Distance Yourself with Emails

One of the things I’ve always done in a small business is publish my email. I want customers, or potential customers to email me, especially if they have issues.

As my companies grew, however, we learned that there are definitely tasks that we farm out to different people. An example of this is the problems with our website. It’s customary to have a “webmaster@” email address, and while we didn’t mind people pinging us, we didn’t want me, or my partner, to be stuck answering all of the emails.

So we added the webmaster email to our list. We both had passwords, and could check (and respond), but it gave us a layer of abstraction. Over the years, when we had an email for some specific function, we added an email, even if it was an alias to one of our accounts. It enabled easier workflow, and it allowed us to publish a standard email people could use.

I’ve suggested this to a few friends, especially those that do events with their small business. Having an “events@” or”webinars@” is an easy email to give to people and it prevents their emails from clogging your inbox. You might alias it to yourself, but if there are enough emails, you want to be able to send those to someone else, and having an abstraction through a separate email works out well.