You know that you're a true email marketer if every single one of your emails includes a call-to-action. And I'm not talking about email marketing blasts here. What I have in mind are the individual, personal email messages you send on an everyday basis. Yes, your personal email signature can provide a serious marketing opportunity.
You are most likely already using your own email signature to provide information about who you are and where you work. But you can take this practice to the next level by updating your signature to reflect the marketing campaigns you are running today. Company employees, particularly those in sales and marketing, might be missing out on another opportunity to spread brand awareness or nurture prospective customers with their personal messages. Encourage them to turn their email signatures into a marketing mechanism, and they will most likely leap at the chance to sound smarter and help you in your promotional efforts. You, in turn, will get more traffic to certain pages and boost conversions.
Wondering what exactly you can promote through your email signature? Here are ten awesome suggestions:
1. Your Website (Homepage)
The least you should promote in your email signature is your company's website. In order for this tactic to be efficient, you have to make sure your homepage acts like a landing page. In other words, it directs the visitor’s attention to the activity you want them to take. For instance, HubSpot’s homepage suggests that you start a free, 30-day trial or receive a free product demo. Including your website's homepage in an email signature also helps to expand awareness of your brand.
2. Your Blog
Your blog is one of the smartest things you can include in your email signature because it provides value to the community and gets updated on a regular basis. The fresh content on your blog is more engaging than a static homepage and will most likely retain the attention of the visitor for longer. Also, don’t forget to include calls-to-action throughout your posts, because once a reader has landed on your blog, you want to encourage them to take the next step and become a lead. Using the free tool, WiseStamp, you can create a dynamic email signature that includes an RSS feed, which shows the title of your most recent blog article and automatically updates as new articles get published.
3. Social Media
When it comes to the usage of social media in email signatures, you have two options. You can either include a link to your personal accounts on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, etc., or you can include links to your company’s accounts. Both are good options.
If you are building a personal brand, you will want to spread the word about who you are outside the company. That will help people to get to know you better and get more familiar with your interests on a personal level. Including links to your corporate social media profiles, on the other hand, will help you grow the reach of your organization and gain more followers. WiseStamp offers a ton of great social media add-ons for your signature, including a Facebook Like button that encourages email recipients to Like your Facebook page, social media icons that link to your profiles, and features that allow you to highlight your latest tweet, Facebook post, or Google+ update!
4. Book
Have you written a book? Has your manager or CEO written one? Don’t be shy about it! Share a link to the book in your email signature. That will help you build authority and credibility among the people you communicate with. For instance, some employees at HubSpot include a link to the Inbound Marketing book in their signatures. Authored by HubSpot's co-founders, the book does a great job at conveying our mission and vision.
5. Conferences & Events
Is there a company trade show coming up soon? Or maybe you are speaking at a conference? Change your email signature to reflect that. While your email signature might not necessarily help you generate more registrants, it will surely spread the word about the event and gain some awareness among your target audience.
6. New Marketing Offer
If you are an inbound marketer, you must have a few offers lying around. They could be a number of different things, such as whitepapers, ebooks, webinars, or kits. Which ones are the best at converting traffic into leads? (You can tell by looking at their corresponding landing pages' visitor-to-submission rates in your marketing analytics). Identify your best performing offers, and then expose them to more traffic! Use your email signature to share a link to a popular ebook or a webinar. Or if you're currently featuring a new campaign that highlights a particular offer, use that in your signature instead.
7. Case Studies
Salespeople love this one! If you're talking to potential customers, what’s better than sharing stories of successful ones? Use these examples profusely, and make sure you highlight some data points. For instance, you can mention how the ROI of a customer has increased since they started using your services or product. You can even quote a customer in your email signature!
8. Industry Research
Speaking of data, don't underestimate the impact that facts and figures can have in a marketing context. People on the web are overwhelmed with vague information, which encourages them to look for specifics. If you publish an industry report based on proprietary research, consider including a link to it in your email signature.
9. Free Tool
If your company happens to have a free tool, such as an online calculator, educational game, or even a free trial, give it some marketing love. Free online tools have the power to engage readers and get them further interested in your product or service. (And if you haven't already, check out HubSpot's newest free tool, Marketing Grader!)
10. Demonstration of Your Product / Free Consultation
When you are having a tough sales month, consider using an email signature that promotes a free consultation with your team or even a demonstration of your product. In that way, you'll increase traffic to these middle-of-the-funnel marketing offers and show your sales organization that you're taking advantage of every possible opportunity to help them out.
Have any other ideas for what your email signature can promote? Share them in the comments section below!
Photo credit: Hammer51012
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@dock29 Chris Bernard 11:33 AM on January 26, 2012
HUGE Email Performance tip here. In Outook the very first thing you see in BOLD the Signature.
Shain 11:34 AM on January 26, 2012
Is there such a thing as too long of an email signature? In the above example there is a lot to take in and there isn't even any phone or fax information.
