How many people receive an email from you every day? From each of your team members? Do you realize the marketing possibilities right there in your email signature?
The average business person in the U.S. sends between 30 and 35 emails every day to potential and current customers, job seekers, vendors, and others in your community, according to a report published by The Radicati Group.
We may have lots of ways to be in contact with each other, but email is still the top touch point for the people you most want to draw closer to your business.
The Radicati Group’s estimate may or may not hold true for you. It’s an average, after all. But let’s assume it’s accurate. At 35 a day, you’re sending out 175 emails each week, or 9,100 over a year. Multiply that times however many team members you have, and I think you get the idea of the numbers we’re talking about.
When all those people get to the end of your email, what’s the last thing they see? Your signature. And then they just might forward your email to someone else, especially if you give them something worth sharing.
It stands to reason that your email signature is a huge opportunity to reinforce your brand and connect people to your value with very little effort and no additional cost.
It’s free space – maximize it.
Two simple steps to spiffing up your signature
The first thing to do is establish a standard signature format for everyone. Everyone. And make sure your team sticks to the format (there will be plenty of other opportunities for your team to get creative). This ensures brand consistency. Use the same fonts and colors, and keep them simple. Standardize the look as well as what gets included. Will you include a headshot with your signature? If so, establish guidelines about size and resolution to ensure consistency and a reliable image for everyone when recipients open your emails.
The second thing to do, now that you’re looking at your email signature with enlightened eyes, is to consider how you want it to contribute to your marketing efforts. What content can you offer? What actions can you invite recipients to take before they leave your message?
“Your email signature is a huge opportunity to reinforce your brand and connect people to your value with very little effort and no additional cost.”
How your email signature can serve your marketing goals
The most obvious and easiest goal is to drive traffic to your website. Always provide a link under your name to make it easy for them to hop on over there to read more about you and how you can benefit them.
Your signature can also connect recipients to your presence on social media. Caution, though: Make sure that if they click through, they’ll see something fresh. Otherwise they’ll soon learn to ignore those icons.
What kinds of soft calls to action are good to consider including in your signature? Build these simple signature add-ons into your marketing plan:
- Register for events: Link to seminars, webinars, conferences where you’ll be speaking. After the event, change it to offer the recorded session.
- Download expertise: Link to white papers, studies, e-books, or an industry report they might find interesting.
- See what others are saying: Link to testimonials, reviews from happy customers, or reports of awards you’ve recently received.
- Learn of special promotions: Link to coupons or codes with descriptions of your upcoming discounts or pricing packages.
- Invite to “next steps” in your sales process: Link to demo opportunities or an appointment scheduler. Use this when emailing those whom you know to be warm leads.
- View a video: Embed a link to a short video about any one of the above offerings.
Am I saying that the more you put into your email signature area the better? Nope. Pick only one of the above six ideas to use at a time and change them out as appropriate. And do not overwhelm your contacts with a long list of phone numbers and emails where you can be reached. A couple where they can reliably reach you are all that’s necessary.
Deliverability matters
A quick reminder: A good email signature, as well as your email address, both demonstrate that your message is not SPAM. SPAM filters don’t like emails that don’t come from actual people. And of course being categorized as a spammer would be devastating for your credibility and your brand.
To keep on the right side of the CAN-SPAM Act, follow these requirements as shared by email marketing experts at Mail Chimp:
- Don’t use deceptive headers, “From” names, “reply-to” addresses, or subject lines.
- Send from a person’s email address instead of from a general address such as “info@” or “sales@”.
- Always provide an unsubscribe link and make sure it works for at least 30 days after sending.
- Always include your physical mailing address.
- Make sure those on your marketing mailing list have opted in to receive your emails.
Further your brand
Has this post expanded your thinking about the potential of your email signature to gently engage current and potential customers in your sales and retention processes? We would love to hear your ideas and help you maximize the use of this often overlooked space. Let’s talk about it: contact us at 720-722-2987, or click the blue button below to request a meeting with our team.
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