This post is reprinted from 12/8/2013
It has long been the opinion of this author that email signatures are one of the five most important aspects of email. This article reflects that opinion. Even though the focus here is on marketing, signatures are equally critical for business, job and most other categories of email. These are discussed in several of my blogs. You can search from the main page to find them. Also, for those looking for a centralized product to manage all of your email from all devices, please view our product website at www.tabularosa.net for the Crossware product description. For those interested in the product, kindly contact sales@tabularosa.net . Enjoy the blog!
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Email signatures : an overlooked marketing tool
With
the continued search towards highly personalised communication,
organisations are spending a fortune on innovative, social media
promotions, digital advertising and eCRM campaigns. Yet how much of this
activity is actually seen by the right people? And how much of it is
targeted, relevant and personalised? Yet a simple and free way to
dynamically communicate with customers, suppliers, prospects is being
ignored by the vast majority of organizations.
How
many thousands of emails does your organisation send each day? And
while some of those may half-heartedly promote the brand in the email
signature, how many are treating it – the humble email signature – as a
comprehensive communications channel in its own right?
Dynamic Communication
Corporate
email has been the primary means of communication with customers and
prospects, suppliers and business partners for at least a decade. Today,
each employee sends an average 30 emails every day], and that is set to
increase with figures from Radicati
predicting global business email volumes will rise from 89bn per day in
2012 to 143.8bn by 2016. These corporate emails are highly relevant,
sent to a defined and known business specific audience and, as a result,
have open rates in excess of 90 per cent.
Given
the power of this direct communication method, it is no surprise that
over the past few years growing numbers of organizations – or perhaps
individuals within organizations – have recognized the value of adding a
corporate logo or other branding to the standard email disclaimer and
signature.
However,
the approach remains essentially static. There is no personalization of
message and no exploitation of the immediacy of communication to create
a more valuable interaction. How many employees, customers and
suppliers follow the company on Twitter or LinkedIn, for example? Are
they aware of the latest corporate award, reading blogs or contributing
to conversations about new products or services or a key legislative
change that is affecting the market?
Email
offers three huge advantages for marketers looking to transform the
effectiveness and relevance of communication: trust, timing and
personalization. Recipients already have a relationship with the
business, or are in the process of building one; either way, the email
includes information that will have value and, as such, should be
eagerly awaited. This is an audience that is receptive and interested,
making the email the perfect place and time to introduce a new promotion
or social media content. Furthermore,
email provides a very simple way of targeting the message based on
recipient, sender, or timing of communication. For example, different
email signatures can be used for customer sales and pre-sales support to
personalize the message to each customer segment or reflect the timing
within the sales process. With this approach, it is incredibly effective
to plug an event or introduce a social media resource that truly
reflects the current interaction with customer, employee or supplier.Social Value
This approach is particularly compelling for social media, enabling organizations to build on the immediacy of social interactions. With social media increasingly dominating marketing spend and social networking accounts set to rise from 2.7bn in 2012 to over 4.3bn by year end 2016 according to Radicati, there is a clear value to be gained by showcasing social content within every email.
At even the most basic level, using a signature to connect social with email is proven to work – with Unilever claiming to increase LinkedIn connections from 40,000 to 235,000 in just ten months after adding a Follow link to the email signature as part of an employer branding strategy.
Extending this to include blog links or Twitter feeds provides a huge opportunity to create a dynamic brand engagement, encouraging those within the business network to extend the way they interact. For example, existing customers are receptive to emails – they are often waiting for them – but may rarely check out the company’s social activity. Adding a Twitter Follow and blog link, as well as time relevant promotion of events or webinars, can transform the way in which organizations engage.
Centralized Control
It is, however, important to avoid any abuse of the email signature that detracts from the primary objective: the essential information embedded within the email. It is also important to impose control to ensure consistency of message. And this is simply not possible if the business relies on individuals to update email signatures within Outlook. With the majority of employees perceiving email as a personal communication, even when used exclusively for business, far too many organizations have very inconsistent email signatures – from a lack of basic contact details to highly variable branding.
A central control mechanism takes the onus away from the individual and enables marketing to manage the process. Simply creating a template and hoping it will be adopted is fraught with risk – especially given the ‘frustrated graphic designer’ lurking behind many a salesman. And with social media content generated typically on 72 hour timescales, it is not feasible to expect users to continually update email signatures to reflect the latest blog.
Instead, a central approach to signature creation and deployment ensures any dynamic email branding automatically reflects current corporate messaging – from current promotions to the latest social media activity. Signatures can be tailored to specific audiences – for example the sales team can be offered two or three approved and unchangeable, signature options to reflect the nature of the mail recipient, based on customer type, perhaps, or supplier. Date specific promotions enable the use of dynamic banners relating to the current product offer or event with full control over the timing of the activity.
Using
email to reinforce the brand is great – especially when the company
gets it right. It provides a chance to plug the latest award and
reinforce quality standards and accreditation. But there is so much more that could and should be done.
With
the right approach to email signatures organizations can create a new,
highly effective communications channel that exploits existing
investment in both off and online marketing to drive greater engagement
and interaction with employees, customers and suppliers. Why wouldn’t
you?
Chris Brown is Marketing Director of Exclaimer. ===================================
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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
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