Your email signature is probably not something you think about often.
It might even be something you create when you setup your email and never think about again.
But think about all the emails you send and receive in a month.
I just looked at our G Suite report from last month. The account for our Account Manager, Lindy.
Nearly 1,000 emails sent and over 1,200 emails received.
Craziness.
That blows my mind, but I’m sure it’s even crazier for you and others in the business world.
Thousands of times a month that you’re sending emails. That’s a lot of impressions and opportunities with your email signature.
Now, I believe that you shouldn’t automate your email signature. I think it should be something you write every single time you send a message.
I’ve been doing this for years. I guess I don’t think everybody should do it my way, but it’s something that’s worked for me.
Most of the time I just write:
Dayne
Ghost Blog Writers
But there are quite a few other times when I write another variation.
Something different for co-workers. Something different with family and friends. Something different for customers. For prospects. For vendors. For partners.
All different.
Here are just a few ways you can use your email signature to get more engagement.
1. Website URL
We’ll start out with the basic one.
I like it best for prospecting or sales emails. When you’re conversing with someone that isn’t a customer yet, but that would probably be curious to learn more about you.
You don’t want to send them a bunch of text with a handful of links. That’s too much.
But you also don’t want them asking questions.
I like to leave with something like this:
Dayne Shuda
Founder
ghostblogwriters.com
I like typing out the URL. It looks more like a link that you can trust. Nothing is hidden. If I link Ghost Blog Writers you’re never 100% sure the link actually goes where you’re saying it will go.
2. Case Studies
This is another one of my favorites. More for sales-type emails, but also for working with colleagues, vendors and partners.
Linking to one of your case studies. Including the stats.
People like reading case studies. They also like sharing case studies. Maybe not on social media, but amongst their businesses and people they know.
Your colleague might not need your service, but if they ever hear one of their other colleagues express a need that you can help they can easily share the case study you included in your email signature.
3. Blog Post, Video, Podcast Episode, etc.
New blog post?
Video, podcast episode or something similar?
Go ahead and include that in your signature.
Leave it with something like:
Dayne Shuda
Check out my latest post: [Title + Link]
I’ve clicked on these a number of times when clients and partners have done it.
4. Ebook, White Paper, Guide, etc.
This one is similar to the last one, but it’s about even bigger projects.
Ebooks, white papers, guides and similar items. Ones that likely won’t be replaced in the next few months.
I write a few posts each week. I write something like a guide maybe once or twice a year. This could also include something like a book. I’ve seen authors that include a mention of their book in their email signature.
Maybe they even give away something like a link to the first chapter or something like that.
5. Guest Spot
Guest posts. Guest spots on videos or podcasts.
It’s good for the site or wherever you guested. You’re helping them get engagement and they’ll love that and it will then reflect well on you. They’ll want you back.
And it’s just more exposure for you. The more you can get your audience to see your guest spot the more they’ll share it with their connections and the more engagement and exposure you get.
6. News, PR Mention
Maybe your business just made the Inc. 500 list. Or maybe you’re involved in an upcoming charity event.
This one is tricky because you don’t want to humble brag too much, but it’s an opportunity to kind of prove your worth especially for the right audience.
Maybe you include a mention of the Inc. 500 thing only for your internal team and partners. You could have a quick thank you in the signature for all those that helped you achieve something great.
7. Survey, Research, etc.
This would be one that you’re conducting.
I’ve seen this fairly often over the years and I’ve participated in these surveys.
One of the thing you want with an industry survey or whatever is numbers. If you’re sending over a thousand emails a month think of all the exposure that gets you if you run the survey for a few months.
You can link to where people can fill out the survey. Mention what it’s about. Mention that it’s anonymous and then mention that you’ll let them know when the survey results are live.
8. New Product or Service
Could have listed this one earlier.
I don’t know if I see this one enough.
Let’s say you’re launching a new version of your current product. Maybe a software update.
Or you’re launching a new corollary product. Maybe if we were launching a new website copywriting business.
Include that in your email signature with a link to the details for all emails you send to current customers, vendors and partners.
9. Social Media
Active on social media?
Your email signature is a great place to ask for followers.
If you’re in the business world perhaps the best one might be LinkedIn. I remember in college a good friend of mine included the phrase:
Connect with me on LinkedIn
That was in every email to his professors, classmates, friends and more.
He got a lot of great connections during his last year in college and it continued into his professional life. It was really a great idea and I wish I had done it at the time.
I suppose I could still do it now.
10. Reminders
Finally, simple reminders can work well.
Reminders of offers that your company is running.
Reminders of a report you published last month that’s available to your team or to your customers.
A reminder to signup for a charity event.
Anything where the initial buzz has worn off, but you still want to see people take action before the item is completely finished.
Final Thought
Here’s one final thought for email signatures.
Don’t overdo it.
I like to keep them short and to the point. Not all kinds of crazy fonts. Not too many links. One is enough. More than one call to action is confusing.
I see a lot of signatures that have too much going on. Especially those lawyered texts about how information in this email shouldn’t be copied or things like that.
Who reads that stuff?
I also see some with multiple phone numbers. When I see that I always think, “Which one do I call?”.
Leave one call to action and you’ll get more action.