We’ve all been told that there is no such thing as a free lunch, yet it’s hard to resist the siren’s call of “FREE.” That’s one of the reasons why so many people have free e-mail accounts through Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo, and AOL.

The thing is that, while you might not be paying out of pocket for these services, there IS a cost. Here’s the price you pay when you use a free e-mail account:

  1. An Extra Helping Of Spam: And loads of it. Are these free services selling your e-mail account? Do spammers have ways of gleaning your e-mail account? No one seems to know for sure (or at least they’re not talking). But the bottom line is you’ll end up with more ads for Viagra than you bargained for.
  2. Your E-mails Aren’t Guaranteed Delivery: Most spam messages come from free e-mail accounts. Even though you aren’t sending them, spam filters look at the server sending your message and, if it’s a known source for spam, will block the e-mail from going through. That means your e-mails might be getting blocked before they even reach the sender.
  3. Customer Service? Non-existent! You get what you pay for. If you have a problem, you’re on your own to figure it out.
  4. Difficulty In Moving, Forwarding, or Downloading: Free e-mail services require that you read your e-mail through their web interface. If you want to move, forward or download your e-mail, contacts, or other information, the process is often cumbersome or even impossible.
  5. No Archiving: E-mail archiving or storing old e-mails in a searchable, retrievable format has become very important (even a legal requirement) in some industries like medical and financial. E-mail is considered a form of communication; if you use it to support customers, order products, or negotiate any deals, you want/need to keep a record. More often than not, free services don’t offer the option.

So, while these free services are okay for chatting casually with your friends, they are NOT recommended for business purposes or for sending anything you consider important.

Here’s a question to ask yourself: if your e-mail account was erased tomorrow and all of the messages, contact information, and history went bye-bye, would it be a slight inconvenience or a catastrophe? If it’s the latter, then you need to bite the bullet and get a “real” e-mail account.

And while you’re at it, you should also get an account that reflects your own URL.

The only reason for keeping a free e-mail account is to provide certain websites with an e-mail address when you don’t care about getting communications from them or that may spam you later on.

Not sure which email service is best for your business or how to get an account that reflects your company URL? Give us a call. Meeting Tree Computer has helped businesses just like yours since 1999. You can reach us at (845) 237-2117.