Gmail from Google is probably the most popular free email service on the planet today, with hundreds of millions of people all over the world signed up and using this platform each and every single day.
Most of those folks are using their Gmail account for personal use, but there are a significant amount of Gmail users leveraging this platform for business use. But should they be?
The dangers of using your Gmail account for business
There are definitely some drawbacks to using the Gmail platform for your business emails, and you’ll need to make sure you understand EXACTLY what the biggest ones are before you dive right in.
For starters, there’s a credibility problem for businesses that use Gmail, especially if these operations or solo entrepreneurs are relatively new to the industry.
Because this is a free email service, a lot of more established businesses and business people are going to wonder why an otherwise successful business wouldn’t make the transition to email platforms from their own domain – a domain that they would have to pay for.
This kind of hit to your credibility can be a big problem, especially if you’re a solo act and providing services. You want to put your best foot forward, and if people think you’re too cheap to spring for a legitimate email from a paid domain – or if you’re cutting corners and pinching pennies – they may not have the full confidence in you to make the hiring decision.
You also run the risk of Google and their search robots combing through the information you have emailed back and forth with business contacts and using that data in a way that you never would have expected them to. After all, when you sign up for this service you sign away certain rights, and there’s really no such thing as a free lunch.
You don’t have to pay to use their email platform with cold hard cash, but you definitely pay for it with your data.
There are some big benefits to using Gmail for business, too
At the same time, there are some significant advantages to using Gmail for business that can’t be understated, either.
For starters, Gmail is one of the most secure and technologically safe solutions you can use today. Google is one of the biggest – if not THE biggest – tech company on the planet today, and they take their security very seriously.
You won’t have to worry about patching security flaws on your own, you won’t have to worry about maintaining your server, and you won’t have to worry about fighting off attackers. Google handles ALL of that heavy lifting for you.
Your delivery rates will also shoot through the roof when you’re sending emails out cold, thanks to the approval and whitelisting of the Gmail DNS servers.
Combine all of that with the tight integration of Gmail solutions with most of the apps you’re already using – including the default email apps on your smartphone and tablet – and you’ll have no trouble accessing your business emails from anywhere (or any device) on the planet.
If you’re like to learn how to set up a brand new Gmail account for your business, check out this quick guide. If, one the other hand, you want to setup your own custom domain with email, this guide here has the info you’ll need!
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