Using a Green Email Signature Footer

Did you know that organizations can use green email signature footers to promote sustainability initiatives to employees and customers?

Around 333.2 billion emails are sent every day; a figure that is set to rise to nearly 380 billion by 2025. Therefore companywide email signature templates are valuable for communicating green messages.

Make use of a green email footer

Environmental messages are commonly shown in a line of text at the bottom of an email. This asks recipients to not print the email they have received.

Using a green email signature tells recipients that your company is committed to being eco-friendly. At the same time, it helps to subtly influence recipients to change their behavior when it comes to paper consumption.

Some green email footer message examples include:

• Please consider the environment before printing this email.

• Please think before you print this email.

• Save paper. Don’t print.

• Thank you for not printing this email.

• Take care of the environment. Don’t print this email.

• Save paper. Save trees.

• Do you really need to print this email?

Please consider your environmental responsibility. Before printing this email message, ask yourself whether you really need a hard copy.

Share environmental quotes in a green email signature

If you don’t want to tell people not to print emails, you can always share an ecologically themed quote in your email signature.

We only recommend using quotes if they align with your company’s projects though. Don’t let individual employees add their own quotes.

• “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

• “Look after the land and the land will look after you, destroy the land and it will destroy you.” Aboriginal Proverb

• “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” Ernest Hemingway

• “You have to hold yourself accountable for your actions, and that’s how we’re going to protect the Earth.” Julia Butterfly Hill

• “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Robert Swan

• “He that plants trees loves others beside himself.” Thomas Fuller

• “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” William Ruckelshaus

• “The greatest danger to our future is apathy.” Jane Goodall

Promote environmental activities with display banners

A better way to present environmental and sustainable messages than a green email footer is to use a display banner. You can use the same text from your footer, making it stand out more within your email signature.

Alternatively, the banner could highlight an ecological marketing campaign you’re running or highlight an eco-friendly charity your company supports like Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth.

As this banner is displayed on your work email, the environmental message will be seen by potentially thousands of contacts. As the recipient and sender will often already know each other, there’s already an implicit trust between them. This makes it more likely that the recipient will react positively to your environmental email signature and interact with the banner.

Display environmental awards you’ve won

When your organization wins any award, you want to promote it as much as possible. An environmental award should be no different. An award image in your green email signature instantly tells recipients you’ve been recognized for making your business more sustainable.

The award will also make any associated email content carry more weight and provide your organization with a lot of extra publicity. However, make sure you only promote current or recent award wins. It will not help your sustainable business credentials if you are promoting an environmental accolade that’s out-of-date.