Email is, by far, one of the most popular methods of communication that are used. This isn’t only in the world of business, with over 330 billion emails sent every single day in 2022.
Everything from messaging invitations to friends, scheduling meetings with colleagues, and coordinating projects happens via email.
With that in mind, it’s important to make sure that we’re using every inch of our emails as well as possible.
One part of emails that is routinely overlooked is the email signature. This small part of the email is looked at as an informational add-on for many people, often being ignored or not focused on.
If we want to make our emails go as far as possible, we should be putting our email signatures to use.
In this article, we’re going to dive into four methods of using our email signature effectively. We’ll cover:
- Sharing Information
- Marketing Materials
- Inbound Links
- HR Surveys
We’ll cover uses for all services, touching on both inbound and outbound marketing, as well as internal and external business communications. Let’s dive right into it!
Sharing Information
The original purpose of an email signature was to create space for users to share information with whoever they were emailing.
This tradition has continued long into the future, with most people’s email signatures being used to share a range of information.
For example, most people will put these details in their email signature:
- Name
- Job Role
- Company
- Alternative Method of Contact (Phone Number)
- Website
Including this information allows people to then continue to communicate with that person with additional context.
No matter whether the email chain is internal or external, they have more context to go off.
If you’re emailing a potential client, the customer then has more information about who you are and what company you’re working for.
Equally, if you’re messaging someone else from your company on an internal email, then they’ll know which department you belong to and more about why you’re messaging them.
Sharing information is the first and potentially the most important way of using an email signature.
If you’re not currently using one, it’s always a good idea to start. Many businesses have company-wide email signature templates that they will issue when someone starts at their company.
Marketing Materials
Beyond just sharing information, you can put whatever you’d like in your email signature. A lot of the time, this is best put to work by marketing teams.
By including marketing materials in an email signature and then distributing them through all of the company-wide email signature templates, the marketing team ensures that every email has a potential point of sales contact.
Within an email signature, you could include something like a link to a lead magnet. If you’re directly messaging customers, you could include a link to sign up for an email newsletter.
By offering them a discount on their next purchase, they’ll see this as a good opportunity to save money.
From this, your random email has now turned into a bountiful point of production for your marketing team.
They’ll be able to generate new leads, and you’ll be able to facilitate these connections without any additional cost or effort on your part.
Using your email signature as a location for marketing materials is a wonderful way of putting this space to use.
Inbound Links
We’ve already established that email signatures are a wonderful place to include marketing materials.
But, did you know that an email that includes a professional-looking email signature has 22% more clicks than one that does not?
This is a huge increase, especially for those that work in marketing.
By including an email signature that looks professional and links directly to your website, you convert every single email with a customer into an easy method of access for them.
Instead of having to Google your brand of search for your company through product links, they will have a direct link that takes them where you want to go.
By including inbound links within your email signature, you create a direct pathway to get customers into your website.
Instantly, you’re starting to move them down the sales and marketing funnel, helping to increase CTR, conversion rate, and total traffic onto your website.
When you start doing this across all of your company email signatures, you’re in for a huge return across the board.
HR Surveys
When thinking of methods of put email signatures to use, the vast majority of people will focus on external communication.
Whether that’s discussing with customers or pitching to a new client, they look outward and use the signature to facilitate that connection.
However, we’re suggesting that you use 2023 as a test run to start looking inward.
A fantastic way to put email signatures to use internally is to offer them as a space for your HR department to gather anonymous data for their studies.
Within an HR email signature, you can include a link for employees to complete a short survey.
This survey could be about whatever you’d like, ranging from employee satisfaction to feelings of stress or burnout.
By providing this space to your employees, you give them an easy way to give feedback to your company.
This will help you adjust working conditions going forward, pushing everyone to then exist in a healthier work environment.
Equally, this allows your HR team to get information passively and over time.
Instead of forcing people to fill out surveys at certain times, they can do so whenever they feel like it.
Converting the act of information gathering into a passive effort will remove a lot of the burden than you place on the HR team.
All from an email signature, you can decrease the total amount of work that a department has to conduct while also allowing your employees to voice their opinions.
Final Thoughts
In 2023, we want to make our communication go as far as possible. In this fast-paced world, every single word should count.
That’s why we need to start putting our email signatures to use, making sure that space is used as effectively as possible.
By incorporating the uses that we’ve outlined on this list, you’ll have a range of new methods to use this additional space as effectively as possible.
From boosting your internal communication with HR surveys to providing your customers with a better user experience, you can do it all from within your emails.
That is, if you know how.
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