The Freemail Pitfalls

In January’s newsletter, I covered the Four Pillars for any Business, and why selecting the right tools as the foundation of your business is critical to your success. In this installment of Mike’s Musings, I’d like to dive a little deeper into one of the common traps and why you should avoid it for your business - that is the use of Freemail.

When discussing the use of Freemail in business, we often hear comments like, “It’s free and it works, so why pay for something else?” Well, here are a few very good reasons to spend $6-7 a month.

Anything offered for free always has a catch

In any product or service offered, if you are not purchasing said product or service , you are the product.

All services have a cost. Companies offering the service must cover that cost. If you are not paying for the service, the company providing the service is leveraging you and the data you provide (along with all its other subscribers) to recoup the cost and make a tidy profit. How do they do it? The two most common ways companies turn your free use into cash through either advertising revenue, direct sales of your contact information, or both.

For personal use, okay. For business, notsomuch.

So you use Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail personally. You are familiar with the services. Why not use them for your business right? Wrong. Here’s why:

1. While you may be fine with personal use data being farmed, you should assume you have next to zero data privacy. Communications and data about your business should never be exposed for the whole world to see. Doing so leaves your business vulnerable so hackers targeting your company with Social Engineering exploits like Spoofing, Phishing, Smishing and Vishing, with no ability to secure your data.
2. Because you can’t expect any reasonable data privacy, you are potentially giving your competitors vital information about how to compete with you. Information you send to vendors and customers is valuable to your competitors. If you’re sending and receiving sensitive information with Freemail , you should expect it to be reasonably easy to get.
3. Because you have no semblance of privacy, you are susceptible to the all-dreaded spam, spam, spam. I’m not sure if I know anyone that like’s spam. And because you are using a Freemail domain that you don’t own, there is nothing you can do to prevent it.
4. You are missing out on the ability to brand your communications. If you have a website, you likely have a domain registered for your business. You registered the domain for branding and marketing purposes. You cannot use your domain with Freemail services. So, every email you send is a missed opportunity to reinforce your brand.

The Real Costs of Business Class Email

Business-class Email costs about $6-7 per month per mailbox. Sure, you can add on other features and services to suit your needs, but value of Business-class email alone is obvious. At CMHWorks, we offer not only the Email services at the same price you can buy it directly from the providers, but also the setup, support and maintenance because we believe it is fundamental for any business.