You may be losing sales leads if you’re limiting your email signature to just your name, phone number and website.
As small business owners with limited budgets, we need to optimize every marketing channel available. This includes our email signatures. To help you, I’ve outlined several ideas below.
What’s more, I conclude this post with three detailed email signature examples. Specifically, an email signature for a CEO, another for an owner of a small company and then my own.
The Making of a Profitable Email Signature
First, every email you distribute should include an email signature — even if you’ve emailed many times with the same person.
Why?
Because we’re operating in a world of short attention spans and cluttered inboxes. People want information — pronto.
Therefore, avoid having customers search for your contact information.
#1 Rule of Email Marketing:
Most important items first.
Initial Structure
Begin your signature with a unique slogan that offers a benefit to recipients.
Examples:
- Bookstore: Shipping Hard-to-Find Books Within 24-Hours
- Financial Advisor: Turning Work Income Into Investment Income
- In-Home Care Agency: Helping Seniors Live Independently
- Medical Software: Reducing the Cost of Health Care
- Dog Walker: Increasing Tail Wagging for Four-Legged Friends
- Private Investigator: Finding Need-to-Know Answers
Why lead with a benefit rather than a “Sincerely, John Doe?”
Because in order to capture your prospect’s attention, your message must grab their interest. Let’s face it, most names are not overly enticing unless you’re Tom Brady, Oprah, Adele, Bill Gates or similar.
Therefore, your name and other contact information should be second. If recipients want to connect with you, they’ll keep reading until they find your contact information, since you’ve attracted their interest with your benefit-oriented slogan.
A slogan-first approach is even more imperative when the person you’re communicating with doesn’t know you.
More importantly, you’ll immediately differentiate yourself from your competition by taking this tactic.
The following is a list of what professional email signatures should include:
- Slogan with a powerful customer benefit (Try keeping it to six words or less.)
- Name, title, business name, address, phone, email, URL (If you work remotely, exclude your address.)
- Offer something for free, such as a white paper, case study or monthly expert tip in exchange for the person’s email address.
- Let’s connect: (insert your hyperlinked social media icons)
Number 3 is very important.
The most affordable way to reach a target audience, while also having more control over your exposure, is through email marketing. Your overall goal is to easily and repeatedly keep in touch with prospects and customers. Therefore, it’s imperative for small businesses to collect qualified email addresses and communicate with these prospects no less than once a month. To collect email addresses, you need a strong call to action, for example, “Download our free white paper: How to Build a Cohesive Remote Team.”
One Nuance
Some believe it’s redundant to include your email address in a signature, given that you’re already emailing with the person … 🙂
However, there are two key reasons to include it:
- For convenience, a.k.a., everything is in one location.
- There are email programs that remove the original email address during forwarding.
Other Considerations
Most email programs allow you to create more than one signature. This is a wonderful benefit, enabling customization of your signatures based on the niche audience you’re communicating with at that moment.
For Example:
To increase sales, your email signature should be different for a vendor versus an existing customer.
Generally, you have something to offer both; however, engagement rates will increase when you tailor your message for each audience. For example, with vendors, your message may refer to partnership marketing ideas, while a last-minute special offer is more appropriate for an existing customer.
Job Titles
Some professions have obscure job titles. For example, Registered Representative, a term often used within the financial services industry. This title begs the question: Representative of what?
Your target audience should immediately understand how you can help them by merely reading your title. If not, then add to the description.
Additional Email Signature Calls to Action
Here’s a short list of ideas that’ll encourage your reader to take action:
- Upcoming Workshop/Podcast
- Travel Schedule, enticing customers to do business with you while you’re in their area
- Sale Item of the Week
- eNews Sign-up
- Latest Publicity Mention or “In the News”
- Register to Win
- Download White Paper, Case Study, etc.
Keep in mind, many of your customers may not be aware of every service you offer. Therefore, your signature is a great place to educate them, i.e., While we’re known for our creative copywriting services, we also provide customized market research outreach.
Finally, here are three detailed email signature examples:
#1 — Email Signature for a Business Owner:
As-Needed Bookkeeping for Small Businesses
Rose Davenport
Owner/Traveling Freelance Bookkeeper
Beyond Bookkeeping, LLC
San Francisco
000-000-0000
RDavenport@BeyondBookkeeping.com
BeyondBookeeping.com
Download my free special report: Hidden Places to Find Money Within QuickBooks
Connect with me on LinkedIn
…
In the above example, Rose works from home. Therefore, I left off her street address. Unless customers are coming to your home office, leave it off. Also note that I expanded her title to include benefits. Finally, certain cities are so popular that you can leave off their state, as I did with San Francisco. Other cities include: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami and roughly 25 others.
Why am I mentioning this? Two reasons: To minimize clutter and because cities that standalone reflect a unique experience that can sometimes be profitable to highlight.
#2 — Email Signature for a CEO:
Leading the Charge for Drone Accessibility
Bill Smith, CEO
Drone Advantage Corporation
123 Center Boulevard
Augusta, ME 04330
000-000-0000
Bill.Smith@DroneAdvantage.com
www.DroneAdvantage.com
Download our latest white paper: How to Integrate Drones Into Your Business Delivery System
Connect with Drone Advantage: [social icon], [social icon], [social icon]
#3 — I sometimes use the following:
Experience an Influx of Customers Who Need What You Offer
Sharron Senter
Freelance Brand Journalist Obsessed With Words
Sharron@SharronSenter.com
www.SharronSenter.com
978-255-2771 | Boston
Check out my new eBook: Weather Marketing Ideas
Let’s connect on: LinkedIn and Twitter
…
In the above example, I usually rotate my call to action among: latest eBook, monthly marketing tip sign-up or upcoming speaking engagement.
Important Note:
Some experts believe you should only use one call to action in any given marketing communication. I agree with them in most cases, particularly with postcard marketing. However, in my examples above, I like using two. If an email recipient isn’t interested in your white paper, they may still want to keep in touch by connecting on LinkedIn or another social channel. Social icons are calls to action. Therefore, be sure to prioritize what you want your reader to do. If you offer too many choices, they may end up being distracted and take no action.
Finally…
Try changing your email signature every few weeks. Oftentimes, we’re communicating with the same people over and over again. Instead, tempt them with a different message.
Also, it’s perfectly fine to use a short email signature with individuals you know well, i.e., coworkers, longtime clients, etc. In this situation, I personally use my name, title, URL, phone number and links to my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
What about you? Have you had success with other email signature strategies? Please help other small business owners by sharing your ideas in the comment section below.
~*~
Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing.
Independently yours,
Sharron