One thing I’m seeing on a repeated basis is email address that do not match the site or the business they were intended for. People seem to spend an inordinate amount of time and money getting their website so look exactly the way they want it, and in most cases, usually with highly polished results.
They then subsequently undo all of that good work by using a completely different email address in terms of the domain for the contact. I’ve seen a mix of Hotmail (probably the worst), GMail, Outlook, Yahoo - the list is endless. If you’ve purchased a domain, then why not use it for email also so that users can essentially trust your brand, and not make them feel like they are about to be scammed!
One core reason for this is design services. They tend to build out the website design, but then stop short of finishing the job and setting up the email too. Admittedly, with a new domain comes the pitfalls of “trust” when set against established “mail clearing houses” such as MimeCast (to name one of many examples), and even if you do setup the mail correctly, without the corresponding and expected SPF, DMARC and DKIM records, your email is almost certainly to land up in junk - if it even arrives at all.
Here’s a great guide I found that not only describes what these are, but how to set them up properly
https://woodpecker.co/blog/spf-dkim/
I suspect most of these “design boutiques” likely lack the experience and knowledge to get email working properly for the domain in question - either that, or they consider that outside of the scope of what they are providing, but if I were asked to develop a website (and I’ve done a fair few in my time) then email is always in scope, and it will be configured properly. The same applies when I build a VPS as others here will likely attest to.
My personal experience of this was using a local alloy wheel refurb company (scuffed alloys on the car). I’d found a local company who came highly recommended, so contacted them - only to find that the owner was using a Hotmail address for his business! I did honestly reconsider, but after meeting up with the owner and seeing his work first hand (he’s done the alloys on two of my cars so far and the work is of an excellent standard), I was impressed, and he’s since had several work projects from me, and recommendations to friends and family.
I did speak to him about the usage of a Hotmail address on his website, and he said that he had no idea how to make the actual domain email work, and the guy who designed his website didn’t even offer to help - no surprises there. I offered to help him set this up (for free of course) but he said that he’d had that address for years and didn’t want to change it as everyone knew it. This is fair enough of course, but I can’t help but wonder how many people are immediately turned off or become untrusting because a business uses a publicly available email service…
Perhaps it’s just me, but branding (in my mind) is essential, and you have to get it right.
)
ahahah , that is an email address I would use to give in supermarkets when they asked…
