Digital marketing is the most efficient customer acquisition channel nowadays. There are dozens of platforms and tools to advertise your product or service online, as well as just to increase brand awareness.

Truth be told, a professional marketer strives to utilize them all if the budget is big enough. According to Ascend2 research report, email is the second most profitable marketing channel.

With that in mind, it is worth exploring all methods that can help you improve your email marketing game.

Why do you need a CTA banner in your email signature?

From sending guest post pitches and follow-ups to cold sales emails and surveys, you need to ensure all your messages look professional and consistent.

Apart from the writing style and tone of voice, visual branding will play a key role in generating that consistency and recognizability.

The key visual element is your signature. You already know what it is and how it looks. We won’t take too much time discussing that, as we’re here to talk about call-to-action (CTA) banners. They are just as important in your email footer as email is important in marketing.

Taking up to 80% of your signature space, an email signature banner is your unique opportunity to send a message (a figurative one). This can be anything:

• an event invitation
• a sales offer
• a testimonial link
• etc.

Whichever you choose, we’re here to help you make it look outstanding! Stay tuned for the most important tips on creating a signature banner!

1. Make sure that your email signature banner easily associates with your brand

Whatever you do, keep it branded. It is really difficult to build proper brand awareness.

For instance, consider Apple. When you see their logo, you automatically think about iPhone, Mac, and other products. You will never confuse it with something else. And that is the result of a long and complex marketing campaign that never stops.

There are Apple logos on every device they make, every box these devices are sold with. Moreover, all the apps by Apple are made correspondingly. They share a similar design, complemented by the logo, of course.

So, back to email signature banners, they should look like they are a part of your brand. This means using brand colors, as well as style and fonts that you use in your logo. Of course, you can make some changes, but the more similar your banner and logo are, the higher the chances a recipient will memorize both.

2. Power up your CTA with thought-provoking words

Another equally important thing is utilizing the correct words. HubSpot has already made a list of these words if you seek inspiration. We would like to add that you should not include too much text to your banner. Remember that it is only a supplement to your email. That’s why you need to choose the words carefully. If you do well, your addressees will notice them and will want to click the banner subconsciously.

In addition, make sure your banner sends a clear message. Highlight the most important word, which may be ‘subscribe’, ‘buy’, ‘try’, ‘get’, etc.

In general, make sure you would want to click the banner yourself. If you do, it means your CTA works.

3. Include the most appealing offer you can in your banner

If you want your customers using your product, you will often need to give them an incentive. This doesn’t mean just saying “buy my stuff”. You need to be able to offer something people can’t get elsewhere. Once you insure them your services are unique, future customers will stop looking for anything else. But if you really want it that way, don’t ever lie about anything.

If you send some follow-up emails, add a special email signature to them that offers a discount for your service.

However, if you want to send some cold emails, it is better to use a banner that just introduces your company.

4. Making the CTA too obvious may scare your leads and break the trust

While your CTA banner should be advertising, don’t make it pushy. It’s always easy to see the difference between an obvious ad and an attracting call to action. Thus, try to do something new and interesting.

The example above does not contribute to healthy relations with a customer. Of course, in some cases, this may be useful (e.g. sometimes people are desperate to buy something, especially if it comes with a huge discount).

However, when you want to make your clients loyal to the brand, you should be loyal to them as well. Here, it means acting as a friend, not as a seller.

This new banner differs by both the message it sends out and by the attitude it shows. It offers customers to visit a sale and wishes them a happy Easter. In addition, it looks really nice, which brings us to the next tip.

5. Spend some time to design catchy email signature CTA banners

Beautiful design never leaves people uninterested. Try to make your banner eye-catching and unique. Stick to the designing trends but make something new, so that your banner doesn’t go unnoticed.

That being said, be careful not to overdo it. Remember that your banner still has to be consistent with your brand. Just look at the two banners below to see what we mean.

Here the banner and the company logo (as well as all the colors in the signature) complement each other nicely.

In this example, while both the signature and the banner have a nice design separately, they look totally unsuitable together. Thus, try to create a banner that suits you; or use an online email signature generator, which often have a built-in gallery of banners to choose from.

6. Include replicas of clickable buttons on your CTA banners

There is no better call to action than a clickable button. It doesn’t mean you need to add an actual button with a link to your banner as the whole banner picture should be linked to a certain page, you only need the appearance of a button. This way your addressees will subconsciously feel that the banner can be clicked.

7. Don’t make your banner too big, nor too small

Some people tend to make their banners too big wanting to get as much attention as possible. Others don’t pay much attention and make them absolutely unnoticeable. Remember that we are talking about an email signature here. It should not take too much space of your email – and a banner is only a part of the signature.

Therefore, you should find the golden middle. Make sure that those who are interested can easily find the banner, but those who aren’t don’t get distracted by it.

8. Adjust email signature banners for different occasions

As we have mentioned before, different correspondence requires a different approach. And the difference is not only in your relations with a customer.

For example, banners can be used to congratulate your recipients on a holiday or to ask them for a testimonial.

The second option is especially useful as it encourages people to leave a positive review (as unfortunately, those who find your service good rarely consider writing about it).

So, to get the most out of your banners, consider what you want to accomplish with them, and adjust the CTA and the design accordingly.

A quick recap

No matter what kind of services you provide or how big your company is, contributing to brand awareness is always a plus.

To sum up, here are the most important takeaways:

• Make your banner in line with your brand colors, logo, and voice. Stick to a certain style and colors both in your signature and your CTA.
• Use powerful words that easily drive attention and get noticed.
• Make useful offers in your banners. Don’t waste recipients’ time on something inappropriate.
• Don’t be too pushy. Let people know you have something great, not just another scam sale.
• Use buttons in your banners to make them look clickable.
• Adjust your banner’s size to make it noticeable but not distracting.
• Consider using different designs for different occasions.

When creating a banner for your email signature, make it likable for you and all your colleagues. If you personally find it bad, there’s a good chance the recipients will think the same.