Advice
April 27, 2020

How to create an Outlook email signature?

By
Amandine Fernandez
Head of Acquisition
Often underestimated, Outlook email signatures are actually a powerful marketing tool. Your employees’ emails offer the company a dynamic medium, much like your website, your business card, or your blog. How can you make the most of it? At what conditions? For what purposes?

Each day, 128 billion emails, as well as email signatures, are sent and received all around the world. On average, an employee sends 40 emails and receives 121...every day! Multiplied by the number of employees, the impression rate and the weight of the message-driven by this channel, can leave any company’s communication and marketing team dreaming. Even more so if the Outlook email signature can be modified in real-time according to the objectives.

Outlook email signatures: opt for a centralized management

For different reasons, the email signature still remains underused as a communication tool: difficult to implement to every workstation manually, create signatures, keep them up to date, the impact to the IT, and add them to Exchange On-Premise, are all obstacles.Letsignit eliminates all these points of friction. Proposed as a SaaS, the deployment of Microsoft 365 (Office 365) Outlook email signatures is automated and centralized. Each user can take advantage of a harmonized and consistent signature that complies with the company’s graphic charter without impacting business. More than a business card, Letsignit transforms the email signature into a powerful communication channel. Whether it is for ensuring brand consistency, amplifying marketing campaigns, or aligning to a big or small organization’s rules, there are many reasons to centralize email signatures in Outlook.

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Outlook email signatures: nourish the 1st interaction with your brand

The email is often the first – and the main- interaction between the company and its audience. Following the saying, “you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression”, a messy or non-compliant Outlook email signature leads to a negative perception of the company.It is a shame to create a whole array of communication around the brand and align it with all your media, only to ruin it with a bad email signature.To effectively convey the company's image, the email signature of each employee must include the company's graphic codes. By simply using Outlook in Microsoft 365 (Office 365) , the implementation of the signature relies either on the user or on a resource in the IT department. Despite everyone's goodwill, how can you be sure that the graphic charter is respected? Consistency in the information hierarchy? Harmonization in the form of these Outlook email signatures? The greater the number of employees, the greater the risk of a wrong interpretation of the corporate Harmonization in the form of these email signature. Not everyone masters the techniques for editing visuals, the names of the company's departments and functions, or simply the key messages to be delivered.To avoid random individual implementations, the IT department can dedicate a resource to configure each workstation. But because it takes 30 minutes per workstation, multiplied by the number of employees, the time allocated to this low value-added task could undoubtedly be better used by the IT department.Not to mention the fact that an Outlook email signature evolves every time someone changes their job title, the company has a new logo, or moves, etc. In these cases, updating signatures is not always the priority of employees or even of the communication department. Ideally, the addition of an email signature in Office 365 should be automated.

The Outlook email signature, an ignored marketing channel

What marketing manager doesn't dream of an email campaign with a 100% opening rate? By skillfully using the email signature of your employees, it is the opening rate you can expect. Since the exposure and visibility of your messages will be proportional to the number of interactions, you might as well take advantage of this and make Outlook email signatures a marketing tool. The Outlook email signatures can carry much more than the names, functions, and contact details of your employees; it can above all serve as a support for many types of messages and act as a very powerful call-to-action to meet your objectives.Simply put, your email signature is graphically and technically equivalent to an ad or a perfectly targeted communication.The banner use cases integrated to your email signatures are numerous:

  • Information on an upcoming event
  • Studies and surveys
  • Inbound marketing
  • ABM
  • HR marketing
  • Internal communication

These communication and marketing actions are easy to deploy. Whatever the goal, templates help to create an email signature with the right messages and visuals. The account administrator only has to assign the signatures to the desired employees.Internal communication also finds a new lever thanks to Outlook email signatures. How many of your employees are aware of your last study, your presence at an important conference, a webinar close to your industry’s heart? Probably a small portion. Now, by seeing the banners integrated into the email signatures, each employee is indirectly informed of the current happenings of the company. A much-welcomed additional benefit to compensate for the low view ratings on the intranet and other internal newsletters, which are often deleted or at best archived to be read "when there is time”.

Measure the impact of your email signatures

The capability and reactivity of the email are without limits. For example, the marketing team can create and make available an Outlook email signature catalog adapted to the different phases a prospect goes through in the conversion funnel. All of the data measured are RGPD compliant. The sales representatives are then able to draw on these signatures according to the targeted recipients. The email sent to the cold prospect integrates a email signature that promotes a whitepaper, while the email sent to a hot prospect includes a signature that includes a promotional offer. A useful approach for an Inbound strategy as well as for a more targeted ABM (Account-Based Marketing) campaign.Also, to boost the participation of a study or survey, a call-to-action on the banner which sends the recipient to a questionnaire is easy to put in place. Just as equally as easy as putting content on company life for your HR marketing.No marketing without measures? A dashboard displays the main necessary KPIs: opening rate, click rate, number of clicks per user.The effectiveness of the email signature for your marketing, communication, or brand image is amplified thanks to the possibility of creating groups and assigning signatures by groups or even by employees.

