Alan DraperNo one would argue with the power of email in the workplace. Yet there are still companies having the debate over whether or not they should have a consistently branded email signature. These folks are downright crazy. Email is used more than any other form of communication in your workplace – more than phones, faxes, and even in-person meetings. Think about it – every meeting is concluded with some sort of email follow up. Why not capitalize on this space and add your brand, the ways to interact with it, and your information in every message?
If you’re facing this battle with your marketing department or leadership who won’t give in on the topic of company-wide email signatures, try my answers to their typical gripes in the debate. At the end of the day, leaders who choose not to implement branded email signatures lose anyway.
1. Email Signatures are Not as Redundant as You Think
Sometimes it gets old seeing the same email signature each time you receive an email from someone. And worse are those senders who include cheesy motivational quotes or other annoying things that piss off their receiver. However, browsers and email systems have advanced their recognition abilities so that the email signature shows up only once, on the first email sent. So those who are arguing that they hate seeing the signature more than once should consider updating their email system or browser. Sadly, this person is probably experiencing a whole load of annoying user-experience problems due to outdated systems. The other common reason people are annoyed with the email signatures they see on a regular basis is simply because they are unattractive and not well thought-out.
2. People Will Customize Them Anyway, So….
I’ve heard over and over again from employers that their fear about implementing a company-wide email signature is that people will botch it up and customize it their own way. Hello?! That is what they are doing anyway. They’re creating their own email signatures with ugly fonts and cheesy sayings because you have not provided them with one. Why not control your brand image and message by giving them the goods?
3. Business Cards are NOT the Best Way
There is a reason why people are saying that print is dead. A business card can end up stuffed at the bottom of my briefcase between two pieces of stale gum. Email is accessible via my phone, iPad, computer, and laptop. People don’t want to sift through their stack of mile-high cards just to find you. And certainly no one wants to sift through the last 217 emails you sent, just to locate your direct office line. Give them a break and include it in every message. Email is searchable, while your business card stack is not.
If you find that no one listens to your constant begging for a company-wide email signature, then go ahead and make one yourself. But please, avoid the 5 most annoying email signature mistakes when you do.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.
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Hi Antoinette, great article. The power of being able to leverage a visual communication channel that everyone uses many times every day in business is an opportunity missed by so many businesses. Great to see you are getting the word out about Branded Emails – every business should be using them !
Couldn’t agree more & these are great counter-arguments for folks that would resist investing in a corporate email signature. What’s even more surprising is to what extent many professionals choose to not add an email signature to many emails, or how much information is missing from their signatures, hence the even greater need for implementation.
My team actually pumped out a number of stats after analyzing 700 million emails & what you find in a typical email signature is certainly not what you’d expect. Feel free to take a peek here: evercontact.com/blog/infographic-the-anatomy-of-an-email-signature.1.html