Why does email migration matter? Part 2.

A while ago, I wrote a blog post with tips for hosting and domain providers, where I also spoke about the importance of email migration for SMB’s (you can read it here), but what about your average Joe (i.e me). Why does email migration matter to them?

 Let’s look at some features that are empowered by email migration from the get-go:

• Autocomplete - You know that magical moment when you start typing someone’s initials and the interface automatically suggests the correct email address? For this to work, you will need your contacts and emails from your previous provider.

• Search - Do you remember the IMEI number of the phone you bought a few years ago and lost yesterday? I don’t. A simple search will allow me to find a pdf receipt that I can use for my insurance claim.

Value of sentiment

Nowadays, we all have smartphones, and most of our photos are backed up on computers or in some kind of cloud storage, but what about a time before smartphones were a thing? 

I have a friend who had a professional camera, and many years ago, took a picture of our group when we were hitchhiking somewhere in Estonia.

How did my friend share this photo with me? That’s right - by using email. Most of us didn’t think about long term use when we created our first email accounts. (I don’t use that email anymore because my handle was something ridiculous)

I have a thousand photos from the past in my emails. Despite closing that email account, I still have access to content because I was able to migrate my email into the account I use now. 

Continuing on the same subject…  How many SMS have you saved from the past? I have saved precisely 0. I also have changed numerous phones and numbers

My grandma passed away a few years ago. She had just turned 81, still working out of passion. She didn’t have a smartphone but was an avid email user, and her last email to me was congratulating me on my birthday. 

(Email is in Latvian ? )

I don’t think I have to explain how important this email is to me. I was able to import this email into my current Gmail account using the ShuttleCloud migration tool, long before I was working here.

Conclusion: 

The benefits of email migration go far beyond saving support time or improving the onboarding experience for business and public email users. However, it’s up to your email provider to choose to provide an easy way to import emails from your previous provider. Changing email providers doesn’t mean losing your valuable history.