Cold email course

  • 3.2 From line & signature
  • From line & signature are the first and last elements of your email. That’s why they’re extremely important.

    The “from line” is what the recipient sees next to the subject line in their inbox. Although it’s often ignored, it’s a very important piece of the puzzle.

    It should be consistent with the subject line, the message, and the “why” behind the message.

    Together with the subject line, it should look personal and professional, so don’t put just your company name in there.

    You have 3 options:

    1. First + last name (provided you add a link to the company website in the body of email or signature)
    2. First name + company name
    3. Full name + company name

    Which option you choose depends on your niche, who you’re writing to and the overall tone of your message. When choosing your from line:

    • remember it should be consistent with the rest of your email
    • use empathy and think from your prospect’s point of view
    • be specific - what worked for another business or another group of prospects won’t necessarily work for you. Think of your business, audience and their situation as unique elements.

    As to the signature, the 2 basic rules to follow are:

    A) it should look neat and professional

    B) it should be useful to prospects

    A) This means your signature should be neat both visually and in terms of html.

    The first part obviously means not going crazy with colors and fonts, and the other has to do with deliverability.

    If you’re going to use html in your signature, it’s best to ask a developer to code it or at least take a look to see if the template you’re going to use isn’t too long and messy in terms of html.

    If a messy and long piece of code is added to your every email, it may alarm anti-spam filters, especially if there’s too much html in comparison to the copy.

    B) Make your signature useful to the recipients by adding all the contact information a prospect will need to learn more about your company and contact you - but don’t go overboard: one or two ways to reach you are enough.

    Be sure to include your full name, job title, physical address (it makes you more trustworthy and is required by law in some countries), link to the company website, sign-off (such as “Best regards”).

    Other ones you might consider are: 

    • link to your company blog (if it’s relevant to your target group), 
    • social profiles (although be careful not to use too many links in your signature - it might harm your deliverability)
    • phone number (if you’re prepared to pick up the phone, and keep in mind that this can affect your deliverability rate)
    • Photo (some email providers block images)
  • 2 min

    See why you shouldn’t ignore the from line and signature when writing a cold email, and how to use them to strengthen your message.