How to choose the right business and personal email addresses

We’re often asked by customers how to choose an email address. Choosing an email address — one that’s memorable and professional-sounding — has more to it than it first seems. And not just businesses who ask, either. Customers with personal accounts also ask the best way to choose the right email address.

So, let’s dive right in and cover all the bases, starting with small businesses that want to guarantee they’re choosing a simple and professional email address.

Put your business name in your email address

It’s simple advice, but the biggest game-changer. If you choose a business email address that includes your business name, it’s going to pay dividends. The reasons why warrant an article themselves, but trust us, it's the easiest way to convey professionalism. Think of the most convincing spam messages you receive — the ones that make it past your initial internal filter, and require closer inspection. If you're like me, the first thing you'll do with messages like these is check the sending address. Anything from @gmail or @hotmail immediately raises alarm bells when it's meant to be a message from a registered company.
Putting your business name in your email address, especially if you already trade online, is an incredibly simple, affordable way to look legitimate, and by extension, makes it harder for others to pose as your business. This would look like yourname@yourbusiness.com. We’ll come on to how to set everything up later — as it’s the same process for both personal and professional customers.

So let's imagine you've done this already. What else might you want to consider? 

Email address structure

There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to how to stylize your email address. By and large you can do what you prefer - after all, there is no universally agreed structure. Different companies use what suits them best depending on their needs. But there are a few things to consider.

Should you use your first and last name in your email address?

Using both your names tends to look most professional, and, of course, prevents ambiguity in larger companies where multiple people may share the same first name. 

If you do use both names, should you use a dot?

Using a dot (full stop/period) is an effective way to separate first and last names. It makes it easier to identify the first and last names clearly, but it’s also perfectly fine to present them without a dot (as one word). 

What about privacy?

Using both names in your business email address means anyone you meet who has your name and company can figure out your email address. This can be both a good and a bad thing. You might want to trade off an element of transparency for greater privacy. For example, using initials and last names (eg: J. Brown@example.com) instead of full names. 

What about other special characters?

While dots are fine, you want to avoid using other special characters. These are non-standard, and could lead to confusion (is it an en dash, em dash, or something else entirely?). Using non-standard characters can make email addresses difficult to get right from memory, and to say verbally — and that’s without mentioning regional variations in special characters, and the fact some are not allowed in email addresses.

For roles that require high security, you could also use role-based or department-based emails, such as:

• support@example.com
• admin@example.com
• finance@example.com
• feedback@example.com 

For my own business I just use jamie@ — to me, it feels less formal, more friendly, and as a one-person company it felt unnecessarily formal to my customers to have both my names. Sometimes, I also relish the extra layer of anonymity it provides. 

What are aliases, and does my business need them?

An email address and an alias serve different purposes, and understanding their differences can help you decide whether you need both. 

An email address always relates to a specific mailbox — this means it has a login, storage for messages, and the ability to send messages. Typically, these are used by one person. An alias is slightly different — it’s an additional email address that forwards emails to one or more existing mailboxes. It does not have its own inbox or storage space. When an email is sent to an alias, it is automatically redirected to the associated mailbox. 

Functions of aliases

Dealing with large volumes of mail

Aliases are especially useful for businesses with large volumes of incoming mail. Firstly, they can allow for better email organization, for example, you can sort emails by which address they came from (eg: clients, suppliers, etc). 

Privacy

Many people choose the kinds of addresses we listed above as aliases to help keep members of staff anonymous. Particularly with complaints or other tricky communications, staff are likely to appreciate not being directly associated (by name) with the mail they send. This leads nicely onto the main benefit of alias email addresses…

Sharing mail

Perhaps the most useful function of alias addresses is to forward the messages received by them to multiple inboxes, so that every member of a department or team is all looped in. You’ll be familiar with aliases like returns@ or help@ — but choose ones that best fit your business. 

At a glance

Top ten aliases and mailboxes used

Need some examples of the best email addresses to use to make life easier for your business? Here are the top 10 email addresses chosen by our customers for their mailboxes and aliases.

As you can see from this list, companies mostly use these addresses to denote different departments and streamline communications within their organization.

