Email marketing has long become its own separate branch of marketing. With email being used for decades, it’s really difficult to stand out in the recipient’s inbox. For this reason, companies utilize every means to get noticed. And those who succeed make email among the most influential B2B marketing channels.

 

email signature trends 2021

 

There are several means of getting noticed in the consumer’s inbox: eye-catching subject lines, attractive headers, and compelling opening messages—but one element that is often forgotten is the email signature. In this post, we’re going to cover 10 growing trends for marketing email signatures that you can apply in your 2021 marketing strategy to help stand out from the crowd.

7 marketing email signature tips & trends

Corporate email signatures are nothing new. But the marketing aspect of them is only beginning to arise. According to recent findings, sales and marketing departments can benefit the most from email signature branding. That’s why following email signature marketing trends in the upcoming year will be crucial for many industries.

1. Minimalist and clean design

Marketing and design go hand in hand, so before we start talking about marketing trends it’s important to mention some graphic design trends that will dominate in 2021. While your email signature should help people learn more about you and your company, it shouldn’t be too splashy. After all, it is supposed to make an overall impression.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 1
email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 2

Serif fonts

2021 design trends state that the Serif fonts family is the best for most uses. It is actually a huge library, so here are the most notable examples:

  • Garamond
  • Georgia
  • Calisto MT
  • Didot
  • Goudy Old Style
  • Lucida Bright
  • Palatino

When creating an email signature, you should stick to a single font. If you choose Garamond, it should be Garamond in all the contact info. The best practice is to use the same font in pictures. If you don’t like any of the fonts mentioned, just make sure you use a web-safe one. In this way, you’ll know that the font will display correctly on any device or software.

When creating an email signature, you should stick to a single font. If you choose Arial, it should be Arial in all the contact info. The best practice is to use the same font in pictures. If you don’t like any of the fonts mentioned, just make sure you use a web-safe one. In this way, you’ll know that the font will display correctly on any device or software.

Muted color palettes

Non-vivid, low-saturated colors are real eye candy. They calm the viewer’s mind and create a feeling of chill. So, people are much more likely to pay attention to them instead of bright palettes, curiously enough.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 3

In your signature, limit the design to two colors only. For instance, make the main text dark grey and the additional dark green. If you don’t have a brandbook, use your corporate colors, ask for a designers’ advice or simply make use of online color palette generators to pick a perfect color combination.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 palette generator

Geometric shapes

Try using squares, triangles, circles, etc. in your email signature banners. Simple geometry is going to be a major design trend in 2021. Combining these elements with low-saturated colors makes any image eye-catching and even stylish.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 4

Flat icons and illustrations

When it comes to social icons and CTA button design, simplicity is also a key. Use flat icons and banners to highlight the necessary parts of your email sign-off.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 6

2. HTML signatures 

A couple of years ago, companies might not have had an email signature at all or used simple plain text sign-off. In 2020, things have changed, as more and more companies start using HTML signatures for branding and marketing.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 7

According to the research conducted by the Newoldstamp email signature management platform, 77% of professionals who use email signatures in their business communications were planning to adapt them for marketing purposes in 2020.

And that is only natural. Almost the same thing happened with most social media platforms. First, people started using them for personal purposes, and now they have become a powerful marketing and sales tool.

The interesting fact is that brands start incorporating their email signatures not just in their daily business correspondence, but also in their email newsletters and automated email sequences. It helps add a personal touch to automated messages. Especially if your email is about raw statistical data.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 8

3. Alignment with brand identity

HTML email signatures provide more possibilities for branding. In 2021, the email signature design must reflect the brand identity or support the personal brand.

If you’re a YouTube travel blogger, you should make your email signature look chill and fun to look at.

On the other hand, being an employee of a huge corporation, you’d better standardize your signature with your colleagues.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 9
email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 10

For corporate email signatures, the use of branded colors, fonts, and identical design is a must. In this regard, the best practice you can use in 2021 is to make one person responsible for everyone else’s email signature design. This person should create an email signature template that will be used by the whole company (or by a department).

