Sharing Your Email Online in 2022

More and more professionals are listing their email on their LinkedIn profile or sharing their email publicly online.  Let’s examine the context of this new trend, see examples of who is doing so, and consider why you should as well. 

Your email address isn’t private, hidden, or secret. 

• There are a wealth of tools like Lusha and Clearbit that give sales reps access in exchange for being able to scrape your contact info.  
• Because email addresses follow a standard format, every corporate email is easily guessable.
• Tools like ZoomInfo allow sales reps to narrow down a list of target accounts and buy detailed contact information for specific people.
• Hubspot is even publishing articles about how to find anyone’s email address (supposedly without being “creepy”)

You’re a target.  

There are quite a few moments in which a work email address becomes extra attractive to sales people; you’ll know it when your inbox suddenly surges with an influx of unsolicited email.  Here are a few moments that stand out: 

• When you start a new role, with a new email address.  New role, new responsibilities, and a need for new tools.  It’s usually only a matter of weeks before your contact information is in the sales databases and your inbox is overloaded.
• When you’re hiring for a role.  Often, email addresses are attached to job postings and you’ll certainly see a surge when you’re looking for candidates. 
• When you’ve just raised a fundraising round.  Tanner Lacey, Cofounder @ Spiff, wrote an in-depth article on how painful this can be for founders and CEOs who go to sleep happy with their fundraising announcement, and wake up to an inbox bursting at the seams. 

Be open to any email… but be protected from unwanted email. 

Since your email isn’t hidden, you might as well share it publicly. But, until now, if you did so you would have been swamped with unwanted, irrelevant emails.  (Perhaps you already are.)

So why do we see leading-edge professionals sharing their emails loud-and-proud on platforms like LinkedIn? 

It’s because they’ve found a solution to the root problem: Gated allows you to be open to hearing from anyone, because only the people who value your time can actually get through to you.  

Creating a marginal cost ensures anything in your inbox is worth looking at. 

When an unknown sender emails you (with Gated), the sender is “challenged” to donate (typical donations range from $1-5) to your favorite nonprofit. This payment ensures their email reaches your inbox. It also ensures they are sending something worth your attention.   

This small hurdle makes senders think twice about why they reached out to you.  It incents them to think carefully about what they are sending. And your inbox?  It’s still your own. You are no longer overwhelmed by irrelevant messages. 

Who’s next?  

Our Founder and CEO, Andy Mowat, might have been the first one to share his email online (see the LinkedIn post here).  It’s not because he wanted to be brave or edgy – let's face it, his email is already out there and being scraped.  

It’s because he believes, fundamentally, in the power of email to connect people.  His email is an #OpenGate for anyone who wants to reach him, as long as they take a small action to indicate that they value his attention.  

Are you in?  If so, we’d love to see your post on LinkedIn or Twitter!  Tag Gated and use #OpenGate… and be a part of the movement.