Are Email Addresses Case Sensitive? And Other Email Best Practices | Mailchimp (2024)

If you accidentally capitalize or don’t capitalize a letter in an email address, will that affect the ability of the email to reach its destination?The short answer is no; email address syntax is not case sensitive.

Capitalization generally has no impact on whether or not an email is sent or received by an email server. It will get delivered regardless of whether or not letters are capitalized.

However, that doesn’t mean that just any unique address for email is a good one. There are some best practices to consider when choosing your email address, especially if you are using email to market a product or service. Your email is an extension of you and represents your business.

Below is a comprehensive guide on email addresses - the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is everything you need to know to find the right email for your business and to be effective at email marketing.

What is case sensitivity?

Case sensitivity is a technical term that focuses on capitalization and whether capital letters and lower case letters are treated the same by email servers.

Passwords are a great example of case sensitivity with lowercase and uppercase letters. For example, on most websites and apps the password “PassWord” would not be treated the same as “pAsSwoRD.” The combination of lowercase and uppercase letters actually improves the strength of passwords, where it has no impact on email addresses.

Are email addresses case sensitive?

Are emails case sensitive? Email addresses are generally not case sensitive. For example, assume your email is [email protected]. Senders could type that as [email protected] or [email protected]. No matter how the letters are capitalized, all email servers will understand that it is the same address and the email will end up in the correct spot.

Do capital letters affect email addresses?

As mentioned earlier, capital letters do not affect email addresses in any way. You can capitalize the email or not capitalize any of the letters at all. As long as the email address is spelled correctly, it will work properly.

Uppercase or lowercase letters may not affect an email address, but there are other aspects that will. Email addresses have two specific parts: the local part and the domain part.

The local part is the part before the @ symbol. For example, it’s the part you choose, like your name or a series of letters and numbers that represent you.

The domain part is the part that comes after the @ symbol. For example, it could be gmail.com or yahoo.com. Or it could be your business domain.

Can you use special characters in an email address?

Generally, the local part of your email should include only basic text language as well as numbers. You can use special characters with some email servers, but not all. For example, Google does not allow the following characters:

& = _ ‘ - +

Considering Google’s Gmail service is one of the biggest email service providers in the world, not just for personal addresses but also businesses, it’s wise to stay away from special characters altogether. However, as of 2014, Gmail addresses also now recognize international and latin symbols in their email address syntax.

Believe it or not, your email address sends a message to your customers. It conveys your identity to buyers and gives you an image of professionalism and credibility. Below are a few tips to choose the right email address for your business.

Keep it simple

You want an email address that you can quickly and easily share with others. In an ideal world, it would be your name. However, if you’re using a popular domain like Gmail, it’s likely that your name is already taken.

Try to avoid using too many numbers, symbols, or periods. Also, don’t use numbers that convey sensitive information like your date of birth or address. Additionally, don’t use a combination of letters that creates an awkward phrasing that you may feel uncomfortable sharing verbally.

Utilize your web domain

Are you using your email for professional purposes? If so, consider using your domain as the domain part of your email address. There are two benefits to doing this. One is that it looks professional and credible. People tend to interpret business domains as more legitimate than those using general Gmail or Yahoo domains.

The other benefit of using your own domain is that it opens up email address options. For example, if your name is Paul, you probably can’t get [email protected]. However, you probably can get [email protected] because, let’s face it, it’s your business and no one else is using that domain.

Keep it appropriate

Another important step is to keep your address appropriate. You don’t want anything that’s inappropriate or not safe for work. Also stay away from things that are politically or religiously sensitive.

Your email address in college may have been funny, but it’s probably not appropriate now for business purposes. Trying to be funny can be risky as not everyone shares the same sense of humor. Clean, straightforward, and simple is usually the best strategy with email addresses.

Don’t forget the email signature

Your email signature is an important component and an effective way to drive business. It’s another chance to convey information about you, your company, and your product There are a few common components of an effective email signature:

• Name
• Title and company
• Phone number
• Email address

However, you don’t have to stop there. You can include a link to your calendar so people can directly schedule calls with you. You could include a link to an offer that leads to a landing page or other conversion page. You could include a tag line or favorite quote.

You could even include a professional picture. Many people feel more connected to a person once they’ve seen their face and know what they look like. You become an actual person and not just an email in their inbox. To take it a step further, you could even include a link to a short video where you discuss your product and how it will benefit the reader.

Your email signature is an opportunity to connect with prospects. It shouldn’t be lengthy and you don’t want to overload the signature with content. However, it is an opportunity to be creative and forge a connection and possibly even drive leads and business.