Last updated - September 2, 2021
Think “email,” and it is hard not to think of “eCommerce.” Receiving emails on new product launches, upcoming sales, cart abandoned reminders, and so on are way too common in this digital day and age.
In fact, email marketing offers an excellent way for eCommerce business owners to keep the conversation going with their customers and promote their offerings. According to an eMarketer report, 80% of retailers consider email marketing to be effective for retaining customers.
According to 59% of consumers, marketing emails have the power to influence their purchase decision, and 42% of eCommerce shoppers subscribe to email lists to receive special offers and discounts. Such is the power of email in online shopping!
Email footers, have you heard of them?
However, in a world full of overflowing inboxes, it is essential to make sure you send emails that stand out. There is no doubt you spend a considerable amount of time writing the perfect copy and then designing it with the same passion. But is that enough?
Sure, the email body is essential, but the email footer plays an equally important role. Yes, that is correct! Every email you send has a footer that houses information details about your company, such as social media icons, website URL, email ID, company address, and so on.
Always room for improvement
Unfortunately, email footers are often overlooked though they are an effective way to communicate with customers. An eye-catching and customer-friendly email footer remains in the reader’s mind long after the email copy is over.
In fact, you can capture the attention of your subscribers by using entertaining animations or graphics, interactive CTAs, and sharing what is new at the company. Keeping it engaging and informative ensures your readers do not forget about you over time.
Your email footer offers you a brilliant platform to win over your reader’s trust. You can include social media links to allow your customers to easily follow you or guide them to download your mobile application.
If you are looking for ways to make yours more engaging, this article can help you:
1. Express gratitude
As humans, we all have a natural need to feel valued in this world. It is no different with brands. Expressing gratitude through an email footer is a small gesture. But it can humanize your eCommerce brand and also create a sense of community among your subscribers.
Sending out the right message will ultimately lead to increased engagement, if not purchases. Lifestyle brand Glitter Guide calls its subscribers “great” for being a part of the community and captures the right emotion in its email footer.
They did not have to write something like this but they did anyway for an emotional appeal. As the customer-driven economy grows more competitive each day, you must acknowledge those who keep you afloat. Small gestures matter a lot.
2. Be approachable
Customer convenience is key to building long-term relationships. Though your contact information is available on your website, you can increase the chances of communication by making them readily available.
Therefore, mention it in the email footer to allow customers to get in touch quickly. Transactional emails have higher open rates, and providing contact information on these emails boosts customer confidence in the offering they have purchased.
Move away from traditional toll number lines and add a link to your live chat to all order confirmation and shipping notification emails. It reassures customers and lets them know you are there if needed.
India-based online payment platform Simpl does it perfectly in their email footer. They link their Help Center in their footer for self-service are mentioned for customer convenience. Alternatively, feel free to give chat options for live assistance and FAQs if you have both.
3. Leverage social proof
Social proof in terms of reviews and ratings influences consumers. According to Statista, 30% of customers say they believe that company (including product or service) reviews and ratings influence their purchasing decisions positively.
You can thus include social proof in the core email copy, but the same persuasive tactic works for email footers as well. A great example of social proof is Superdry.
In a savvy marketing move, the company builds credibility and simplifies the customer decision-making process by sharing its ratings based on 181,731 reviews.
Whether you have already bought from Superdry or are planning to purchase from the brand, you feel more sure about your choice.
4. Let recipients unsubscribe
Customers like to have control of what lands in their inbox. Ignoring their expectations can put you in trouble. For instance, be overly cautious if you are a company with subscribers in Europe.
There are consequences for those who refuse to provide the process to unsubscribe to email marketing, and they have the liberty to do so because of GDPR.
You can lose up to 20 million or 4% of your global annual turnover as a penalty. Your emails may get reported as spam which will impact your sender reputation. Irrespective of where you and your customers are based, you must let your recipients unsubscribe.
In fact, consider this as a scraping activity that removes unengaging clients from your mailing list. GrowthHackers offers a simple one-click unsubscribe option in its email footer.
In addition, give them the option to choose how and when they would like to receive emails from you if they do not want to unsubscribe through an “Unsubscribe Preferences” button — just GrowthHackers. Such a feature offers control and convenience to its email audience.
5. Comply with anti-spam policies
Emails are often looked at without reading the entirety of what is said. Including your company’s registered office address, post office box, privacy policy, and terms and conditions will make you seem more trustworthy to those who skim through emails quickly.
TripAdvisor provides all information to their customers by including it in the email footer. They mention they have a valid copyright and disclosed all information about their trademarks, covering all their bases.
The complete company address and even their privacy policy are mentioned in their email footer. It establishes the brand’s authenticity and helps them comply with anti-spam government regulations worldwide.
