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Lead generation (the process of identifying and cultivating new potential customers) remains a significant emphasis for most organizations and marketers alike. However, competition has never been as fierce as it is today, especially as we go depper into a digital world where companies compete for consumers’ attention across multiple touchpoints.

According to Hubspot, 61% of marketers consider generating traffic and leads to be their biggest challenge, and a whopping 53% of marketers spend at least half of their budget on lead generation. With so many businesses out there competing for sales leads, how do you stand out from the crowd? Well, one often overlooked aspect of digital marketing is the humble old email signature. Unbeknownst to most, email signatures are not just a kind of digital signature; they also provide a fantastic marketing opportunity if used correctly. 

What is email signature lead generation?

Let’s assume you’re the CEO of a company where the average employee sends 50 emails every day. In that scenario, your company would be missing out on a simple, passive opportunity to produce up to 50 significant impressions per day from each employee if they do not have a professionally prepared email signature.

Email signatures are an easy to implement marketing tool to raise brand awareness and inform potential customers about your company and the services it provides, offering a free marketing opportunity that comes with a slew of advantages, including making your employees appear more professional, increasing trust and credibility, and allowing you to include a clear CTA with each email correspondence. 

The essentials of a professional email signature

Before we go any further, it’s important that we first address the fundamentals. In general, every email signature should have four things; otherwise, you risk not being taken seriously, which could potentially hurt your conversion rate rather than help it. The following are the basic requirements:

• Your name
• Job title
• Company
• A link to your company website

However, depending on the industry you operate in, you may wish to include some more information. Rather than starting from scratch with your design, look at some well-crafted email signature examples that have already proven to be successful, particularly from those in a similar profession or sector to yours. 

Five clever ways to make your email signature stand out and generate more leads

Now that you’ve got a hold of the basics, here are five creative ideas to help you start converting more leads with your email signature:

Social media 

Although social media is ubiquitous these days, most people fail to include links to their social media profiles in their email signatures. This is a missed opportunity to obtain free and easy traffic to your social pages, which is usually another excellent lead generation channel. According to reports, 66% of marketers create leads from social media after only investing six hours per week on the platforms.

This proves that if you have a sound strategy, you can generate good leads on social media with little effort. So, why not enhance those numbers even more by incorporating links to your pages in your email signature? However, don’t go too far with this—link to the three social profiles where you spend the most time and leave the rest out.

Case studies

If you’re talking to a potential customer, it’s a great idea to share success stories that you have helped to create for some of your other clients. For example, if you run a marketing company, you could share how your service helped clients increase their ROI, giving facts, figures, and examples. Through this social proof, you can build credibility and demonstrate that you are capable at your job. 

Offer a free tool/service

People love free stuff, don’t they? If your company has created a free tool or service, your email signature is an ideal location to promote it. Free online tools have the potential to entice consumers to learn more about your product or services. Using these tools will encourage people to interact with your organization more frequently, increasing their familiarity with your brand – all of which is beneficial to increasing lead generation ROI.

Promotional video

Sixty-six percent of consumers say they’d rather watch a brief video than read a blog or other text format to learn about a product or service. This is an eye-opening number that should not be overlooked, which is why using a video in your email signature is a no-brainer. If your company has made a promotional film, include a link to it in your email signature so that recipients may learn more about you without leaving the email. Simply putting a link into many email clients will immediately embed the video.

Industry research

Last but not least, your email signature is a great place to insert a few stats, facts, and figures about your industry (or your company) that will pique the interest of your readers. Find data that supports your product or service and backs up the point you are trying to make or emphasize the problem you are trying to solve. It doesn’t even have to be a direct link; simply include it as an interesting fact that your readers will remember.

Final word

While people often state that first impressions count, they often forget how important it is to leave a lasting impression when dealing with clients. A well-crafted email signature gives you a chance to reaffirm who you are, the service you offer and establish credibility and trust at the end of each correspondence. If you’re trying to generate new leads, it’s imperative that you appear professional, and a carefully curated email signature is a great way to achieve that.