• by Ray Schultz , April 21, 2020

Email signatures are probably considered as something you use when sending corporate emails. But they are useful for more than that, according to The State Of Business Email Marketing, a study by Newoldstamp.

For instance, 41% of those surveyed by Newoldstamp use email signatures for branding and giving another layer of visibility for their brands.

More to the point, 62% use email signatures for marketing — 45% use them regularly and 18% use them occasionally. Those uses include CTAs, promotional banners and links to special offers and ad discounts.

Another 37% never use signatures for marketing.

Those that do use them cite these objectives: 

• Brand awareness — 82%
• Driving traffic to the website — 48%
• Lead generation — 34%
• Increasing sales — 25% 
• Announcing new products — 23%
• Promoting events — 19%
• Customer retention — 19%
• Other — 3%

But brands face challenges when launching an email signature campaign:

• Traffic and leads — 29% 
• Performance — 28%
• KPIs — 16%
• Targeting — 13% 
• Signature generators — 9%
• Other — 5%

How do they measure the success of a signature campaign: They track:

• Clicks — 79% 
• Emails sent — 40%
• Impressions — 32%
• Website traffic—30%
• Leads generated — 25%
• CTR — 19% 
• Demos/calls booked — 15%
• Revenue generated — 10% 

What information should be included in an email signature? 

First, the name — a no brainer, you’d think. But only 98% use the name. What else goes in there? Pretty much what you’d expect to find on a printed business card. 

• Title at the company — 81%
• Company name — 92%
• Business website — 91%
• Phone number — 89%
• Email address — 83%
• Social links — 80%

Of the companies polled, 73% use online signature generators to create branded, professional-looking email signoffs. And 16% use them to standard their signatures across the company. 

But they often change them — 45% do so two to four times a year, 12% every month or two and 6% once or twice per month. Another 35% change once in a few years. And 2% switch them weekly. 

Here are a few other stats:

• 66% send corporate emails to interact with customers and prospects. 
• 46% use corporate emails for workplace communication.
• The average employee of a marketing or sales department at small- to mid-sized firms sends from 11% to 25% emails daily. Solopreneurs send up to 10. 

Newoldstamp, an email signature marketing platform, surveyed over 750 marketers and business owners throughout the U.S. 948%), UK (10%), Canada (7%), Australia (7%) and other countries (28%).