How to choose a personal email addresses 

Now you’ve got your business email, can you improve your personal email address as well? How can you elevate your regular Gmail or Hotmail-style address to look professional? 

Let’s face it, even twenty years ago we had to add our birth year to our email in order to narrow it down. With more people having multiple accounts, the future looks even bleaker. jamielong90@ looks a lot better than jamielong2819532@ — not to mention how hard they’ll be to remember. So what can we do? Are there other hacks and tricks to getting the right email address?

Firstly, remember the rules above

Just because pretty much all of them apply here too. Avoid anything comical, unusual characters that could cause confusion, and so on. If you're choosing numbers, try to give them some significance to you, or if you are unable to do that, make them memorable (jamielong666@) — rather than include your full date of birth (jamielong111190@). 

Avoid over-complication, especially with spelling

It might be tempting to add a few letters to your name because you can remember it easily and it's available jamieielongng — but I guarantee it's going to cause confusion in the ‘longng’ run. If your name is naturally very difficult to spell or is frequently confused with another name, you might actually want to simplify or shorten it to make your life easier in the inevitable spelling-it-out-over-the-phone moments. 

Consider using nicknames or hobbies instead

JohnGuitar@ might have greater availability than JohnSmith@, and is probably more memorable as well. Just remember any word you pick needs longevity. If it's not something that you feel really passionate about, it might become an email address you regret. 

Changing your email address later is a hassle you should aim to avoid where possible, particularly if you plan to use it as a login for multiple websites or accounts. 

Avoid including too much personal information

Nobody's suggesting you'd pop in your mother's maiden name or your first pet, but avoid using your full birth date, address information, or anything else that might cause security issues in the wrong hands. Remember, your address is public-facing. 

Choose a lesser-known public domain or email provider

Public domains are the ones that anyone can use to register an email address — they’re your gmails and hotmails.

Some of the big names have other (lesser known) public domain options that could have better availability than their most popular. For example, alongside their flagship @hotmail, Microsoft has also allowed us to register @live @outlook and @msn over the years, as well as variations that use country domains (like .co.uk). Similarly, Apple have used @mac.com, @icloud.com, among others, over the years. 

Seeking out the less popular offerings from the giants might allow you to create an email address closer to what you want. The advantage is that you'll still have a memorable domain extension and a far better-fitting name. 

Be yourself by using a personal domain in your email address

But why bother scrabbling around in the crumbs dropped from a twenty-year-old buffet, when you can create a whole new feast of your own?

Because you don't have to have a business (or even run a website) to register a domain and get all of the benefits we outlined for businesses. Registering your own domain starts from around a dollar a year, but is never going to break the bank.

Having your own email plan means you can basically choose whatever you want as your name because you own the domain (and the domain is also personalized). You could have jamie@greatdesigns.art or plain old jamie@jamielong.com if you’re feeling unimaginative. The possibilities seem suddenly endless — but surely it isn’t easy to set up. You probably have to be a business or something…

Setting up your custom email address without a website/hosting

Actually, no. It’s incredibly easy to set up. It might surprise you to learn you don't need hosting or an actual website to have your own custom email address! 

The easiest way to set up an email account like this is to register a domain, and then simply add a plug-and-play-style mail service, like Spacemail that does the hard bit for you. It creates your mailbox, sets up the mail records (especially easy with Spaceship domains), and provides storage space without the need for a hosting plan.

You can even receive messages on your preferred email app. Let's face it, we’re all used to the app on our phones, so an email address that can easily be added to that is a huge plus. This is easy to set up and works with any providers that allow IMAP/SMTP integrations. 

You have the tools, now explore the endless possibilities 

Now you know the best way to find a professional email address, have some fun. You can start by seeking out your ideal domain and trying different ideas.

Whether you're a business or personal customer, we recommend searching for a domain and going the fully customizable route for longevity.

Spacemail offers a Starter plan for those without websites and Pro and Advanced plans for businesses seeking more space and functionality. With alias options included, extensive file management, and an advanced spam management tool, Spacemail is raising the bar in business email.