A professional email address for your trade business
An email address like you@yourbusiness.co.uk instead of a Gmail or Hotmail address is one of the cheapest upgrades a trade business can make. It looks established on the van and on quotes, and it is yours to keep whichever email provider you use.
Why it is worth doing
A free address works, but it says sole trader working from a phone, and some customers read that as less established. An address on your own domain matches your website and makes quotes and invoices look like they come from a business.
More importantly, it belongs to you. If you ever move from one email provider to another, the address stays the same, and customers, suppliers and accounts never need updating.
What you need
First, a domain name, such as yourbusiness.co.uk. A .co.uk costs a few pounds a year. Register it in your own name and your own account, not your web designer's, so you always control it.
Then choose how you want the email to work. There are two common ways.
Option one: forwarding
Email sent to you@yourbusiness.co.uk is passed on to your existing Gmail or Outlook inbox. Many domain companies offer this free or cheaply. It is a good way to start, but replying so that your answer comes from the business address needs extra setup, and it is easy to slip back into replying from the old one.
Option two: a proper mailbox
Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 give you a real mailbox on your domain, working in the Gmail or Outlook app on your phone, with a calendar and file storage. They charge a monthly fee for each person; check current prices on their websites. For most trade businesses one mailbox is plenty, with extra addresses such as quotes@ set up as aliases at no extra cost.
Set it up so it does not land in spam
Three DNS records, known as SPF, DKIM and DMARC, tell other email systems that messages from your domain are genuine. Without them, quotes can end up in the customer's spam folder. Your email provider gives you the values, and whoever manages your domain or website can add them.
Test it by sending a message to a Gmail address and checking it arrives in the inbox, not spam.
Switch without losing anything
Keep your old address running for a year and check it, or set it to forward. Update the van, cards, invoices, your Google Business Profile, your website and any supplier accounts. Your old emails stay where they are; nothing is deleted by switching.
Common questions
- How much does a business email address cost?
- The domain is a few pounds a year. Forwarding is often free with the domain. A full mailbox from Google or Microsoft is a monthly fee per person; check their sites for current prices.
- Can I keep using the Gmail app?
- Yes. With forwarding the email arrives in your existing Gmail, and with Google Workspace you use the same Gmail app with your business address.
- Will I lose my old emails if I switch?
- No. Your old account and its emails stay as they are. Keep it running for a while so nothing sent to the old address is missed.
If you would rather somebody just did it
I build websites for self-employed tradesmen and small businesses across the UK: £249.99 to build, then £49.99 a month to host, maintain and update it. The sites I have built show on page one of Google for 103 searches between them, in Search Console.