You and I receive emails just about every day from some so-called business owner who uses a nonbusiness email address such as [email protected]. In other words, the domain name to the right of the "@" is not the name of the business. Although, there is normally no cost associated with using Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail email accounts, it doesn't do much in establishing your business image or cementing your brand in the minds of consumers. Your brand is an intangible asset that deserves cultivation and development. Your email address is one aspect of it.

This is especially the case if you have spent good money having a professional design a logo, stationary, and marketing materials which share a common theme, even more so if you spend good money each month on advertising in multiple venues. Some people believe it or not may discriminate against your company if they don't perceive it as being professional enough. This is especially the case if they are comparing your company to similar ones which have business email addresses.

Other advantages of having a business email address:

1. You can set up aliases with it or additional email addresses with the same domain name. For example, your main email address is [email protected]. To it you set up aliases such as [email protected] and [email protected] which link to or act in place of [email protected]. Alternatively, you may set up each email address separately to route to different departments.
2. It is consistent advertising to which customers are 9x times more likely to respond to your business than those with a nonbusiness email address.
3. Some online services will not conduct business with you unless you have a nongeneric email address. I imagine that this may be for security reasons since domain names may be looked up in the WHOIS directory.

Here's one last thought. If you plan on selling your business or bequeathing it to an heir, you should have a business email address because as I said before its an intangible asset, which accrues value which each passing year.