An e-mail service by any provider would be just the same?
The problem with having just one e-mail account is the lack of storage space. Internet service providers typically provide between 5 – 6 MB of storage space. That’s a lot, about one year ago, but it's not enough for today’s usage.
How many times have your customers tried sending you large chunks of data only to be rejected by your e-mail provider?
Losing precious data equates to losing customer trust, and that is something every SME can do without. So, what do you do when having one e-mail account is not enough? Get another one. You can get an e-mail account anywhere in the Internet and best of all, it's free.
Many different kinds of e-mail services can be found on the Internet. Although it doesn’t cost you much if you sign up for the wrong one, it sure makes your life a lot easier if you get the right one.If the nature of your SME requires you to be always on the move, and you have no time to subscribe to a proper POP mail provider or you hate the idea of configuring an e-mail client, then you should be looking at a Web/HTML based e-mail service provider.
Web/HTML based e-mail is one of the simplest kind of e-mail to have (Hotmail, Mail). You can access such e-mail services anywhere in the world, as long as you have a computer, an Internet browser and Internet access.
Since a Web based e-mail provider stores subscriber’s e-mail in its server, there will be a limited amount of storage space (usually 5 – 6 MB) allocated to subscribers. If you use more than the allocated storage space, your e-mail account will be disabled from receiving more mail. Some providers even go to the extent of deleting your incoming mail. Therefore, it is paramount that you read the service agreement drafted out by the providers before subscribing.
Let's say that your SME has grown considerably, and you are now free to let someone else do all the traveling, while you sit at your desk, drawing up business proposals and generally dealing with large data files. And you soon find that your Web/HTML based e-mail is filling up when customers starts sending you large chunks of data.
This is the time where you should seriously think about having a POP (Post Office Protocol) e-mail service (ACMEmail.net). Unlike Web/HTML based mail, POP works by downloading your mail onto your computer. In other words, instead of storing your e-mail in a server, mail is downloaded directly onto your hard drive. If you deal with large files, getting a POP e-mail would be an ideal solution.
However, the downside of having a POP account is that you need an e-mail client (for example, Microsoft Outlook) to download all mail from the POP server onto your computer. You have to configure your e-mail client as well. But this should not be an issue as many e-mail clients have detailed user manuals.
After being in business for a while, you may end up with several Web/HTML e-mail addresses before settling for one permanent e-mail service provider. And the most natural thing to do with an old e-mail address would be to terminate the service.
What happens now when your existing customers try to send you mail using your old e-mail address? Nothing happens! Well, it's either you start informing your 50 over customers about your e-mail address or you can subscribe to mail forwarding services (FindmE-Mail).
The concept behind mail forwarding services is very simple. A mail forwarding service provider will forward all the mail that is being sent to your old e-mail address to your current e-mail address. All that you need to do is enter your old e-mail address, specify your current e-mail address, and leave the rest to the provider.
It sure beats sending notification mail to all your customers informing them that you have changed your e-mail address.