The last word on email signatures

This week in Freelance Camp (https://freelance.camp), a rousing discussion on where we stand when it comes to email signatures.

This is a topic I have a lot of strong, strange opinions on.

In Camp, I shared an impromptu teardown of my email signature, and I’m sharing it here with you. Maybe this will spark a few ideas on your part.

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I separate the body of the email from my email sig with a horizontal line. There’s an argument to be made that the horizontal line says “You can stop reading here.” Which, fair point.

I still like it.

Kai Davis • https://getonpodcasts.wpengine.com

I sign my emails

Talk soon!
Kai
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<Email Signature>

Which means I include my name twice in an email.

That… could be improved.

The Link — I’m of the mind that including a link to more information about you is a good move.

The homepage isn’t the ideal place to drive these eyeballs. The link should, ideally, go to an about page (or similar, scoped for email).

To do:

  • [ ] Cut name from signature or from “Talk Soon!” block
  • [ ] Find better use for name space
  • [ ] Change URL to /about/

I reply to email at 10 am Pacific Time and 4 pm Pacific Time, Tuesday through Thursday.

Expectation setting on both sides:

  1. Expect replies from me in those windows and during those times
  2. “Kai, make sure to only dive into your inbox in those times.”

1 is working. 2 isn’t.

Typing this, I realize that I should schedule email time on those days (instead of all days).

To do:

  • [ ] Rescope email time on my calendar to be in my email time windows

If you’re looking for a reply outside of those hours, I recommend my 1-on-1 Business Coaching for Freelancers and Consultants (https://getonpodcasts.wpengine.com/coaching/)

I think that this call to action for a service is a great thing to use and include. It costs nothing and gets in front of hundreds or thousands of people in a short time.

The implementation of the CTA could be better.

I like the bridge from ‘expectation that replies take time’ to ‘here is how you get in touch with me as you need.’

CTA should have a benefit included in addition to the above.

I don’t like listing the service name here. That may be space I can repurpose for benefits.

Coaching is an okay target for this, though I’d argue that no one is reading my signature and impulse-purchasing a 3-month $3,000 project https://getonpodcasts.wpengine.com/coaching.

I’ll consider making this a smaller, initial purchase, like The Initial Call Script (https://getonpodcasts.wpengine.com/initial-call-script) or a 1-on-1 Call (https://getonpodcasts.wpengine.com/call).

To do:

  • [ ] Rewrite CTA to add a benefit to the description
  • [ ] Drop service name and use that space in another way
  • [ ] Include UTM tags so I can track using SegMetrics
  • [ ] Evaluate a separate, email only landing page. Pluses: a bit easier to track in Google Analytics. Minuses: Yet Another Page.

Where do you stand on email signatures?

Excelsior!

Kai

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