Did you know that your e-mail signature is a very powerful marketing tool? It enables you to track clicks, see what information gets the most attention, build a database, easily share new information and create awareness about promotions. The beauty of this marketing mechanism is that it uses an existing platform – the daily e-mails sent by your employees – to reach a large audience of people who have typically already shown interest in your brand. The bottom line is: if you’re not using your e-mail signature as a marketing tool, you’re missing out.
First things first: how does marketing via your e-mail signature work?
New generation e-mail signatures are smart signatures that allow you to add attractive, professionally designed content to your e-mail template. This content can be used in the typical signature space of e-mails and also in banners on the top, bottom or margins of your e-mails.
New generation signatures differ from traditional HTML e-mail signatures in that they offer a professional, finished template for your e-mail. In the case of old-style HTML signatures, images often end up as separate attachments to your e-mail, or the display of the signature may be distorted, depending on the recipient’s e-mail settings. This is not the case with new signatures. New generation signatures allow you to include attractive designs and images without increasing the file size of the e-mail. In addition, when e-mails are sent in a reply or forward chain, these signatures strip out images in previous messages and only add the full signature to the last e-mail in the chain.
Here are a few other benefits of new generation e-mail signatures:
- Reporting and tracking mechanisms: These e-mail signatures allow you to track who has opened your e-mails and who has clicked on the call to action link in the marketing content.
- Schedule content in advance: Special e-mail banners can be scheduled in advance for specific campaigns or occasions. For example, instead of scrambling together a year-end message in late November, you can schedule far in advance for all e-mails sent in December to include a festive season message or banner. This also eliminates the problem of outdated content, as these banners will automatically be discontinued from January onwards.
- Different messages for different audiences: New generation e-mail signatures are able to detect e-mail recipients who have responded to earlier marketing efforts. What this means is that users who have clicked on previous e-mail marketing content can in future be selected to receive e-mails with a specialised signature template which provides further information about the product or service that they indicated interest in.
- Rotation of content lends a novelty factor: You can choose to use a number of rotational banners from an available pool for a specific campaign or month. Customers who interact with you regularly will then receive e-mails with a variety of messages, which ensures that your content appears fresh and innovative.
DOs and DON’Ts of e-mail signatures
DO consider mobile
On average more than 50% of all e-mails are opened by recipients on mobile devices. It’s important to make sure that your e-mail signature is optimised for mobile. As a rule of thumb, business card fields should preferably be placed below each other and graphic elements should be placed below the business card details.
DO include a call to action
Without a call to action, users may not realise that they can click on the signature content. Use phrases such as “Learn more now” or “Click here”.
DON’T overdo it
Keep the design of your e-mail signature clean and simple. Remember that the body of the e-mail is still the most important part of the messaging. Users shouldn’t have to struggle to find the actual e-mail content.
DO align with your brand identity
It’s important that your e-mail signature echoes the branding on your website and other marketing mediums. Stick to the same colours, fonts and use of images for optimal results.
Make e-mails work for you
Are you ready to tap into the marketing power of e-mail signatures to boost your brand? Get in touch with ICSC today to find out how we can help your everyday e-mail messaging become a very powerful marketing tool.
