What Makes a Good Email Address?

Each part of an email address is more important than people think.  An email address needs to identify with you and make it easy to remember for other people.  Working in a job where every person who orders gives an email address, I’ve seen plenty.  I’ve created a list of do’s and don’t for an email address.

Email Do’s

• The shorter the better.  The best email addresses are the ones that makes sense and hard to forget.
• Having your name or at least first initial in the beginning is ideal.  Why you ask?  When I use Outlook to write an email, I type the person’s name and see if it comes up saved.  If it’s not a first name, I’ll try a last name but this is always a second thought and I prefer not to waste time.  If I don’t find it quickly, I use the search feature through my inbox.
• Using your company after the @ is way better than gmail or another player.  Reason being that if I don’t know your email address but I know the format your company follows, first initial.last name@yourcompany.com, I can come up with how to send you an email without calling.

Email Don’ts

• Starting your email address with something other than your name is not recommended.  How could I guess it unless I ask you?
• Last name first is not easily remembered.  It’s your last name because it come up last.
• Having old ISP’s ending your name like AOL or Juno shows you are out of touch.
• Hyphens and underscores within the address are tough to remember.