Choose and use email addresses with the future in mind

#3 | 2 July 2024

Choose and use email addresses with the future in mind

Forward planning will pay off

I’ve been going through my contact lists, combining and updating them. What a trip down memory lane! One thing that’s become clear is how many email addresses reflect a point in one’s life rather than the long term. I’m guessing a significant number of the email addresses I saved 20+ years ago are no longer in use for a variety of reasons.

Work email

Some email addresses are rightly tied to one’s work, whether you work for yourself or for an organization. You only need that email account for the period of time you’re working with that entity. If you’re careful about only using that account for work, and not for personal communication or accounts, then closing that account when you leave that work behind will not be a problem. However, if you used your work email for personal connections or anything you want to keep accessing going forward, you’re going to have a challenge separating your personal stuff from your work email address. It’s safe to assume you’re going to leave that organization when you retire, if not sooner.

School email

If you have a school-provided email address, treat it the same as a work address described above. Use it only for school-related accounts and communication. You will have to leave this address behind so it’s best not to use it widely. Finishing school can also mean losing access to a cloud-based drive where you’ve stored information. If you want to keep your content or data, you’ll need to export it before you lose access to your account.

Personal and family email

Personal email accounts offer more flexibility (they’re not given to you) and they can endure the test of time. I recommend thinking about your email address as an unofficial form of identity. Your personal email address is unique and only for you. It can never be an official form of identification like a social insurance/security number because you can change your email address, but a carefully chosen email address can serve you well for a long time.

There are two parts to every email address: the username and domain, which are separated by an @ symbol. For personal email, and for your own business, be mindful about choosing both parts. To be clear, your personal email address and your own business (work) email address should not be the same. (More on your business email below.)

Choosing a provider or domain

The domain for your email can come from an email provider or it can be your own custom domain name. Anyone can have a custom domain with inexpensive domain registration and hosting.

For personal email, if you don’t have your own domain and don’t want one, I suggest choosing a free email service that’s not tied to your work, school, or internet service. I’ve covered work and school above, but why not use your internet service provider’s (ISP) email service? So many of us have email accounts like this because our choices were very limited a couple decades ago.

An ISP email account works for many people, but be aware that it’s tied to subscribing to a service with that company. If you move out of province or country, want to change your service provider, or want to upgrade your email service and functionality, you’ll have to give up that email address. This is exactly why ISPs offer email service. It’s sticky! Changing an email address you’ve used for “everything” can be daunting, but it is doable. I have done it and I wrote an article explaining how. If you’re interested, see Making the move to a new email address and provider.

Choosing a username

Your username (in front of the @) is also important. Is this address for your personal use only, or is it a shared family account? If you choose to have a family account, I’d suggest that each person still needs a personal account in their own username, and that you keep the family email address strictly for shared accounts and communication. There are some good articles about doing this. Look up “family email account.”

Do you want people to know your email address belongs to you? I found some email addresses in my contacts that offer no clue to the person’s name, and unfortunately, I hadn’t noted it. I realize not using your name may be a deliberate choice, but is this the address you want to use with your family and friends?

Your business email

If you’re a small business owner, having a custom domain for your business email is ideal. Your custom domain is a marketing tool and it presents your business in a professional light. With a custom domain, you’re advertising your business website address every time you share your email address.

As your business grows, a custom domain also allows you to create consistent email addresses for team members or different functions in your business. For usernames, use the same naming pattern for individuals (such as first name only, first + last, initial + last), and words like “admin” or “support” for functional accounts.

The sooner you decide to use a custom domain for your business email, the better. Set up your business email as soon as possible to avoid using your personal email address for business-related accounts and contacts. If you start out using a personal address, you’ll have business email in two places and will have some untangling to do (or you’ll have to keep monitoring two accounts for your business).

If you have a business website with your own domain but haven’t used it for email yet, it’s not too late. You can use your custom domain for email by taking a few steps with your hosting service or a subscription to Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and others.

I hope these suggestions are helpful! Reply to this email anytime and let me know what’s on your mind. If reading this on theowlsedge.ca, subscribers can log in and leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you.