Some signature providers make a big selling point of the fact that employees can see their signature on every email before they press send. But beware. By adding signatures ‘pre-send’ you risk not seeing the bigger picture – email signature security.
If you’re searching for an email signature solution, you’ll notice that no two providers are quite the same. And these differences can throw some dilemmas into your decision making, for example…
Pre-send vs post-send: technically speaking
Some solutions work by inserting your signature when you compose a new email. The signature is the first thing added, and it can be edited the same way as any other text. You can remove or alter it as you see fit. This requires the signature solution be installed individually on every device – each user’s PC, tablet and mobile phone must have the software installed to get consistent branding.
Rocketseed works differently. Signatures, legal disclaimers and banners are all added once you’ve pressed send. Rocketseed is situated between your mail provider and your email recipients, so all branding applied to emails from your company can be controlled centrally.
Who cares?
We do, and you should too. Because when you consider that the right email signature software will not only give you consistent branding but can drive thousands of visitors to your website and social channels for very little investment, you need to know the risks of visible (and therefore editable) email signatures.
Ironically, most employees don’t seem to care. It’s not an attitude problem, it’s because they’re busy people each sending up to 1,000 emails a month who see email signatures as a hassle. “Email signatures? Someone in marketing deals with all that” – and that suits them just fine. They don’t need to see their signature on every email before they press send, so why take the email signature security risk?
So what is the ‘pre-send’ visible email signature risk?
That’s simple. Because when it comes to employees and email signatures…
Don’t risk your brand
Your people and your brand are your biggest assets. So take the worry of email signatures away from your employees to let them get on with what they do best, and give it to the “brand guardians” in your marketing department. This control of centrally applied email signatures gives you company-wide consistency. It’s Branding 101.
If employees can alter their signatures before sending then consistency is immediately compromised. With ‘post-send’ centralised control you can update employee signatures at the click of a button, whether it’s one, a hundred, or ten thousand, secure in the knowledge that your brand is consistent company-wide. If you are making a company wide change, such a a re-brand or office move, you don’t need the additional hassle of relying on all employees making correct and timely amends. Rocketseed manages this for you.
Don’t risk the temptation to tamper
While ‘email signature security’ is the big issue, we like the phrase ‘tamper-proof’. It’s more evocative of the small but significant changes that individual employees might be tempted to make, which your business and brand can’t afford: everything from genuine mistakes to the mildly mischievous and, in some cases, the downright malicious.
Can you afford to have individual employees adding one of their favourite ‘motivational quotes’ to their signature? Giving themselves a phoney promotion with a jumped-up job title? Replacing the company’s social media links with their own personal ones? Or meddling with the email legal disclaimer?
Applying signatures ‘post-send’ takes tamper temptation out of the equation. Changes can only be made centrally. You’re in complete company-wide control.
Don’t risk your investment
Professional email signatures are the result of time and money invested. This covers everything from the creation of your brand’s logo, selection of fonts and colours, through the layout of your email signature (you can see our email design guidelines here) and the legal expertise that drew up your disclaimer. Your investment needs to be secure. Just like a ‘post-send’ email signature.
Don’t risk your marketing channel
Adding an interactive banner to your email signature transforms it into a marketing channel that can deliver real engagement. But it needs to be smart. Rocketseed brands each receiver’s email individually. Our smart segmentation and targeting rules let your marketers apply the right banners to the right emails at the right time to drive recipient click-through and conversion.
‘Pre-send’ signatures limit this targeting and engagement. For example, if an email is addressed to multiple receivers, a banner applied ‘pre-send’ will be the same for each recipient. With Rocketseed ‘post-send’ applied banners, each recipient will be sent the banner most suited to them, based on the advanced segmenting and targeting rules. Therefore to run a really compelling campaign, it’s got to be ‘post-send’ every time.
Don’t risk your results reporting
You’ve created a compellingly-clickable signature for your company with a clear call-to-action (you’ll find plenty of top CTA tips here). You need to know how recipients are engaging with your employees’ email signatures so you can measure performance and gain actionable insights. You’re going to want to know who clicked what, and when. You need precise click reporting and real time engagement alerts. By applying signatures ‘post-send’, Rocketseed can report on exactly who clicked on which link. That’s not possible in tools that apply branding before the Send button’s pressed.
Want to see your signature?
No problem. Just because your signature is applied ‘post-send’ with Rocketseed, doesn’t mean you can’t check up on it whenever you want. Any individual user can see exactly how their signature appears to recipients at any time. Just send a mail to our test address, and check your inbox .You’ll receive an email back that will show your signature, just as it appears on every email you send.
Big brands in safe hands
Doubtless the ‘pre-send’/’post-send’ email signature debate will continue. Now a blog isn’t the place to big-up our own brand but the reasons above are exactly why companies such as Dell, the DMA, the Ritz and British Red Cross choose Rocketseed. You’ll find plenty of client success stories and testimonials on our website. Mehul Boricha from Tech Arrival says “Email signatures are not only used to solidify the brand of the entire company but it can also be used to create brand recognition” – we couldn’t agree more!
Email signatures are not only used to solidify the brand of the entire company but it can also be used to create brand recognition
If you’ve got any questions about email signature security, contact us today!
Mitchell Talisman | VP Engineering
