The Secret Weapon for your Emails: The Email Signature Banner

March, 2021

Did you know that there is a very powerful, but largely underused component for branding and marketing your business? It’s not Facebook ads. In fact, it’s not social media at all. Believe it or not, it’s an area that is often overlooked by many entrepreneurs that holds a key to increasing website visits, drumming up interest from new prospects, and even increasing sales. This element is your email signature banner, and while it may be considered by some people to be a minor piece of your business, it can actually be a gold mine when properly utilized.

In this post, we’re answering questions like:

What is an email signature banner?
How can I create one?
What are the best tips for email signature banner design? And
What are some signature banner examples?

There’s no time to waste, so let’s dive in!

What is an Email Signature Banner?

Email signature banners are aesthetically pleasing banners that live in an often-overlooked section of your emails, right below your email signature.

These eye-catching banners usually urge recipients of your emails to take a specific action, they’re almost like miniature banner ads placed at the bottom of your emails.

Email signature banners reflect the branding of your company, make your emails look astounding, and are the best way to turn your everyday emails into a powerful marketing channel that grows your business.

How Can You Create an Email Signature Banner?

First, you need to think about the elements of your banner. You’ll want to:

Plan a call to action (CTA)
Think about the email signature banner design
Draft a copy of what the banner could or would look like and
Start working with email signature software to bring your design ideas to life

Using email signature software is by far the easiest way to create email banners quickly and efficiently. For example, with Black Pearl Mail, you can design several distinct banners for everyone in your team, and even change your banners based on who is receiving the email.

A common question we see is “what is the ideal email signature banner size?” The truth is the jury is still out on the best answer to this question. While you don’t want it to be too big as it could overpower your message, we recommend loading the banners as 1360×400 so it looks good on both desktop and mobile. Again, this is where working with Black Pearl comes in handy. With our email analytics reports, you can do some A/B testing and determine what size is resonating the most with your unique audience.

Once you’ve designed the perfect email signature banner, then it’s time to make it trackable. Doing so will tell you things such as:

Whether or not your email was received and/or opened
How many people clicked your call to action
The number of interactions your emails received in a day
When your recipients read your email

While setting up tracking can be a complicated process Black Pearl makes it easy by doing the work for you. We know just how valuable this data is, that’s why we gather all of it and organize it in a neat dashboard for you! No additional plugins or apps required!

All that’s left to do is implement your shiny new email signature banner (or banners). Start using them for your entire team when sending correspondence to prospects, clients, co-workers, etc…

Adding banners to your emails company-wide also makes it so your entire staff starts to contribute to brand awareness and earnings, this can be done automatically for your staff without them having to take additional effort.

A few quick tips for your signature banner

Keep it simple: It’s unnecessary to go crazy with fonts and colors
Keep it short: We’ve found that headlines of less than 45 characters accompanied by subheaders of less than 90 characters are the sweet spot
Stay on brand: The ideal email signature banner will be aligned with your brand from colors to messaging
Use a clear CTA: Telling people exactly what you want them to do makes them much more likely to do it
Don’t be afraid to test different banners: Test to see what works and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t work, or isn’t working as well as you had hoped, try and try again
Make it move: Did you know that you can add a GIF to your email signature banner? This is a fun way to add some personality, and capture your audience’s attention in a sea of otherwise boring emails!
Make sure banners look good and legible on mobile and desktop
Keep in mind people who like using Dark Mode Settings, your banners should blend well in a dark interface as well

Additionally, make sure that the rest of your email branding is well designed and cohesive with your banner. We recommend two of our recent articles for anyone looking to learn more on how to do this:

How to Send Professional Looking Emails for your Business

Email Signature Best Practices for Small Business Owners

Can My Business Benefit from an Email Signature Banner?

The short answer: YES! There are so many email banner examples out there, and here are just a few of the use cases we’ve seen that may inspire you to add a banner of your own to your emails:

Promote new content on your website: This is great for businesses that have updated fresh blog content, loaded new podcast episodes, shared recent YouTube/Vimeo videos, launched new courses, etc…
Sell your product/service: Whether you’re selling digital products like eBooks or audio/video lessons, physical products, or even services, an email signature banner is a great place to showcase your latest offers
Book meetings: Imagine being able to send your email recipient directly to your booking calendar link. With one click they can see your availability and book an appointment to get their hair cut, schedule a legal consultation, set up a teeth cleaning, or even just book a meeting with you. The possibilities for the businesses that can take advantage of this ability are endless

Promote special offers and sales: Do you have a seasonal discount or special price for new customers? Your email signature banner is a great place to share it
Book demos: Does your sales process offer demos? Your signature is a wonderful spot to add your demo link to introduce prospects to your products
Create awareness for other offers: Maybe there’s something new you’re considering adding to your business. Adding it to an email signature may be a good way to see if anyone has an interest in it
Showcase testimonials and case studies: New prospects often trust other people more than they trust your business in the beginning. Give them a reason to trust you by sharing what others have said about you
Drive traffic to a website/funnel: The link you add to your email signature banner could bring a new visitor to your website or to the beginning of your sales funnel. Imagine being able to walk a customer from their inbox to your opt-in at the top of the funnel without a single ad or sales call
Direct prospects to an application: Maybe you’re only willing to work with people you have vetted. Your email signature banner could be the space you invite people to apply to work with you

Your email signature is a space that helps you reinforce your brand, spread important news, get referrals, and encourage people to reach out to you to start a conversation. From what we’ve seen, every business can benefit from implementing an upgraded email signature into their correspondence. When you’re ready to take your email signatures to the next level, schedule a demo with us, so you can experience the true power of email signature marketing.