If you’re on the receiving end of 121 emails per day, chances are you’re also sending a fair few of them. You might spend a lot of time stressing over the content of the email, editing and refining to make sure your points are as clear as possible. But there’s one area of the business email that is often neglected, an afterthought.
Your email signature is a powerful tool that can help to provide added insight and value. It can also be a strong marketing tool. Here are just some of the ways you can make your email signature work harder.
Get the core information in first
Before we get fancy, let’s think about what really needs to be on there.
Full Name
Company, Position
Email
Phone number
Right?
You might find some advice online that tells you to drop the email address from your signature. The theory is that anyone receiving an email from you will already have this, so you can save yourself the effort of introducing yourself twice.
But what about when someone wants to pass your contact details onto a colleague? I don’t know about you, but in this situation, I always copy and paste their email signature. It might be old school, but leaving your email address in your signature can’t hurt. If you’re concerned about the length, you can add it to your social media icons.
Include your social media channels
It helps to give people a few different options for keeping in touch. By adding your social media profiles to your email signature, you can remove obstacles and help increase your following. Just make sure you only include social networks that are actually updated. You don’t have to include your YouTube profile if you’ve only ever uploaded one video.
You also have the choice between sharing your company social media profiles or your personal profiles. Choose the ones that are most professional and relevant to your email recipients.
Add an image
A photo in your email signature can help the recipient to put a face to the name. If you work remotely, this can help to bring a personal touch to your emails. You could also use your company logo to help boost brand recognition. People are more likely to retain information when it is presented as an image.
Include a CTA
This is where you can get really creative. Adding a CTA to your email signature can help to drive targeted traffic to something you are keen to promote. Whatever you’re keen to promote at this moment in time, you can use your email signature to reflect it. Here are some great examples of how you can use a CTA in your email signature:
- Want more eyes on your content? Share a link to your latest blog post or white paper
- Want feedback from your customers? Share a link to your feedback survey
- Up for an award? Share a link to the voting form
- Want to make it easier to schedule meetings? Share a link to your Calendly form
Adjust it for mobile
A team of researchers from Michigan State University conducted a study into the use of “Sent from my iPhone” as your email signature. They found that recipients were more forgiving of spelling and grammar errors when it was clear a message had been sent from a phone.
If you want to give yourself a free pass when it comes to spelling errors and brevity, always make it clear that you are sending from a mobile device.
This has the added benefit of helping to keep everyone in the loop. If the recipient needs to reach you, they will know to call your mobile phone instead of your office number.