Sincerely, Your Transportation Company

We previously examined domain addresses to lend credibility to email correspondence (as of January 2013, nearly 2 out of 5 charter operators did not use custom domain names for their email address). Today, roughly 65.5% of companies in the BusRates.com directory now use a company domain. If your company is in the remaining 35% and replies to customers with a Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL address, read our article on professional domains to reinforce your company’s name and provide peace-of-mind for charter-seeking customers.

Email signatures, however, are even more essential than a custom domain. The email signature is simply the trailing text of an email, which typically includes a name, company name, contact information, or other details. Not providing a customer with a company name or phone number in a quote reply is as good as throwing the lead away. Remember that customers on BusRates.com often select 3 operators at a time, so a prompt email reply with a clear signature allows the customer to call and finalize a booking with ease. At BusRates.com, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of emails to customers that are missing this information over the past two years, which could be attributed to the growing usage of mobile devices.

Customize Your Mobile Mail App

Smartphones have made keeping track of email seamless, but with each new phone, tablet, and email app, the signature field must be customized properly. Customizing the signature makes things easier for customers as it provides alternative methods for the customer to contact you. For instance, many customers start out shopping over email but prefer to discuss specifics and finalize items in conversation over the phone.

The email signature is a basic template (check out another overview of templates for quote request replies). A recommended template includes the following:

• Your name
• Your title
• Company name
• A physical address of your office
• Telephone number
• Fax number (if applicable)
• Company website
• Your email
• Links to social media profiles

If you incorporate images in your signature (such as a bus photo or company logo), keep in mind that it’s best practice to hyperlink the images rather than attaching them, as some email clients will block the images and may even increase the odds your reply goes to a junk or spam folder. The safest bet is always a well-written plain-text email to make it through spam filters.

Employing a proper email signature in email correspondence and a custom company domain name can improve conversion percentages and increase bookings by building customer confidence and ease of contact.