In various FAQs we introduce the concept of a 'Dynamic Email Signature', or a signature that references engaging up-to-date information of a specific type. We know that every touchpoint should create engagement of some type, and email is used daily so it stands to reason that we'll use the tool to manufacture various pathways. The dynamic signature is most commonly used for rate information and property listings (such as recent sales, pricing data, or new listings).
Sadly, Microsoft doesn't make dynamic emails simple... but it is relatively easy, and once set up it'll simply continue to function. This FAQ will present a few dynamic HTML signature options.
Web-Based Outlook.com
The easiest method of returning a dynamic image is via the online Outlook web client. Via the 'Compose and Reply' email settings we may insert a URL rather than an image. The clear disadvantage of this method is that the image is cached by Microsoft for an unknown period, and while we instruct MS on the server-level to not cache the images, and even though we reference a PHP file rather an image directly, there is always considerable lag before images are updated. This compromises our efforts in a number of ways and clearly impacts important engagement statistics.
Within the standard email signature editor you'll see an option to insert an image. Click on it.
Rather than search for an image from our PC, we'll use the link provided in Yabber. Email rate, for example, will always include a URL to a file 
rather than an image, and it's this URL that we'll need to use.
Click the image icon button which will launch the image dialog box, enter the URL of your asset directly into the filename box (the file ending in .php). Once done, click 'Open'.
In the case of rate images, the rate image will be returned to the signature (as shown below).
You may now add additional text and static or dynamic images to the signature block.
Click 'Save'.
Hopefully Microsoft will recognise and honour the no-cache instructions on the server and regularly update the image. While a little old-school, if we do have a rate-change you might simply choose to edit your signature directly.
Desktop Version of Outlook
Creating dynamic HTML signature using the desktop version of Outlook is fiddly, a little time-consuming, and a bit of a pain... but it's also far more effective.
With the 'New Office', Microsoft have effectively moved the entire application to the cloud, meaning that signatures are now created in the cloud directly. This makes creation of dynamic signatures far, far more difficult, and it effectively puts an end to the dynamic control we once enjoyed. Yes, we can intercept emails at the Graph level (and we can do this), or we might choose to run PowerShell or similar to globally update organisation data, but the effort and skill level makes the process prohibitive.
Application Container: The 'New Office' is inferior to the former installed product. If you compare the browser-based version of the application to the desktop application you'll note that they're virtually identical. The company has essentially wrapped the web version in an Application Window, meaning that there's very little difference between the two versions.
Still Using Old Outlook?
We've removed screenshots because they've essentially become irrelevant. However, you can follow the basic steps detailed below:
- Create a signature with an easily identifiable name (we'll be require to locate this in a moment).
- Select the Windows Button & 'R' in sequence. This will open to 'Run' dialog box.
- Type in
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures. - Locate the .html file identified by the name of the signature we created in step 1.
- Delete the contents of the file and replace with dynamic HTML content.
Refer back to this FAQ regularly - hopefully we'll find a suitable solution.
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Email Marketing Module FAQs
FAQs related to the Email Marketing module.
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