Email signatures are important and showcase your professionalism as a small business owner. They also offer a compelling marketing opportunity. A signature file, or block of text, that appears automatically at the end of every email that you and your employees send can do more than provide contact information, it can be used to extend your sales and other objectives. When communicating with existing and potential customers, every email signature should have the following information: person’s name, job title, company name, phone number (direct line and/or mobile) and website as a clickable link.
In addition, if you have social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, which every independent retailer should, include links so email recipients can “like” and “follow“you. Another important component of your email signature is a special message. This could be an offer to buy a new product, join an association, view a mediacast or subscribe to your newsletter. Make sure you keep this message fresh, updating it every couple of weeks or so.
Another option is to include your most recent or most popular Twitter tweet with the number of retweets, mentions and responses. This adds credibility to your Twitter presence and may encourage more followers. Consider posting a useful solution to a common problem your customers and prospects may encounter.
When choosing your text, remember simple is best, skip colors, special fonts and graphics, as they might not translate well to smartphones and tablets. Be careful with HTML formatting because it may not appear how you want it to in everyone’s operating system. Don’t get carried away accessorizing your email signatures, and avoid including images because many email systems automatically strip these away or turn them into attachments. If you do use images, optimize your logo or other graphics, upload the files to your server and use an absolute URL.
It is not necessary to incorporate all of these elements. The idea is to put a little something extra in every email you send. Choose information that is most appropriate for your business and will benefit both current and potential customers.