More than half (52%) of prospects and customers leverage email as their main channel of communication — and 59% of marketers are responding in kind, indicating that email marketing is their top priority. These findings were revealed in “The Power Of Professionally Branded Emails,” a market research report from email signature management platform Exclaimer.
The report’s primary findings revolved around the essential role of email marketing in businesses, as 92% of marketers view email as a key channel. With that in mind, those queried in the research believe that the best way to create trust with buyers is to leverage branded signatures.
Email Signatures Are The No. 1 Method To Build Trust
When asked what made consumers trust an email from a business or brand, respondents pointed to:
- Branded email signatures (57%);
- Writing quality (47%);
- Proper formatting (38%); and
- Personalization (38%).
Looking at sentiment triggers, prospects and customers indicated that emails with professionally branded signatures made them feel more confident (47%), while 43% thought more positively about the brand and 37% were more inclined to respond. Further, most respondents said it’s important for a company to have consistent, professional branded signatures across all their emails. Specifically:
- 80% said a branded email signature is an important aspect of a company’s brand identity; while
- 76% said branded email signature increased their trust in the sender of the email.
Preferred Info In Email Signatures
With 70% of consumers admitting to being frustrated when a brand doesn’t include any sort of signature, they’re looking for information such as:
- Contact details (64%);
- Promotional assets (43%);
- Social media/website links (43%); and
- Personalized offers (42%).
Spelling mistakes were the No. 1 reason consumers stopped engaging with an email, followed closely by poor formatting and lack of professionally branded signatures.
Methods For Measuring Email Effectiveness
When comes to tracking email engagement, the top two effectiveness metrics included click-through rates (72%) and increased website traffic (71%).
Most Valuable Email Engagement Metrics To Track
As with all other digital channels, marketers must calculate the ROI of any email signature marketing campaign — and their preferred engagement indicators included:
- Click-through rates (62%);
- Conversion rates (60%);
- Open rates (56%);
- General brand (45%);
- Bounce rates (39%); and
- Unsubscribe rates (26%).
With these findings in mind, it’s clear that consumers prefer to engage with organizations via emails than other channels — and companies that can deliver on buyers’ email preferences can expect increased brand recognition, trust and engagement.
For more information into email signatures and a deeper dive into the current world of email marketing, check out “The Power Of Professionally Branded Emails.”
