Friday, May 18, 2007
Email Signatures Your Clients Love
This year, I find myself receiving emails from people in the HR, Finance, Marketing, and Sales departments of a huge corporation. But by the look of their emails, I would never guess that they all work for the same company.
But what medium do organizations use more abundantly than email? And what medium is more ripe for a marketing message to "go viral"? A company with only 10 employees can easily send out over 100 emails every day -- and each email can get forwarded to dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other people.
Humble But Powerful! Even though an email sig is humble bit of corporate communication, do not dismiss its potential to make a powerful impact.
I recommend that corporations adopt at least a simple, consistent sig format...
This year, I find myself receiving emails from people in the HR, Finance, Marketing, and Sales departments of a huge corporation. But by the look of their emails, I would never guess that they all work for the same company.
- The fonts and sizes are different.
- The background colors vary.
- Even the signature formats are woefully inconsistent.
But what medium do organizations use more abundantly than email? And what medium is more ripe for a marketing message to "go viral"? A company with only 10 employees can easily send out over 100 emails every day -- and each email can get forwarded to dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other people.
Humble But Powerful! Even though an email sig is humble bit of corporate communication, do not dismiss its potential to make a powerful impact.
I recommend that corporations adopt at least a simple, consistent sig format...
Name, phone number(s), extension, link to website.
...and that the sig format be applied consistently throughout the organization.
You cannot go wrong with the basics! Everyone -- your clients, your suppliers, and even your family and friends -- we can all get behind this simple, bare basics approach.
But for added impact, some organizations go quite a bit further in their corporate email signature approach:
Name, title, phone number(s), address, fax,
tag line, logo, offer, email, rotating banner,
photo, confidentiality notice...
tag line, logo, offer, email, rotating banner,
photo, confidentiality notice...
How much is too much? In many cases, I receive signature files that are much longer than the email message itself!
That's why I am all for the simple, consistent approach. But I can see some of the add-ons. For example, I can get behind a tag line and a seasonal offer. And if your business has many locations or a real world address where you want people to visit, by all means, add it to your sig. Lately, I also fancy the rotating banner with top news or blog posts. I find myself actively looking for new company information or press releases on them.
In fact, I like the simple rotating banner so much that I use one myself in my own emails. The one that comes with feedburner is simple and clean looking:
However, some of the stuff you see in email signatures can be a bit much...
- Email address: When you send an email, your recipient already has your email address, right? So why be redundant and include it in the sig?
- A confidentiality notice: I doubt this lengthy bit of copy really has any legal teeth. But I am not a legal expert, so I could be wrong. However, it IS ugly and takes up bandwidth. And just about everyone I know ignores it entirely. If you really MUST have one, why not just link to it in your sig?
- Logo and Picture. I am on the fence about using a logo and/or picture in the signature. A Realtor I know includes his head shot in his sig, and I think it's nice to see his grinning mug from time to time. But others have told me that it creeps them out to have a face embedded in their emails. And while your logo belongs on real world letterhead, do you really need it in your email signature?
But that's just me. I like to see simplicity, consistency, and useful information in corporate email signatures.
What about you? What do you like to see in a signature file? And what items need to be tossed in the trash?
And what about your organization? Does your organization's corporate brand guide provide a standard for the email look and feel and the signature? Why or why not?
Labels: Presentation
¶ 5/18/2007 10:53:00 AM
