Do you use Gmail for work

hom much is too much trust

[Hobbs]

As an AdSense publisher, do you use your gmail email to communicate with other advertising networks, email webmasters requesting links ...

I am asking because gmail is the most convenient, the only one offering this space as well as forwarding to my main domain and pop and spam filtering .. I can't imagine doing without it, while there is always a nagging big brother concern at the back of my head when I use it for such purposes, what do you use?

[openmind]

Good question. I've been using Gmail for all my email communications for more than a year now and can't imagine any alternative that would have all the functionality and features Gmail has.

[krod]

I use gmail. I have no concern about the privacy, google wouldn't violate a user's privacy to make a few more bucks.
[google.com...]

[Hobbs]

krod, the question is not whether google is an ethical company or not, or if they would risk a privacy violation for a little money, logic and their size says they would not and cannot. The question is do you personally trust them enough to use gmail in all your communications?

[kartiksh]

Hobbs

to answer you, yes i do.

[Marketing Guy]

IMO using Gmail doesn't look professional - I'd class it on par with using Yahoo or Hotmail accounts for business purposes.

Personally I ignore 99% of the emails I get if they aren't from the site's domain.

Using for personal communications and chatting with established contacts such as colleagues and associates is fair game - but used for first contact with someone you haven't had any communication with gives a bad impression.

For example, I'd give a gmail contact to someone I knew via these forums, but I wouldn't approach another site (for link requests, etc) with anything but @mydomain.com.

Would you put a hotmail address on a business card?

MG

[openmind]

Hi Marketing Guy,

I can see the point you are trying to make. However, there are a number of differences between Gmail and the other free web based email providers:
- Gmail is invitation only
- Gmail has a completely different level of functionality than Hotmail&Co.
- Gmail is Google brand and Google is the leader in Internet search technology

I understand what you mean by only recognizing mydomain.com email addresses. But then again, we all know that if you are using a POP3 account you probably also use an email client like MS Outlook which can't provide you with anywhere the level of functionality Gmail does. So, even if you use an email address with yourdomain.com - that doesn't mean you are up to date with email spam filter technology and other email features. You are simply trying to look professional. And for your business card: You can put an email address like [e-mail] there to have emails forwarded to your Gmail account.
Ah, and something else: Those who pretent to be so technology savvy often can't distinguish between a web based email account and another one - especially if you put www.yourdomain.com in the sender line of your Gmail account.

[Hobbs]

No I wouldn't put hotmail on a business card or even give it to a friend as way to contact me ;)

I use my domain.com email for all outgoing business emails for the exact reasons you specified, but I send all incoming to gmail first before forwarding them to my domain.com email to benefit from the "never ending storage" search facilities, as well as having a copy of all my correspondences on a reliable separate server and for free too, but the killer app that made me do it was benefiting from the easy spam filtering.

- Outgoing: [e-mail] direct to you
- Incoming: [e-mail] > [e-mail] > [e-mail] > [e-mail]

[Marketing Guy]

Hi Openmind

I guess I am somewhat limited to thinking within the SEO industry - most Gmail emails I get are from SEO companies asking for dodgy 3 way link "exchanges"! ;)

I don't really think that the Google brand has any impact on the use of their email for business purposes - everyone knows it's just another freebie email service (albeit offering a wider range of functionality, etc).

The difference is not Gmail via the rest - it's own brand via other brand and that's quite a difference and personally not something I would sacrifice for more functionality at my end. I like the method Hobbs has used I think that works to pull in the benefits of both methods.

I just think that you (generic "you" referring to any professional I don't know yet - not a referrence to anyone in particular!) providing me or contacting me with a Gmail email address says the wrong things. It doesn't say you are a trusted associate of Google. It doesn't say you are in any way associated with the quality of Google. It just says that you have chosen to use the same freebie email provider as the dozen other emails (of varying quality) that have landed in my inbox this morning.

I won't remember you as [e-mail] - I *might* remember you as [e-mail] though. Certainly the latter is more likely to get a response.

While I agree the functionality of Gmail makes it great to use for some stuff - chatting with others in the industry (on a non-business capacity), I have to say again - just don't think it works as a first point of contact.

Gmail may be a superior brand to Hotmail, but it is still in the same league, whereas yourdomain.com is unique, personal and professional.

