How to Adjust Your Personal Email to Suit a Professional Setting: Do’s and Don’ts
By Space Coast Daily // January 17, 2023
Many freelancers and beginner entrepreneurs use their personal email accounts to send and receive messages.
If you want an affordable way to send professional emails, then you’ll need to know how to adjust your personal account.
You can send professional messages to clients or customers that meet corporate etiquette by making minor changes to your email. To assist you, we’ve provided tips on adjusting your settings and advice on what to avoid.
The Do’s of Adjusting Your Personal Email
Setting up your personal email so you can send professional emails can be a challenge if you’re unsure what to do. This section discusses what you should add if you want your emails to be recognized and opened by the receiver.
Create a Professional Email Address
Using an email app such as Spike allows you to create a professional email address for your personal account. It’s important to have a professional address, so clients or customers don’t think that your messages are from a spam account.
Additionally, a professional address allows you to create brand awareness if you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur. If you add your company name, users can easily associate your business with your address.
They’ll know exactly who’s sending the email when they receive a notification which may prompt them to open the message.
Lastly, using a professional email address can prevent email spoofing, which is when hackers duplicate your email to send spam.
Set Up Signatures
Employees at any company will always have a signature at the bottom of emails. The information provided in the signature lets the receiver know who the sender is and what profession they’re in.
Set up automatic signatures so that they appear at the bottom of every message you send. This way, you won’t have to manually type out your signature every time you want to send a message.
Your email signature should include your full name, job description, and contact information. You can also include links to your website. Here is an example of what your signature should look like:
Joe Doe
Senior Content Marketing Specialist
E: JoeDoe@xyzmail.com
P: 123-467-0057
You can add other details to your signature but make sure it’s not too long. Simply having your name and contact details present should suffice.
Get Organized with Folders and Labels
If you’re using your personal email to run a small business on the side, then you’ll want to keep your inbox organized. Create folders for each client and add all information associated with that client into a folder.
Using folders allows you to keep your inbox tidy so you know which messages to keep and which ones to delete. Most email clients have bulk actions where you can delete or archive hundreds of emails at a time. Adding emails to folders prevents you from deleting important information.
The Don’ts of Adjusting Your Personal Email
There are certain factors you must know if you don’t want your emails to land up in a recipient’s spam folder or create an unsafe situation for yourself. In this section, we talk about what you should avoid when adjusting your personal email to suit a professional setting.
Don’t Forget Add-Ons
When sending out professional emails, you must ensure that there are no grammatical errors. To assist you with this, you can use add-ons such as Grammarly to notify you if you’ve spelled a word incorrectly or if you’ve left out a full stop.
Furthermore, Spike allows you to add other professional tools to your emails, like task management, voice memos, collaborative notes, and even group chats. So if you’re working with others, you can use these tools to work on projects together.
Avoid Using Nicknames
If you set up a professional email address, don’t use nicknames. Instead, include your full name or even the name of your small business. You should also avoid using numbers and special characters in your address because it can affect your credibility.
What’s more, numbers and special characters can also cause spam alerts on your messages, so your emails will most likely never be seen by the recipient. If the address you want has already been taken, consider using underscores or a dash to separate your name and surname.
Don’t Provide Too Much Detail in Signatures
Your email signature is important, especially if you want clients or customers to phone you or visit your website. But there is information you should avoid using in your email signature, like:
- Your home address
- Pointless information such as quotes or certifications
- Disclaimers
- Unreadable fonts and colors
- Links that don’t work
- Too many images
On the other hand, you can add your company logo, but make sure it’s not too big or bulky. Your email signature should only include your name, profession, and contact details. Providing too much information can be a safety risk.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, you can use your personal email to send out professional messages. But you may have to make slight adjustments to your account. Use the information provided in this post, so you know what to do and what factors to avoid.
