Ideas for e-mail name?

Question

Hello BP team.

I got to thinking about this thread a great deal and have decided, yes, I should have a real business e-mail address for my company.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/59890-the-truth-about-your-e-mail-account

I've had the domain registered with GoDaddy for some time now, but haven't built a web site yet. However, I learned just today it does come with a free e-mail account. So I'm wondering what I should use for my company's ONE e-mail address? I do NOT want to use my own name, e.g., MitchK@mydomain.com, although I do agree that is very common in business. I want a generic departmental type of e-mail address such as info@mydomain.com or admin@mydomain.com, but something a little less common (will probably cut down on the spam as well).

The e-mail address I choose will go on my business cards and on company paperwork such as credit applications and contracts, so I was thinking about something like management@mydomain.com or operations@mydomain.com.

Any ideas or examples of e-mail addresses you use or have seen that is kind of a "catch-all-one-stop-shop"??? Thanks for brainstorming with me.

Rob Gillespie · Answer

For your cards, I would use your first name. I agree with Mr Investor.  People want to deal with real people, they will trust you more. With that said, I would NEVER put it on craigslist, you will get a ton of spam. Instead have several emails set up for different things. I have one that is only for my opt ins and coupons, another for craigslist, and one for my actual business contacts.
You can still have them all go to one location for ease of reading.

Bryan Hancock · Answer

I would use Mitch@...something.  L.B.P. is going to be very challenging to explain over the phone.  One of my business names is H2i, LLC.  Try explaining that over the phone...it is the number two...not T.W.O.....and when you write it people think the "I" is a "1" so I use the lowercase.  Ugh!

If your business name won't change I would consider using something other that L.B.P to make it easier to explain over the phone.  You can always file a D/B/A to help.

You can always default to Mitch@pimpbling.com.  That should send the right message ;-)

Paul B. · Answer

I advise against using "role-based" email addresses (for example, info@, sales@).

First of all, as has been offered, it looks impersonal. Maybe it's something you use on a Web site (although there's a reason you shouldn't do that, either), but I would not use it on a business card.

The other reason I would advise against role-based email address is that every spammer in the world knows to try info@, sales@, webmaster@, etc., when trying to guess valid email addresses.

Now, you're probably taking efforts to reduce spam, anyway (like I forward all my email to Gmail, let their spam filter do its thing, then collect the filtered email), but I would not use such an obvious email address for my own.

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

Using a generic email addy like info@, ceo@, management@ may work for craigslist or ads, but I'd never use an address like that for personal correspondence.

For any kind of personal dealings, I'd use your first name@ or first initial.last name@ or somthing like that.

Otherwise, it is fairly unimportant in the scheme of things.  Just pick one and go with it.

Good luck!

Sharad M. · Answer

How about info@mydomain.com? I have my domain registered at go daddy as well. You get one email address to send emails but you can create multiple emails to receive emails and they all come to one email inbox. Like i have one primary email as myname@mydomain.com and then i use info@ and manager@ to give out to other people depending on whom i am speaking with. Check with godaddy about email forwardings you receive for free from godaddy.

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

California knows everything about my LLC except who the member(s) are. When the Articles of Organization and Statement of Information were filed, the only names provided where those of my resident agent and the company's manager.

And yes, my LLC has a business license in one city (the others don't require one for rental properties) and they don't have my name either.

Finally, no, there's no way around the $800 California franchise fee that I'm aware of. But my LLC pays it, not me.

Becky Watkins · Answer

Rather, does that mean you get to avoid paying the $800 minimum annual tax?

And I agree that using your name is a good idea, and it is kind of a catchall because then it could be Mitch the CEO, Mitch the handyman (because the co is lenient with emails), Mitch the manager, etc.  I've used lunarpages and had a package that allowed unlimited, or at least a lot of emails that I wasn't able to max out (twenty/fifty).  I like godaddy for initial registration but would look into transfering to other companies for additional services.

Ann Bellamy · Answer

I don't think it is a deal killer either way, but info@ looks like it goes to a black hole.  Certainly not a real person.  I would use some form of my name, so that you are perceived as a person, not a bot, and you can have lots of email addresses all funnel to one place.

Account Closed · Answer

How about

management@mydomain.com

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

No, at least not in California. The Articles of Organization (LLC-1) simply ask for the name and address of the resident agent and the signature and name of the person organizing the LLC, a manager in my case. The second form, Statement of Information (LLC-12), asks again for the resident agent and the signature and name of the person signing the form. LLC-12 also asks for the complete name(s) and address(es) of any "managers" OR IF NONE, the name(s) and address(es) of the members. Those two letters, "O" and "R" are the key to keeping your own name off the docs.

Ideas for e-mail name?

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