The Perfect Footer: How to Create It

Ifyou think that the footer of your emailsis a marginal element, merely an accessory, it’s time to rethink the matter from another point of view.

Afooter, as the name suggests, is the base,the pedestal on which your campaignsand newsletters rest.

Thefooter is used for that set of brand communications that fall within the sphereof trust: credibility,recognition, reliability, and reputation. As we said, it is the base with whicha company and recipient build a relationship of trust.

Withoutaffecting opening rates, the footer makes a difference especially in thosephases of the funnel in which yourcontact is not yet fully engaged,but is located in a gray area where he or she will have to decide whether togive credit to your brand (by continuing to receive emails) or leave(unsubscribe).

Wedecided to touch on this theme again because we’ve introduced a new, valuable feature in MailUp: duringthe email creation phase, it lets you addnew social icons to the footer, some of which already exist, and otherswhich can be entirely customized.

Thenew feature can be found in the BEEeditor: all you have to do is insert a Socialmodule in the body of the message. Inside it you’ll find the new social iconsand the Add custom iconfeature you can use to insert a new element, complete with image and URL.

Let’slook at three examples for using the new feature. Now you can:

1. Insert the logo of your company, your blog, or aproduct with a strong identity
2. Change the layout of all the social icons, standardizing thestyle according to your taste or your brand identity
3. Insertthe logo of an instant messaging platform such as WhatsAppto allow the recipient to start a conversation with your company with a simpleclick.

Ina nutshell, this valuable feature lets you customizeyour brand’s social networks and trigger a conversational dynamic at the same time.

Justthink of the potential from a customercare perspective: by entering a number in the WhatsApp icon, the customersupport team has the ability to monitor all those conversations generated bythe email itself, responding to doubtsand questions from recipients.

Hereis an example of a custom footer with the new feature:

Nowlet’s take a look at some tips and ideas for creating a footer that excels in conveying trust which issimultaneously original, having animpact on the recipients.

Althougheach brand can choose what to include, there are certain elements that cannot be missing in a well-designed footer. Let’sstart from there, from what cannot be omitted.

Theanti-spam laws of most countries require that certain information is necessarily included in the email, and the footer isthe place to put them.

Tomake sure you communicate properly with your customers and prospects, always include:

The unsubscribe option

In the form of links (Unsubscribe is the most frequent), this option must give recipients the opportunity to no longer receive your emails. The best way to manage the unsubscription process is a chapter in and of itself, which we will not dwell on here (you can find everything you need to know in this blog post).

Contact information

Thisgeneric label includes:

1. Link to the company website: a logo with a linkto the site or a short list of some other areas of the company website, such asa blog, the homepage, or even job offers in the company.
2. Address for correspondence: we live in a digitalage, but it’s nice to know where in the world messages are actually comingfrom;
3. Contactemail address: this information can be requested together with thecorrespondence address. It is the email address that readers can use to“reply” to the message or get in touch.

Permission reminder

Thisis the footer section that answers the question “Why am I getting this email?” It is also a bestpractice in terms of deliverability, as it furtherreduces spam complaints and helps maintain your reputation as a sender. Anexample of a permission reminder? “You have received this messagebecause you are subscribed to the MailUp blog”.

Privacy policy

Toallow the reader to obtain information on the ways in which personal data are stored.

Add an image

Thisis a delicate operation due to the limitedspace available, but has great potential.

Animage lets you combine the personalizationof a signature at the bottom with the  incisiveness of an email marketingcampaign.

AlaskaAirlines provides an excellent examle, which gives its footers a more distinctpersonality with an image. The footer below presents all the right ingredients (clear andunambiguous option to unsubscribe, privacy statement, contacts, colorsconsistent with brand identity and logo) and original copy to invite recipients to get in touch using the socialprofiles.

Insert a payoff, claim, or simple slogans

Ifthe footer is the place where your brandis recognizable, the payoff and claim are the best possible textualelements to give consistency and meaningto the footer.

Twocompanies use their slogans particularly well in the footer: one is United byBlue, an outdoor equipment company, which closes its emails with a declaration of intent for the environment.The footer is well-structured thanks to a modular composition, and arranges theinformation in a hierarchical, orderly, and easily consulted way.

Theclaim of Product to Project is closer to a real claim, which under the socialicons explains its promise, the company mission.

Explicit invitation to the Preferences Center

You may already know this, but the Preferences Center gives your contacts a place to update their profile and change options such as message frequency.

Thebest practice is to make the link to thePreferences Center explicit and evident, leading potential unsubscribersdirectly to it. Patagonia does this quite well, inviting subscribers to use thePreferences Center with the promise to receive only emails that are in linewith their interests with the subsequent mailings.

Share company values

Thisis similar to the payoff and claim, but is lessadvertising and more narrative. Communicating corporate values lets yougive your emails a human touch anddisseminates the history of the brand or information about any corporate social responsibility projects.

Anexcellent example is that of MiiR, which has developed a clean and simplefooter with a “digression”dedicated to the company’s history, values, and mission.

Ifthe communicative potential of the footer is clear, now is the time to put it into practice.

From an operational point of view, creating a footer is simple and immediate thanks to the drag-and-drop editor of the MailUp platform. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is the right time: request a trial to have access to all the platform’s features for 30 days, for free.