Summary - it has it's uses, but there are times I would think twice about using it.

MG :)

[thegreatpretender]

I use gmail as my primary email client. I forward all incoming emails from all my domain to gmail, and configured to land each of them to its own labels that I created. I also made different accounts for each domain, so when I reply or send a message, I just click the drop down menu and choose the domain I want to reply from. It is very convinient and very efficient.

[zCat]

I would never trust my private email communications to a third party, particularly not a webmail service. Not that I'm paranoid, just cautious.

I do however find gmail an extremely valuable tool for reading and managing the many mailing lists I subscribe to, and even find the targetted ads useful on occasion.

[vincevincevince]

I've often wondered about this very issue. How about sending illegal product serial codes via Hotmail? Or sending out Phishing emails for Y! pay direct via Yahoo?

Just where does privacy start and end?

[jchampliaud]

You can put an email address like [e-mail] there to have emails forwarded to your Gmail account.

This is what I do, not with Gmail but with another online mailer. I just feel that [e-mail] looks better on a business card than [e-mail].

BTW those using a [e-mail] address what do you think looks better, using your real name - [e-mail] or something like [e-mail]?

[openmind]

Again, what is the value of all this trying to look professional when almost any email savvy person knows full well that if you use '[e-mail]' you forward all your email to a free webmail provider anyway because you don't have your own mail server or your own mail server is not capable of handling spam? Also, if you use an email reader such as Outlook or Eudora you don't have the functionality of Gmail (for example the search feature, the thread function or the labels). Of course it 'looks' professional if you put '[e-mail]' on your business card. Forwarding your emails back and forth for the sake of looking professional might not 'be' as professional though.

[jchampliaud]

Again, what is the value of all this trying to look professional when almost any email savvy person knows full well that if you use '[e-mail]' you forward all your email to a free webmail provider anyway because you don't have your own mail server or your own mail server is not capable of handling spam?

I don’t think it’s that obvious. How many people are ‘email savvy’ or better yet how many people that send me e-mail are? To be honest I don’t know but I do know that a few people – not necessarily ‘email savvy’ have told me they prefer for whatever reason to see a [e-mail] as opposed to a [e-mail] address.

Of course it 'looks' professional if you put '[e-mail]' on your business card. Forwarding your emails back and forth for the sake of looking professional might not 'be' as professional though.

Why? All I have to do is set the From field to [e-mail] and no ones the wiser. I think this kind of thing is done on a lot of levels. Companies/people always try to project an image that makes things look more professional.

[oneguy]

Not only do I not use gmail for any reason, but I won't write to one, either, unless it's to ask for another email address.

[ken_b]

When I recieve a site related email from a Gmail address I just start out assuming it's probably some scammy deal.

They aren't always scammy deals of course, but it just adds another hurdle for the sender to overcome before being taken seriously.

[bill]

Gmail is a beta 3rd party product with questionable ability to filter spam and occasionally unreliable connectivity. There is no way I could use such a service as my primary e-mail account. (I might consider using it for backup.)

I need to have a spam filtering system that produces zero false positives. If any real mail ever gets filtered as spam then that service is costing me time and money. Gmail puts my real mail messages into the spam bin all the time. That's unacceptable. Even after informing Gmail hundreds of times that certain mail was not spam the same important messages were filtered day after day.

Any halfway decent Bayesian filter and a copy of Outlook will out-perform Gmail any day. They simply can't offer the personalized filtering that you need. Maybe the Gmail spam filtering is better than what a lot of you are used to, but it's still quite lacking.

I'm sure I don't need to point the many times that Gmail has gone down or has been inaccessible. In the case of a free service provider to whom do you complain when your mission critical communications system goes down?

[openmind]

Maybe this serendipity - just when we started this discussion about the value of a Gmail email address Google added a new feature to its mail service: you now can send and receive email via Gmail using your [e-mail] as the sender address and the reply-to address. That's very comfortable because now everyone thinks I'm using my own mailserver ;-)

[minnapple]

In any type of business it is all about building your brand name.

Using gmail takes away from that.

My business name is my first name middle name.

Client's that I have had for years still refer to me by first name middle name even though I have told them my last name many times.

My business name is branded so well, that it has it's own persona.

I always get call from prospects asking for Mr. Middle Name.

Shows what branding can do for you.