Your email should be incomplete without an email footer. Why? Because:
- An email footer provides necessary information about your brand.
- Since the footer contains bona fide information about your brand, the probability of it being caught by spam filters is low.
It is important to keep in mind that it has aesthetic relevance as well as a technical one. Now informing is one thing; standing out, quite another. To that latter end, here are nine proven ways to ace it. (The following tips will work on any drag-and-drop email builder, including Mailchimp templates, and others.)
1. Mind The Space
The footer has limited space. You don’t want to cram too many details into the footer block. Just add the necessary information in the form of icons, if possible.
Include the relevant social media handles. Bear in mind that social media icons do not require a CTA button above them. This might seem too obvious to mention. However, we have come across emails with CTAs like ‘Let’s Get Social’ just above the social handles.
It’s not something forbidden, so to speak. But it does introduce redundancy, which is as bad as anything in the realm of design.
2. Include A Thank-you Note
Adding a brief thank-you note in the email footer can contribute greatly to how your viewer responds to your email. Showing your audience that they are appreciated for their engagement with your brand can go a long way.
How long should your note be? This is something you’ll have to determine yourself as it depends on the space available as well as your brand personality.
3. Don’t Forget The Unsubscribe Link
Typically, brands don’t bother getting creative with the unsubscribe link. Yes, it makes sense. Which is why you will simply see the word ‘Unsubscribe’ in most email footers.
That being said, you can in fact do a lot with the unsubscribe link as well. Humor is the first thing that comes to mind. Some brands like to be humorous in their approach, keeping in tune of course with their individual branding.
4. Reinforce Your Brand
If you think that the email footer has nothing to do with your brand, you are mistaken. More often than not, the footer is overlooked thanks to its reputation as an info-only section.
Not that it is untrue. However, it is also true that the email footer can be a great place to sign off in the voice of your brand. Brand consistency is the foundation of branding. Make sure that your brand speaks to your audience consistently from first to last.
5. Add Social Proof
Social proof is a great way to build trust in your brand. We have come across emails that are nothing but a tableau of social proof. Of course, you can’t do that in an email footer.
In that case, how do you add social proof in such a limited space? Include just one numerical proof and you’re done. Usually, this is the number of subscribers you have. Sometimes you can incorporate a figure into your thank-you note as well.
6. Make It Mobile-friendly
Because space is limited, make sure that links and buttons in the footer are tappable on mobile devices. How?
There are two ways. First, consider using large fonts so that the details are readable. Second, minimize the number of links and images to reduce load time.
7. Prioritize Structural Cleanness
Imagine you are editing one of your Mailchimp templates. Speaking of design, you are always working within a hierarchy. In other words, you are working according to a predefined structure.
You want to maintain the structural integrity of your template to the last, which includes the email footer of course. Add bullets, headings, subheadings, etc. to make the footer skimmable.
8. Experiment with A Menu
Ah, how about adding a menu in the email footer? If you must include more than just the basic info in the footer, you may want to organize it in the form of a menu.
Adding a menu ensures that the additional information is presented in a clean manner. Second, it will be easy for the viewer to scroll through the list and quickly find what they’re looking for.
9. Personalize The Space
If you want to stand out from the crowd, consider personalizing the footer. Here ‘personalize’ means adding a personal touch to the space.
This could take many forms. For instance, you might want to sign off with a warm, personal message.
In fact, you needn’t work too hard on personalizing the denouement. If you truly want to stand out, think about your audience, their needs, and what your brand stands for. Remind yourself of the ultimate point of it all, and you will find yourself coming up with just the right message.
Wrapping Up!
To sum up, here are the key takeaways from this post:
- The email footer displays necessary information about your brand.
- The email footer does bear on the aesthetic dimension of your email.
- The email footer also bears on brand consistency.