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Create Outlook email signatures in just a few clicks

Signing your emails with Letsignit is so efficient that only a matter of clicks your directory (user information, groups, and more) are synchronized to the management solution. And, with just a few more clicks you have created your ultra-precise Outlook signature mail, thanks to the existing templates, the drag and drop editor, or even by importing an HTML code.All that is left to do is to assign the Outlook email signature to your colleagues and invite them to download the application – or send it out. From the first use of Outlook Microsoft 365 (Office 365), your colleagues will have the signature integrated into their emails, on Outlook PC, mobile, or web, without having to perform any additional maneuvers. It is impossible to make it any simpler.Summary of the procedure:

  • Sign up to Letsignit
  • Automatically synchronize your Azure directory to the Letsignit platform
  • Create the Outlook email signature
  • Install the application or send it to your colleagues’ workstations (or, in the case of the server-side deployment, configure the Microsoft 365 (Office 365) SMTP connector)
  • The email signature is automatically integrated to the first email sent after relaunching Outlook (and to every email after)

In 5 simple steps, your colleagues have a harmonized email signature consistent with your company's graphic charter, and most of all, ready to be a new media of your communication and marketing.

Assign email signatures to employees

Another benefit of centralized administration is the ability to finely manage the assignment of email signatures. The main use cases are related to global governance according to the company's rules and the implementation of signature campaigns in the context of communication or marketing.If your company directory includes different groups, Letsignit allows you to preserve them as they are imported during the synchronization. You can also create Letsignit user groups from the administration interface via the Team tab. The procedure is also very simple: select users imported from your directory, possibly using the search engine or by using attributes, such as a person's job function or the department to which they belong, add and name your group!To make this feature more flexible and to relieve the administrator, you can appoint another administrator to manage the campaigns of a given group.This team feature can be used in multiple ways: create a group for sales representatives, for the communication or marketing team, for managers, and so on. When launching or modifying a campaign, it is then very simple to assign a specific Outlook email signature to a specific group.

Delegate the management of Outlook email signatures to your subsidiaries

The ability to segment is valuable for a large enterprise organized in subsidiaries or with different entities. A group organized by brand and decentralized will need each of its subsidiaries to be able to manage its own Outlook email signature and benefit from a local managing director. This autonomy by entity or subsidiary is also necessary to meet local requirements, such as legal standards and disclaimers found in certain countries, or so that each can conduct its marketing campaigns independently.Based on a principle like that of group creation, you can create subsidiaries according to specific criteria. The most common is the country, but other criteria can also be chosen (a specific group, a domain name, etc.). To appoint a group administrator, notify them by mail. You will find here all the details to delegate the management of Outlook email signatures. This autonomy given to the subsidiaries compartmentalizes the activities, but the global administrator still benefits from all the rights on the directories and keeps the supervision of the whole.

Simplify the task of the IT team with the integration of Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

The deployment and maintenance of Outlook email signatures can be tedious for the IT team. Luckily, the integration of Letsignit to Microsoft 365 (Office 365) – a suite coupled with Azure- has a very low impact on the information system and human resources of the IT department. The synchronization of your directory and the update is done in only a few clicks.Also, if your directory and Exchange server are deployed in On-Premise or if you are in the middle of the migration, an API and connector to Letsignit allows you to integrate the email signature platform and automate the deployment. Even better, you can personalize the user attribute, the specific fields can be dedicated to enriching the user information. The result, the directory is updated in real-time and the information is always the latest. A task that is usually tiresome, and therefore rarely done.On the side of safety, the integration with Microsoft 365 (Office 365) and Azure provides native, unique, and transparent authentication for the user- which is called Seamless Single Sign-On (SSO). For the user, one connection to their Microsoft 365 (Office 365) gives them automatic access to Letsignit without needing to identify themselves every time. A big benefit for the support team, where a large part of their interventions consists of resetting forgotten passwords.Moreover, with support for this seamless SSO, the solution adapts to the company's security policy and fits into every type of encryption governance. This flexibility of the Cloud service allows the IT department to offload the management of the Outlook email signature, thanks to the ease of deployment and the possibility of delegation. The key advantage is that it provides a value-added service to users without adding to the IT team's already heavy workload and without making the IT system more complex.IT intervention is reduced to the bare minimum, without adding intermediate layers or interference with the company's servers. For a minimal investment by the IT teams and a frictionless deployment, the benefit for the user and for the company is immediately seen.

