mac mail clients
3. Webmail
4. Tablets and Smartphones with either Andriod or IOS

If you are struggling to access your emails from anyone of these clients, please contact support for assistance.

Now, I would like to bring your attention to our new features. Here’s what we’ve added to your existing subscription plan:

• Self-help auto setup tool
• Domain aliases
• Email forwarding
• Out of office auto-responder – This is a big one!
• SMS password reset – Very very important
• Attach files from Dropbox

Most of these features are controlled from your Webmail interface. So, what is Webmail?

Webmail is an email system in which a user can access their emails via a browser on any computer or device that is connected to the Internet. I love webmail! Its a powerful tool I personally use to manage mails, especially when I’m not in the office. And thanks to an email protocol called IMAP, all data and folders synchronise with my Outlook when I’m back in the office.

NOTE:

• These new features and upgrades DO NOT apply to our Gmail platform-based clients and our Hosted Exchange clients. If you are currently on our Gmail platform, we encourage you to consider migrating to Bit-Bite Mail. To upgrade your service to Bit-Bite Mail or Bit-Bite Mail Plus, send an upgrade request to manuel@bit-bite.com.

Domain tools and services

1. Self-help auto setup tool. This tool will assist you in setting up your newly created email account on your device or client of choice or assist you in troubleshooting connectivity issues with an existing email account. Here is the link – https://help.emailsrvr.com: Sign in with your credentials and follow the wizard and prompts. Quite simple really.
2. Domain aliases – To add an alias to your existing domain name, kindly contact support for assistance.

Email tools and services

The rest of the above mentioned new tools are found in our Webmail platform. Don’t worry about your Outlook settings clashing with your Webmail settings. Webmail will in a sense take control and help “enforce” your new rules across all your devices and clients. Your Webmail will be your news settings control centre.

1. Log on to your Webmail account. Here is the link: http://mail.bit-bite.com. If you do not remember your password, kinldy contact support for assistance.
2. Once logged in, look for your settings button. Its located at your top right hand corner of your browser. Click to access a set of options. Refer to the image below:
3. 
4. SMS Password Reset – Click “Update phone” to further increase your security and user verification options. This option will assist you in future when resetting lost passwords. Very handy!
5. For more options, go to “Settings” Refer to the image below:
6. 
7. Once clicked, your “Settings” option will open up a windows similar to what you see above.
8. Out of office auto-responder and Forwarding – Take some to explore your settings and see what other options have to offer. The “Incoming Email” option will grant you more options, enabling you set auto-replies, forwarding tools and filters. Additionally, the auto-reply and forwarding tools have time frame features, allowing users to set up their configurations within desired time frames. This is ideal for office professionals going on leave or attending events where they don’t have access to emails. Once finished with your setup, remember to click “save” at the bottom corner of the settings window to keep your new commands active.
9. Spam Settings – This feature allows you to block or allow emails and help categorise your mails into organised documents. You now have control over how your spam is managed and you can block all those pesky ads and spammers that fill up your mailbox.
10. Change Password – This setting allows you to change your mailbox password. It’s always a good idea to maintain a strong password to keep intruders and hackers out. However, if you do decide to change your password on Webmail, you will have to update all your clients and devices with your newly created password to avoid service interruptions on your clients and devices.

Well, there you have it. Enjoy your new features and thank you for taking the time to read this post.