In the next section, we will cover some of the email signature management platforms that allow teams to automate email signature creation and distribution.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 11

4. Automation

The same research states that in 2020, 62% of professionals used their email signature generators for marketing regularly or occasionally. The growing need to automate signature marketing campaigns leads to the growth of the email signature software market.

There are actually different email signature tools for different purposes. Let’s take a look at some.

MySignature

MySignature concentrates on making email signatures accessible for everyone. Their online editor best fits individuals or small businesses who want to make their signatures stand out.

The variety of settings like adding CTA buttons, custom sign-offs, or changing the design of practically everything, make creating a truly unique signature easy. There’s also a simple dashboard that allows you to copy any signature. So, you can create one and use it as a template for future ones.

Newoldstamp

Newoldstamp’s email signature generator does have most of MySignature’s features. However, this tool is created with large companies’ needs in mind. These are, of course, the ability to create a template signature, integrate it with platforms like Microsoft 365 or G Suite, and then easily install all the employees’ signatures in a couple of clicks.

HubSpot

If you’re looking for a simpler solution to create a basic email signature, check out HubSpot’s generator. It does not have all the features of previous tools but does the job of creating an HTML email signature equally easily.

5. Segmentation

With the adoption of email signature marketing platforms, companies are now able to target different email signature templates to different departments. Marketing managers can change signature elements and call-to-action buttons according to the departments’ goals.

Organize signatures by departments. Include a demo link in the Sales department messages, add a ‘Leave a Review’ banner for the Customer Support team. Incorporate a link to the media kit in the PR people emails or add a recent blog post link to marketers’ banners.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 12

Modifying email signatures is also important when sending emails inside or outside the organization. Different email signatures might be used for different communication stages such as cold emails, promotional emails, responses, or forwards.

6. Automated banner campaigns

One of the ways to convert an email sign-off into an additional marketing tool is to use banner campaigns. In 2021 launching signature banner campaigns will become a huge trend due to the improvements in campaign automation.

Some email signature marketing services offer features that allow you to easily update banners in all of the employees’ signatures from the unique dashboard, set the campaign’s start and end date, and track the CTR using built-in analytics.

Consider email signature banner campaigns as a new way to run ads. You can use Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and banner campaigns together. The latter is only different by being the next funnel stage, as you already have the customer’s email address.

Consider email signature banner campaigns as a new way to run ads. You can use Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and banner campaigns together. The latter is only different by being the next funnel stage, as you already have the customer’s email address.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 13

7. Tracking analytics

Every marketing activity in the digital world can be measured. In 2021 brands will start to take data-driven decisions when it comes to business sign-offs as well. The primary KPIs when launching email signature marketing campaigns are emails sent, impressions, and clicks.

The number of emails you have sent is the initial data that helps you evaluate possible outcomes. It works similarly to regular email campaigns.

Impressions are the number of times your signatures have been seen. You can tell if your email was opened, and how many times, just by looking at impressions.

Clicks (and CTR) are undoubtedly the most important metric. You can add links to a logo, a website, a CTA button, social icons, and a banner in your signature. Being able to tell which one works best is somewhat essential for any marketing campaign.

email signature marketing trends for 2021 example 14

Email signature marketing is on the rise

Email will stay among the most ROI-effective and wide-spread way of business communication. That’s why marketers start looking for additional ways to use this channel for lead generation, increasing brand awareness and building loyalty in their existing customers.

Email signature marketing has become a separate marketing channel that will continue evolving in the next few years. So if you want to keep your finger on the pulse in 2021, it’s important to pay attention to these email signature trends.

  • Use a minimalist and clean design
  • Make sure your signatures meet brand identity
  • Use email signature management tools for automation
  • Organize large amounts of signatures by departments
  • Use email signature banner campaigns to promote your offer and spread brand awareness
  • Always track the analytics.
email signature trends and examples for 2021 final statement

Treat email signatures as a whole marketing channel, with its goals, KPIs and metrics, stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices and the results of your next email signature marketing campaign might leave you surprisingly happy.

About the author

Nick Hladush is a passionate content marketing manager at Newoldstamp. He has been working in this field for more than 5 years creating top-notch digital content and promoting it with social networks, SEO techniques, and pure creativity. You can follow him on LinkedIn.

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