Should We Stop Using a Free Gmail Address for the Business?
A business has used the same free Gmail or Yahoo address since it started, and it's never caused an obvious problem, so it's easy to assume it doesn't need to change.
What you might notice
Quotes and invoices go out from an address that doesn't match the business name on the website, and every so often, an email seems to just not get a reply.
What's actually going on
A free email address on a business card or invoice quietly reads as unfinished, on top of that, email sent without the technical setup a real business domain provides is more likely to land in spam than a customer, or the business, ever realizes.
Why it matters
A missed email can look identical to a customer who just didn't respond, when the actual cause was a message that never arrived at all.
What the fix usually involves
Setting up email on the business's own domain, like you@yourbusiness.com, along with the technical records that keep it out of spam, fixes both problems at once: how the business looks and whether its messages actually land.