What is the rule of thumb? I'd like to give customers as many options as possible, but don't want it to look so imposing that they ignore it completely.
For example, I could potentially include any of the following:
Name
Company
Title
Phone (local)
Phone (toll-free)
Fax
email address
Twitter
Facebook
Blog
LinkedIn
Google+
company website address
Nebulas Website Design Braintree 11:35 AM on January 26, 2012
Some great suggestions there thank you. I already add elements mentioned in points 1,2,3 and 6 and the others are a great idea.
How about adding testimonials to the above list?
Magdalena Georgieva 12:14 PM on January 26, 2012
Great question! Testimonials fall under the "case studies" category, so definitely try using them! Just make sure you ask for permission first.
In terms of the length, we haven't really tested this, so it's hard to tell. I think it is a personal preference and a question of prioritizing the most important call-to-action at the top. In the example above, two of the three links take you to the same place--the HubSpot blog. So the effect is amplified.
Claudia 1:39 PM on January 26, 2012
Great ideas! Any tips on how to automate signature lines company-wide so that Markeitng controls the look?
Bill at FamZoo 2:32 PM on January 26, 2012
Excellent suggestions and I've been using a number of the more static techniques. Regarding length: my standard static signature is a bit long, so I've found myself removing it altogether whenever I'm beyond the initial Email interaction. But reading this gave me a better idea: I've just created a file of very short "fresh" signatures - e.g., headlines of recent blog posts + link. Now, I'll pluck one of those out and use it as my signature for replies in ongoing threads - every reply will get a new, short, fresh signature.
Thanks for the tips.
Tom Schwab 2:43 PM on January 26, 2012
We recently added our picture to all of our signature boxes and the feedback from customers has been extremely positive. As an ecommerce supplier of Knee Walkers and other alternatives to crutches, it helps build trust and a relationship with customers. After all, don't you want to see who your doing business with?
Dan 2:54 PM on January 26, 2012
The really long signatures that take up half the email page seem like overkill to me. I don't think there is one right way to do it, but I go with:
name
title
website
office phone | cell phone.
I do find the idea of adding social networks interesting though. Perhaps LinkedIn would be most appropriate?
Colleen Bruemmer 3:13 PM on January 26, 2012
When I was working for Merkle, Inc., they had a specific way they wanted employees to show their email signatures in order to maintain a consistent look. Marketing would periodically send out emails with the information they wanted to have included. For example, if they were having a special conference, they would ask us to include a link for the landing page so people could sign up easily. I think it was pretty effective.
Claudia, I hope this helps with the question you had posed.
Betty 5:03 PM on January 27, 2012
I agree. I do include my blogsite in my email signature.
Bob 6:32 PM on January 27, 2012
I'm in the school that simpler is better in signatures. If you do your SEO right customers should be able to find your Twitter or website pretty easily. And why even put your email address? If you're sending someone an email don't they already have it?
Email signatures can get downright obnoxious. Look at my Twitter! Read my blog! Come to my event! Instead I like to use it as a way to show that I can be clean and efficient. Think how Apple would design it, not Microsoft.
Alessandra 9:35 AM on February 03, 2012
"Think how Apple would design it, not Microsoft."
What a great suggestion Betty!
And it can apply to a lot of things, not just signature lines.
But now I wonder how Apple employees' signature lines are, does anyone know?
Thank you for sharing.
Andy Mahood 1:06 PM on February 04, 2012
I would recommend short and sweet.
Name | Title | Phone | Twitter | Blog
Keep all on one line. Don't need email as they will have it. Never used a fax never will. Anything too long just add bloat.
Think about who and how the email is received. I commonly read email on iPhone or blackberry same as many any thing too long will take longer to download and get in the way.
Jane 4:34 PM on February 06, 2012
We used to provide a great deal of information in our email signatures - everyone in the company was asked to use the same one. After repeated comments from our guests, and even our staff, that the signatures were taking up too much space on mobile devices we've cut back significantly. I find that I tend to customize my signature a little depending on who I am reaching out to and what the relationship is.
Emily 12:01 PM on February 07, 2012
Simply adding a live sign-up link in a bright colour at the top of my signature has made no end of difference to our mailing list of warm contacts.
Good tips above to incorporate in the future. My tip would be keep the call to action simple and focussed. I'll be changing mine regularly to keep people noticing (even just the colour!)
Alison Gilbert 9:07 AM on February 09, 2012
My signature includes much of what you suggest. Most unique is a 'Write a Review' Button that allows anyone to immediately review our business on major Local Online Business Directories. Check out the program:
http://www.marketingbytes.biz/reviewsystem.html
Ritu 7:17 PM on February 09, 2012
Great article! Just fixed my e-mail signature using the tips listed. Now I cannot wait to use my new signature. Wise stamp seems to be a great tool for e-mail signatures.
Karen Kotzen 8:35 PM on February 10, 2012
Great tips.I have all but one of your suggestions, which I will add, and was thinking it was too much. I guess I am on the right track.
Thank you.