Does your business’ mailbox resemble a pressure cooker, seconds away from bursting at the seams? Is sorting through letter after letter become a painfully tedious process in your company’s daily operations? Whether it be fears of mail bandits clasping their grimy paws on customer information or concerns of dwindling free time in the average workday, there are plenty of viable reasons to consider a digital mailbox for your business.
But what is a digital mailbox?
When provided by a quality company such as iPostal1, a digital mailbox location enables business owners to safely access their mail directly from a smart device or computer. However, a digital mailbox should not be mistaken for an email address. Much like an inbox, digital mailboxes offer the convenience and security business owners and ex-pats alike crave. However, these digital tools, in particular, allow you to receive and process physical mail from the comfort of your home—freeing up time in your workday.
Remember, if your business relies on receiving and responding to mail—which most do—then you’re going to need a way to do so reliably. Still not convinced the missing link in your business is a digital mailbox? If so, consider these must-know benefits.
1. Digital mailboxes protect your business’s credibility
Online, single-person businesses need to work tirelessly to appear credible to the average consumer. If you’re a business owner, spotty social media posts, inconsistent branding, or a bug-ridden website can spell disaster for your company’s reputation. Similarly, a page listing a personal email or home address as its only contact method looks unprofessional at best and downright scammy at worst.
By offering them business-specific contact information such as a business telephone number or digital address, you can quell anxieties about scammy behavior.
Digital mailboxes boost credibility by allowing you to list a physical address for your business that isn’t connected to your home in any way. Instead, this digital mailing address—located in the area where you’d like to establish a business presence—serves as your main office building (without the overhead costs).
2. Digital mailboxes separate business and personal mail
If you’ve forwarded high-priority business mail to the same address that serves as a home base for personal packages, these urgent letters, invoices, and miscellaneous bills are bound to fall under your radar. In some cases, you may confuse client contacts with spam mail and discard these unopened envelopes prematurely, leading to a loss of potentially lucrative business.
Fortunately, using a digital mailbox for your business allows you to separate your home and work life. By keeping track of client mail from a single, central location that doesn’t intermix personal bills and correspondence, you can minimize missed opportunities.
Not only is this a good idea logistically, but this separation of work and play can also be beneficial to your mental health. How? By mentally segmenting your work responsibilities and your home responsibilities, you devote your undivided attention to your professional priorities rather than toggling your focus.
3. Digital mailboxes provide security for home businesses
Remote work rookies may be unaware that running your business opens you up to a host of security concerns. For example, listing your home address can place sensitive information in the hands of unpredictable customers and other vendors.
Your information, once connected to your business’s name, can be exploited. Though it may be tempting to assume the best of intentions, you never know who will see your information or how they will choose to use it. At best, you might receive spammy business mail at home. At worst, this information in the wrong hands can lead to serious criminal acts that can cost you your reputation.
Fortunately, with the digital mailbox, you can minimize reputation-compromising risks. A digital mailing address provides an entirely separate and, if necessary, anonymous location to hand out to customers and vendors—which means that any potential threats will be unable to locate you directly or arrive at your home. This safety precaution protects you and your family from harassment and stalking, all while preserving your blemish-free business reputation.
4. Digital mailboxes save you money
Previously, if you wanted a physical address for your business, you would have to rent office space. To maintain a fully functioning office space, you’d have to keep the lights on, ensure the water was running, have the proper city zoning paperwork in order, and keep up on monthly rent payments.
Even the smallest of office spaces can be expensive to run for a single-person business. Most offices charge by the square foot of space, so even a modest office space can cost upwards of $4,000 per month before utilities are factored into the equation.
By contrast, virtual offices, complete with digital mailboxes, are comparatively cheap. You’ll still pay monthly for the service, but they tend to cost less than $20 per month, which means your business’ capital can be spent building your brand rather than maintaining a relatively unused space.
5. Digital mailboxes give you convenient storage and access
Being unable to access your mail can lead to a breakdown of communication between yourself and your clients. In the worst-case scenario, these communication errors can translate to missed opportunities for growth.
As mentioned above, digital mailboxes usually come with a cloud storage service for your mail. With the help of cloud storage and a stable internet connection, you can access, read, and respond to your mail any time, anywhere.
With the convenience of on-the-go services, you won’t have to worry about the aftermath of late responses if you can’t make it into the office before a specific time or date. You can be sure that all of your correspondence happens exactly when it should, all without driving across town at a moment’s notice.
6. Digital mailboxes streamline your workflow
Handling mail for a business can be a time-consuming endeavor. You have to dedicate hours to delivery logistics, sorting, responding, and sending out initial contact. Without a designated space, this can mean confusing or inefficient workflow.
Not only is having your mail all in one designated space secure, but it’s also convenient. Having a digital mailbox for your business means that you’re able to open lines of communication with your clients and respond to them more quickly.
With the hassle of mail processing out of the question, you won’t have to spend time disposing of unnecessary documents. Most services allow you to request that spam or unnecessary mail be shredded so that you’re only picking up what you need (and discarding what you don’t).
Conclusion
Having a digital mailbox or your business is practically a necessity now that working from home is becoming the new normal. Even before the pandemic, entrepreneurs and freelancers have been scouring the market for ways to practice their trade on their own terms.
With WFH gaining traction, digital offices are the next logical step in its development. If you’re looking to keep your work organized, maintain separation between work and play, and strive towards optimal security, then securing a digital mailbox for your business is the right choice for you.
