I switched from all of my google services recently[1] for the same reason as you, targeting. And for the email services, I picked outlook for its minimal nature and the nice UI that gives a pleasant experience compared to the cluttered Gmail interface(IMO).
I created a new email with Outlook and forwarded all my Gmail content to the Outlook including contacts using their 'Gmail to Outlook' migration tool[2]. And along with it created some aliases for different purposes. The only thing I miss from Gmail is their multiple email accounts using "+', but as said Outlook provides a more or less alternative "aliases" feature.
One thing I really like about Outlook apart from its UI and manageability is its ability on managing everything from my Twitter account to Gmail chat right from the mailbox itself.
[1] - http://blog.therth.com/blog/2014/09/23/my-new-outlook/ [2] - http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/outlook-com/gmail/