6. Share links to your social profiles
The number of social media followers you have may decide the fate of your business. Research by Sprout Social shows 89% of consumers will prefer to buy from a brand they follow on social media platforms.
The report also mentions that 75% are loyal to these brands and likely to spend more purchasing their products or using their services.
Therefore, to keep up with the rapid transformation into the digital age, include links for your social media accounts/pages at the bottom of your emails. It gives your subscribers an easy way to join you where life happens outside email. Share links to all platforms you are active on.
This gives your readers a chance to follow you on social media and even follow or Like your accounts if they want to.
7. Revamp customer service email signatures
To maintain brand consistency, it is necessary to also redesign the emails being sent out by your customer service team. As an eCommerce firm, you would have a high number of such emails. Therefore, please ensure the signature is customized as per the color scheme of your brand.
Use contrasting colors from your brand color scheme to improve legibility. Do not go overboard with the use of colors, though. Use a tool like WiseStamp email signature manager to design a signature reflecting your branding.
ZinePak (now known as The Superfan Company), for instance, carefully matched the color of the social media icons in their email signature with the blue hue of their logo. You could follow their lead and have something similar.
8. Create a sense of pride
Constantly reminding your audience of what you stand for is an excellent way to trigger the choice-supportive bias. As people are more likely to associate with a brand that makes them feel good about themselves.
They value their decision of subscribing to you and feel proud of being associated. For instance, United By Blue gives you a purpose to keep shopping for them. You can do your bit and contribute towards the environment when you associate with them.
9. Whitelist yourself
Email providers have strict regulations to protect their clients from receiving spam or unsolicited emails. Your hard work might end up in the spam folder if you are not on their whitelist. You must therefore request your customers to add you to their safe sender lists.
Tell them how important it is, and they must do it to get your messages delivered straight to their inbox. You can mention this information when welcoming them on board. Additionally, include it at the bottom of every order confirmation email to keep the engagement going.
The Write Life’s minimal email footer calls out to the reader to add them to the address book.
Therefore, remind your recipients to add your email ID to their address book so that you never land in their spam box and increase your chances of driving higher open rates.
10. Invite to your blog
Tell your recipients about your resources and guide them to your blog. Adding a link to your blog and website gives them the option to explore more about your products.
This well-spaced email footer from MailerLite gives a clear CTA to their blog. It tells the reader what they can expect and generates enough curiosity to get a click-through.
11. Promote app downloads
Around 42% of buyers prefer using a shopping app to shop nowadays. You can include a link and offer to download your store’s mobile application in their checkout email. This will improve customer interaction and encourage more shopping.
Uniqlo, for instance, convinces its customers to download its app by offering perks and exclusive content. Again, you can add a banner strip instead of just hyperlinking text if you feel that will help you capture audience attention better.
12. Ask for referrals
The referral process is a great way to create an entirely new network of customers. It will make your business popular and profitable as well as establish your credibility. The LTV for referred customers is 16% higher than those not referred by your existing customers.
Once your customers advocate your brand, the process to acquire new ones becomes more effortless. Blurb has a solid referral program, and their email footer talks loud and clear about it.
You can also add a narrow banner strip marketing your referral campaign if you do not want to only hyperlink the text, “REFER A FRIEND,” and leave it at that.
Hot tips to follow to create the perfect email footer
- Do not overstuff with information, as it can be overwhelming for your readers. Collect and evaluate all the information that you wish to add.
- Organize the information on the basis of its importance and prepare a layout depending upon the hierarchy. Start with the most crucial details first, and remember to add a CTA.
- Format the content to distribute it into groups. Help the readers differentiate between sections by using HTML background colors. Add CTA buttons and use space to create information clusters effectively.
- Space the footer out to ensure it covers a balanced area of your email. There is no thumb rule for the space that your footer can cover. Therefore, feel free to experiment with larger or smaller designs.
- The content should have a lot of padding as it becomes easy to scan on both the desktop and mobile. Your email footer must be responsive.
- You can also include design elements, quotes, images, or other playful elements to make your email footer stand out. It will help establish the values of your brand and create a connection with your audience.
- Make sure you have included all information your readers would want to read. Observe several templates and create a list of what you need. Depending upon your audience, pick important information and organize it for easy access.
Over to you
Think of an email footer like a handshake. It is the final sign-off before you send your message to your customers. As your customers are valuable, you should ensure your email footer is memorable. There is no denying that!
It is vital for all the right reasons: professionalism, courtesy, sincerity. Keep the above-mentioned essential tips in mind when composing a footer for your email campaigns.
Make sure you do more than simply adding legal disclaimers or contact information — try to demonstrate how much care has gone into crafting the communication. Deliver personalized communication while maintaining brand consistency across platforms. Good luck!
Further reading