Take advantage of the robustness of the Azure Cloud

When it comes to signatures, the choice of the cloud is important. By relying on a strong integration with Microsoft 365 (Office 365) and Microsoft's Azure cloud, Letsignit offers a centralized, standardized communication vector, aligned with internal standards and is secure against external constraints or threats. This ensures maximum protection against cyber-attacks and other threats related to an intrusion or hijacking attempt. Similarly, ISO and Azure Cloud certifications ensure compliance with regulatory standards by geographic area. A wise choice for companies in the public service or subject to strong legal and regulatory constraints.The Outlook email signature goes much further than an electronic business card, it is a communication asset. It can also offer a simple, fun, and effective user experience. It would be a shame to pass it up.

About the author
Amandine is the Head of Acquisition at Letsignit! Initially a content specialist, she now actively contributes to the profitability of acquisition channels: SEO, SEA, SMA, SMO... Amandine is also one of the pillars of Marketing at Letsignit! For more than 5 years, she has been participating in and initiating marketing projects and campaigns that systematically reflect her vision, writing style, and creativity (which can also be seen in all of her colorful outfits that brighten up the day of everyone she meets).
About Letsignit
With Letsignit email signature manager, connect with your audience in a way that's on-brand and personal, while driving quality lead generation.
Frequently
asked questions
1
Is it possible to track the number of clicks on email signatures?

Yes, with the 'Campaigns' offer, it is possible to track the number of clicks on the email signatures of all your employees in the 'Statistics' area of the platform.

You can then access a detailed or global view of the number of clicks on the email signatures of each employee. You can use the search option to target a specific signature or a given period. Finally, you have the possibility to export all statistics to an Excel document.

If you launch campaigns with banners inserted in your email signatures, you can also access their performance via this same space.

2
Can we add links to social networks, our website, and appointment-setting applications such as Calendly?

With Letsignit, you can easily add social network icons in your collaborators' email signatures and link to your company pages. Also, our "attributes" feature allows you to manage personalized URLs for each of your collaborators such as their individual LinkedIn profile.

And that's not all: you can add links to an appointment-setting application, allow your customers to leave reviews easily, and integrate our 'Chat on Teams' widget to let anyone start a discussion via Microsoft Teams chat.

3
Can employees update their signature information themselves (number, function, etc.)?

It’s up to you! As an administrator of the Letsignit platform, you choose whether or not to grant modification rights to your employees. These permissions are managed on an attribute-by-attribute basis, which means that you can decide to allow the employee to change their phone number, but not the address of your premises, for example.

This feature applies to all attributes in your directory, including custom attributes created on Letsignit. When your employees change one or more attributes, your directory is obviously not affected.

4
Why it is important to standardize our email signatures on a large scale to ensure our identity and brand image?

It often happens that employees make their email signature their own: custom format, bad fonts, colors inconsistent with the brand standards... all of this has an impact on your brand!

A consistent visual identity is considered authentic and outperforms a perceived weak one by 20%. And, your customers are 2.4 times more likely to buy your products.

With Letsignit, take back control over your brand identity by standardizing all your email signatures. Our tool has many features that allow you to customize your signatures by department, by audience or by subsidiary. Not to mention the possibility of carrying out campaigns within your email signatures thanks to our Campaign offer.

5
What is the user experience like for our employees?

What is the user experience like for our employees?

  • If you opt for the Letsignit Add-in for Outlook, they will have a dedicated space in their Outlook account where they will be able to view the signatures and campaigns assigned to them.
  • If you opt for the Letsignit Desktop APP, they will be able to preview all their signatures and campaigns in this space. If they want to change their default signature to another one when sending an email, this will be done in their signature library in Outlook.

In both cases:

  • They preview their signature before sending an email and choose from signatures assigned to them.
  • Based on the permissions granted, they will also be able to modify their personal information such as their name, position, or address in these spaces.

In short, they have autonomy in their email signature, but you keep control on the field, signatures, and banners they can edit or use.

6
Can my employees have multiple signatures available to them?

With our "multi-signature" feature, your employees can benefit from multiple email signatures. No technical manipulation is required. Thanks to our Add-in for Outlook or the desktop app, they can change their email signatures as they wish with just a few clicks.

Regarding the creation of email signatures, you can make several variations such as:

Everything has been thought of to go further in the personalization process based on the recipient of your emails.

7
Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

8
Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

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