E-mail taglines & employee self-expression

Predictably, and almost universally, the branding consultants came out against it. They say allowing staff to append quotes to the end of emails dilutes the brand, harms the brand, or has no effect on the brand. Instead, they say, standardize the signature block and use it to promote association services. I don’t disagree with this advice, but here’s where I deviate from the conventional wisdom espoused so far.

At VAR, we’ve taken a different approach. We recognize that those tag lines are an opportunity for staff self-expression. Over the years, I’ve found that allowing, even encouraging, staff self-expression is a simple yet very empowering thing to do. So we allow staff to add a favorite quote to their emails in addition to the standard tag line. This also helps show members that our staff are real people with real personalities, and reduces the nameless, faceless stigma attached to associations. Finally, it sends a message to your staff that you trust them inherently: that you manage to the exception, not impose rules on the majority who have common sense.

I personally like this both/and approach a lot, as opposed to the either/or approach. I guess you could say that’s just how I roll as a manager. I’m attaching a sample tag line below.

By the way, if for some reason you really want to hard-code your email tag lines, you should look at a service like Lettermark that appends some feature-rich content to the bottom of email.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive