The Importance of Having a Great Email Signature

Email Marketing is such an important part of Online Marketing, especially for medium sized businesses who realise its importance and invest their time and money trying to do it right.

Normally when businesses think of Email Marketing, they are thinking of list building, email newsletters designed and delivered, and tracking openings and clicks, but not a lot of time is spent thinking about the most basic element of email marketing – the email signature used by you and your staff.

Whether you’re sending a few emails a day or a few hundred, you need to take advantage of this opportunity and invest in a great email signature.

What is an Email Signature

This is the sender default contact information at the end of each email message, and usually includes name, company, contact phone, contact address, key social media links, and some other important information.

Some companies NEED to include a Legal Disclaimer, but you should check if you need one first before throwing one in.

Tips for an Effective Signature

Always remember your Email Signature is a Marketing Tool, and it needs to be treated as such.  As with all marketing tools it needs to have a clear “Call-to-Action”, so please keep this in mind when creating your signature.

Your signature should support and integrate seamlessly with your company branding, and link into all your other online marketing – website, social media, etc…

Plain Text Signatures

• Less is more.  Keep it simple and clean
• Provide a written out URL instead of using hyperlinks.  This makes sure the link will go through in the sent message
• Avoid including multiple phone numbers and email addresses. Pick your best contact details only
• Only add your Skype account if you actively use it
• Include links to your most important social media network profiles
• Create 2 versions – a long one for initial contact, and a short version for replies
• Vcards are not widely used, so leave it out
• If your Anti-Virus marks your email, remove it if you can.  Safe correspondence should be implied.

Graphics/ Images/ Branded Signatures

If you want to create a professional and company-branded impression, you should definitely consider getting a graphics-based signature.  However there are still importance elements to consider:

• Optimise your logo or other graphics so that they are light and load quickly, and upload the files to your server if you can
• Avoid HTML – it can start with good intensions, but end up messy
• As with Text Signatures, remember – Less is More – Keep it clean and directly in line with your company brand

Here are a few professional solutions:

1. Wisestamp
2. Sigwich
3. Company Sig

The Call-to-Action

Once you decide the one thing you want people to do when they see your signature, they you need to ask them to do it.  Here are some ideas:

• Click Here to Like Us on Facebook for News/ Discounts/ Customer Service/ etc…
• Click Here to Follow Us on Twitter for the latest company tweets
• We’ve Launched a New Product – Click Here to See!
• Sign Up to Our Company Newsletter for the Latest Happenings/ Promotions/ etc…

These are just to inspire you, but you should get the idea.

As always I welcome your thoughts and feedback on Email Signatures.