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Other common examples of email prefixes include the sender’s first name, the sender’s role, or a department within the business.
Paired with a professional email domain, an email prefix positions a business as credible in the eye of recipients, creating a sense of trust with leads and customers. A good email prefix for a small business comes in two formats: a generic email prefix and a personalized email prefix.
A generic email prefix is usually the name of a department within the company, the sender’s role, or a general name for a general customer-related task.
For example, this email prefix from the Scripted team is a generic one, “support@…”. Such email addresses are used for customer support and general inquiries.
Here are some more examples:
A personalized email prefix, on the other hand, is usually the sender’s first name or first name and last name. For example, Revue uses the sender’s first name as the email prefix.
The username is usually determined when the account is initially created.
Each of these two email prefixes can be used by businesses for different purposes, depending on the use case in the examples cited above.
A valid email prefix format is one that is acceptable by email providers and recipients. It’s important that the email prefix any business chooses adheres to these rules:
These best practices should help you choose the right prefix for your brand.
Examples of valid email prefix formats include: abc@company.com, abc123@company.com, abc.jkl@company.com, abc_k@company.com, ab-c@company.com, and more.
Examples of invalid email prefix formats include: _abc@company.com, abc..b@company.com, ab-@company.com, abc#@company.com, .ab@company.com, and more.
For a small business, it’s recommended to minimize or eliminate the use of numbers, especially for businesses using a custom domain.
Finding an email prefix that matches the sender’s intent should be easier than when it’s a free domain like @gmail.com. For example, use billings@ for finance-related messages, careers@ for recruitment purposes, or a familiar name for a newsletter to build a close relationship with subscribers.
Choosing when to use a generic or personalized email address can be tricky.
Some emails end up in spam because the sender favored using a generic email like “info@“ over a personalized one. But a generic email might not be the only reason why they get flagged as spam. Weak subject lines, sales-heavy content, and more contribute to this and cause a decline in open rates.
As much as generic emails seem like they lack personalization, some business owners have found a way to make them more personable.
Take the Product Led Institute, for example:
Its email address reads, “hello@productled.com”, but the username subscribers see before they click to read the full message is its founder’s name, Wes Bush.
Pairing a generic email address with a personalized username is one way to avoid ending up in the spam folder, humanize the brand, and get some love from email providers.
Some brands pair a generic name with a generic email address, and they pull this off flawlessly. Investopedia is an example of such a brand:
One of the reasons it’s easy for them to pull this off is the authority the company has already built over the years. A small business may be unable to pull this off and stay relevant with recipients.
At the early stages, while building a relationship with subscribers, it’s advisable to mirror Product Led’s approach—pair a familiar name with a generic email. Or pair a familiar name (or the sender’s name) with a personalized email prefix, like the screenshot below.
After nailing the email prefix, pairing it with a reliable domain is all a small business owner needs to get started with crafting and engaging their audience with compelling copy and offers.
It’s advisable for a small business to use a custom email domain and avoid generic domains like @yahoo or @gmail. A custom email address makes the business appear more credible in the eyes of its audience. It’s even better when the custom domain matches the business name.
Choosing the right domain name starts with choosing the hosting company. Companies like GoDaddy, Bluehost, Hostgator, and more sell email hosting services with custom domain names.
All a business owner needs to do is check for availability of their business name and purchase if available. If the domain name isn’t available, the owner can choose a variation of the business name so customers and prospects can still identify and relate with the business.
Once the setup is complete, the business owner can start engaging with their audience.
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