In our previous blog post, The End of Emails, we discussed how technology has evolved to more collaborative self-organizing forms of communication. However, the reality is emails are here to stay, at least in terms of external corporate communication.
Each day, the average office employee receives 121 emails and sends 40. In 2018 there were 3.8 billion email accounts, and over 281 billion emails sent. Projections suggest that over 333 billion emails will be sent per year by 2022. Of all emails sent, 2.3% have a malicious attachment or intent, which translates to 6,463 million emails. Because email connects closely with the issue of cybersecurity, Scout has spoken in depth on the matter in our post Email Phishing & Vulnerability Training.
Not only is the volume of emails sent sizeable, but the engagement rate is also significant. Emails sent in North America has an open rate of 34%, and 33% of mobile users say they’ve read an email based on its subject line. What this means for businesses is that if you’re not treating email as an opportunity, you’re missing out.
There are some ways companies use emails to drive profitability and brand engagement, but the easiest way to take advantage of email is by using the email signature feature.
Scout wants to highlight six things that you can do in your email signature to create the most value: conform, contact, certify, connect, communicate and comply.
Conform: Include a corporate logo that conforms to brand standards to increase your authority in communications. Additionally, building email signatures to conform to brand standards is one way to be inimitable. A sophisticated email signature is one way to prevent would-be scammers from impersonating you or your company.
Contact: Include contact details in a clean layout. Make it easy for customers to reach out to your staff; technology adds value when you use it to improve efficiency and revenue.
Certify: Increase your power as an expert or top performer by including certifications, awards or other signals of accomplishment and expertise.
Connect: Include links to social media platforms to maximize the chances of getting your customers to engage with you on social media.
Communicate: Use the email signature as a tool to communicate important corporate information. For example, if your company has recently been used as a cover for a phishing attack, disclosing that information to external stakeholders is easily incorporated into email signatures.
Comply: Using email signatures to comply with disclaimer law requirements.
Scout has deep expertise in technology knows there are many email signature solutions on the market. In our opinion, the best solution hinges on the broader needs and context of the business. For example, if you are looking for an email signature tool that integrates with your CRM system, that shapes your product choices. If the priority is to ensure your communications are inimitable, you may require a custom HTML solution. It should be the larger business requirement, not the tool itself, that determines what constitutes the best solution.
An additional point of consideration is the benefit that email solutions can provide to businesses functions such as sales and marketing. Well constructed email signatures are a tool by which promotions and seasonal content can be directly and repeatedly pushed to customers. In effect, they fulfill a role similar to remarketing but do so in a much more cost-effective way.
Email signatures featuring seasonal content or sales promotions are a flexible, scalable solution for driving sales. They can be implemented at a shop, department or company with scale, and can be adjusted to be location specific.
If you’re curious about how Scout can help your business navigate the world of technology and tool choices, reach out to Matt, CEO and founder of Scout, today.