How to make business-boosting email signatures

One of the first things you will ever do in business is designing your business email signature. The primary goal of a good business email signature is to invite further contact with your customers and stakeholders.

Your email signature is made of the standard sign-off text at the end of every email you send. Some readers could use the details to visit your shop or office. Many will jump on your website or social from a link in your email signature.

A great email signature can certainly help make sure your brand stands out. You can create much more than a few lines about how someone can get in touch. Your recipients may not be ready to buy but signature branding can help them to easily visit your website at another point in time. After all, they say first impressions count, but last impressions stay with you.

Let’s explore everything you can do with a business-boosting email signature.

Why a business email signature is essential

There is really only one reason your email needs a professional business signature. Email signatures keep customers loyal to your brand by creating a good impression.

Once you have decided you’re going to start designing one for your brand or side-hustle, there are three ways email signatures for business help you out.

Branding and trust

Branding is all about getting attention and hoping for a result. This could be creating a positive impression that lasts or drives the recipient of your branding ‘message’ to act. In both cases, trust is built between your brand and your customers. A beautiful, professional email signature with your brand’s logo or a banner on all your email communications will undoubtedly generate more brand awareness.

Lead generation

Of course, we couldn’t help but mention lead generation. An attention-grabbing corporate email signature will become an effective lead generation tool for your business. When your impressive signature wows your email recipients, they will pay attention to what your company says, open your messages, and be more likely to buy from you.

Untapped marketing potential

Some of those who read your attention-grabbing signature could become future customers. As you create goodwill, you’ll get subscribers — for sure. Email signature branding can help you get a bigger list of contacts. Now you can send future communications and target customer groups. This leads to more opened emails, conversion clicks, and sales.

Email marketers can forget to add email signatures yet spend hours designing images and clever copy to frame promotional marketing campaigns. They forget that your signature can be thought of as the ‘personal touch.’ Since you went to the trouble of establishing contact in the first place and emailed new leads, remember to sign-off in a way that delights them. First impressions count.

An email signature combined with a touch of personalization can draw in new customers. It’s worth considering what would attract a high-value, long-term buyer to your business.

How to create your Business Email Signature

The best way to make email signatures is to start by creating a generic signature that will suit all your communications. Then experiment and create a few different approaches for different messages. Email marketing is very successful, but no matter how well you compose a subject line, statistics tell us your email won’t be read by every recipient you send to. Make your signature a good fit for your messages.

You can use your signature to create pathways for customers. They could explore your brand or take one strong call to action. Of course, in your email signature, you can add a link to your website, landing page, or opt-in page too – the choice is limitless. It’s really up to you.

Define goals

Will you be using email marketing for cold outreach, personalized connections, or campaign discount offers? Once you know which of these you want to design a signature for, match the tone to the level of formality your fellow business community would use with their clients.

If you are writing to bankers, you’d use a formal tone, or be a little conservative for finance contacts, and perhaps more creative for arts and entertainment promoters. Your audience is important to consider from the outset.

Save signatures 

Sounds simple enough but there’s a few things to consider.

Create more than one signature to use depending on what you need it for. Most will use your full name, job title and company name. Describe your position and what kind of title suits your business. Are you a CEO or a Founder? Or in a more casual approach you might call yourself an expert, or guru.

Write your business name (and department if you have a diverse business.) In the second case (a diverse business selling many items or services) save a few versions because you can easily switch in product or service names to match different email subjects with those signatures. Preparation makes life easier in the long run.

Design the best business email signature according to your goals, and decide if you want your email readers to follow a link to your website, go to a special page, or perhaps read a blog or listen to a podcast. Save a few text versions with links.

Now that you have a group of signatures ready, it’s time to consider the design.

Include the basics

Your email signature is a prime opportunity to share essential information with your prospects.

By giving people instant access to your contact information, business details, and credentials, you will appear more approachable and professional.

Check your email signature includes:

Your primary contact number
Your full email address
Your website details
Your branding or logo
Your social media icons
 A legal disclaimer (optional)

Business email signature design tips

It can be tempting to use a range of colors and images to make an attention-grabbing signature. A word of caution. Make sure your signature carries the same level of professionalism you would see on a business card. 

Add some flair

A photo – This doesn’t have to be a circular headshot of you smiling which is the same as your social profiles. You could use an avatar, or you could also use the product, like this one below with an image of cookies.

Add social — Because your business social media details give email recipients the chance to explore your brand channels include your links too.

  Experiment with style – place your signature details side by side, or perhaps draw a line and divide information with social on the top right.

Add a handwritten signature

 If you are writing to suppliers or sending content a handwritten signature looks professional.

Include a quote

You can add some pizazz to your brand with an inspiring quote.

 Add your ‘thing’

Corporate social responsibility might be big for you, or a focus on the environment.

Show your world

Include an image gallery of your latest content to tempt your customers or encourage them to get to know your team.

Putting it all together

By all means, use your logo, or company colors to accent your signature. A good rule of thumb is to try out a free app and roadtest some ideas, and try out a few different calls to action.

To create the mockups above, we used a free business email signature template generator, Wise Stamp. (Just be aware if you want to download your creation, or do something like add your logo, there’s a small fee.) 

Probably worth mentioning, it’s100% free to make an email signature, or more than one, if you are one of our customers. In Namecheap’s Private Email this is how to create your very own email signature. 

Last impressions count

Like most, depending on whom you are writing to, you probably have several accounts and sign off your messages differently. It’s a great idea to compose your business email signature in a way that helps your brand stand out. It’s the last impression, and it stays in their minds.

Your signature matters. Whether you are conducting a marketing campaign or approaching your contacts, the way you sign off your email is a valuable point of attention. It’s a good idea to take advantage of this marketing tool if you want to grow your business.

Marketing with email signatures

There are billions of email users worldwide, so it’s worth spending a little time considering your signature.  A business email signature is often overlooked yet the emails you send to try and entice customers to buy is still the best marketing tool in use today. Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage your signature power.If you are just beginning to explore the potential of having your own domain name email account our Business email 101 guide gives you the lowdown on all you need to know about private email accounts.