Social icons, WhatsApp, Teams, booking and QR codes

These elements help recipients connect with the sender. All of them are in the editor's Insert panel, and each is filled in per person when the email is sent.

Social icons

Each Social icon element links to one social network. For several networks, add several icons: a new icon sits beside the one before it.

1. Open Insert and drag Social icon (in Media and social) onto the canvas.
2. With it selected, choose the Network under What it shows.
3. Under How it looks, set the Shape (none, square, rounded or circle), the Size in pixels, the Icon colour of the symbol and the Background colour of the shape.
4. To add the next network, select Duplicate or drag in another Social icon.

The shape takes the template's icon colour unless you choose another Background, so it changes when the template's colours change. With the Shape set to none, the symbol is drawn in the shape's colour instead of white, and it changes with the template's colours in the same way, until you choose an Icon colour of your own. The same goes for WhatsApp and a Microsoft Teams icon.

Each network can be used once per template, so the Network list only offers networks not already placed.

Where each person's link comes from

Social links are not standard Microsoft 365 fields. Each network reads one of the Exchange extension attributes 1 to 15 for each person, and that choice is made once for your whole organisation on the Attribute mapping page under Directory. The same page decides which networks the editor offers. See Attribute mapping.

• The attribute can hold a full address (starting https://), which is used as it is.
• Or it can hold just the person's username, and the network's base address from the mapping page is put in front of it.
• A person with no value for a network simply gets no icon for it.

Icons are sent as small pictures that Footer365 draws in your chosen colours, so they display in every mail program.

Podcasts, reviews and online shops

To link to your podcast, your reviews or your online shop, add a field on Attribute mapping, named Podcast, Reviews or Shop for example, and choose the icon of the same name, which you can find by typing its name in the icon list. The sent signature then shows a microphone, a star or a shopping bag, drawn in your colours like every other social icon. Fill the field in for each person, or put the full address of your organisation's own page in it, such as your Trustpilot, Tripadvisor, Amazon or Etsy page, or your show on a podcast app.

Every social icon is sent with the icon chosen for its field on Attribute mapping, which is the icon the editor shows it with, whatever the field is called. A field for Spotify with the Spotify icon chosen is sent with the Spotify icon, for example. If you choose another icon for a field later, the templates and campaign banners that use it change to the new icon when you save the mapping.

The review sites' and marketplaces' own logos are not offered. Trustpilot, Tripadvisor, Amazon, Etsy and Apple Podcasts each either allow their logo only in the exact artwork they supply, which Footer365 cannot redraw in your colours, or do not allow it to be used to link to a seller's page at all. Where a site gives you a badge for your page, you can add it to a template as an image.

Your latest posts

A social icon links to a network; it does not show what your organisation last posted. To show your latest posts, add your website's news feed on Developers > Integrations and the Social feed element (in Media and social) to the template. It shows up to three of your newest posts as pictures, each linking to its post, read once a day and drawn by Footer365 so they look the same in every mail program. Choose the Source, how many Posts, and whether to Show pictures and Show dates. See Show your latest posts in signatures.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp adds an icon that opens a WhatsApp chat with the sender.

1. Drag WhatsApp onto the canvas.
2. Under How it looks, choose the Number it uses: Mobile or Phone from each person's directory details, or Custom for one number typed in for everybody.
3. For Mobile or Phone, fill in Country code (for example 44). It is only used when a stored number is written without one, such as 07700 900000. A number already written as +44... is left alone.
4. For Custom, type the WhatsApp number including its country code. Spaces, brackets and hyphens are fine.

A person with no usable number gets no WhatsApp icon.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams adds a link that opens a Teams chat, a call or a video call with the sender. There is nothing to fill in: the link is made for each person from their own Microsoft 365 account.

1. Drag Microsoft Teams (in Media and social) onto the canvas. It starts as a "Chat on Teams" button in Teams purple.
2. Under What it shows, choose what it Opens: Chat, Call or Video call. Each element opens one of them, so for a chat button and a video call button side by side, add two elements.
3. Choose how it is Shown as: a Button with text, or an Icon that sits in a row with your social icons. For a button, change the wording in Button text if you like.
4. Under How it looks, set the colour of the button or of the icon's shape. Use Teams purple puts back the Teams colour after you have chosen another. For an icon you can also set the Shape, the Size and the Icon colour, as for a social icon.

Which address the link uses

Teams finds a person by their sign-in name (their user principal name), which is not always the same as their email address. Footer365 reads each person's sign-in name from Microsoft 365 at every directory sync and builds the link from it. Until the first sync after the element is added has read it, the link uses the person's email address instead. A record with neither gets no Teams link.

The link is Microsoft's own Teams web address, starting https://teams.microsoft.com, so it opens the Teams app or Teams on the web, whichever the recipient uses.

Recipients in other organisations

The link is shown to every recipient. Someone in another organisation can chat with or call the sender only where both organisations allow Teams external access, which a Microsoft 365 administrator sets in the Teams admin center under Users, External access. Most organisations leave it on. Where it is off, Teams tells the recipient it cannot reach the sender.

If you want the link to appear only for colleagues, put it in a template used by a rule for internal recipients only. See Internal and external signatures.

Booking button

Button (in Media and social) adds a button, with the wording "Book a meeting" to start with. A booking page is its commonest use, but it can link to any page, such as your website or a download.

1. Click Button, or drag it onto the canvas.
2. Under What it shows, change the wording in Content if you like.
3. In Link, enter the address of your booking page.
4. Under How it looks, set the font, Background, Alignment and an optional Icon shown before the wording. Under Spacing and border, choose a Width of full or auto and a Corner radius.

The link starts out pointing at the person's website placeholder. Replace it with your booking page, because the button is shown to everyone whether or not that link has a value.

QR code

QR code adds a QR code that a phone camera can scan. Each sender gets their own code when the email is sent; in the editor the code is a stand-in.

1. Drag QR code (in Contact fields) onto the canvas.
2. Under What it shows, choose what the Code opens:
   • Contact card page opens the sender's contact card, a page with their details and a Save contact button. This is what a new QR code starts with. The code holds only a short address, so it stays simple enough to scan when printed small, and the card always shows today's details. Scans are counted. Contact cards have to be turned on first; until a Super Admin turns them on, the code holds the details instead. See Contact cards.
   • Contact details in the code holds the sender's details in the code itself, for the phone to save as a contact. Scans are not counted.
   • A web address opens the address you type in Web address, such as a booking page or an event. It must start with https://, or with a merge field that holds such an address, and merge fields in it are filled in for each sender. The scan goes through Footer365's tracking address, so scans are counted and shown on Analytics.
   • Text holds the words you type in Text, up to 300 characters, exactly as typed. Merge fields are not filled in, and scans are not counted.
3. Under How it looks, set the QR colour. It starts as your theme's primary colour. A dark colour on a light background scans most reliably.
4. Under Spacing and border, set the Width and Height. The default is 110 pixels.

The details held in the code always carry the person's name and email address. They add the job title, company, phone, mobile and website only when the signature itself shows them, so a QR code never reveals details you chose to leave off the signature.

A QR code added before these choices existed holds the details, exactly as it always did, until you choose something else. A web address that cannot be used (one that does not start with https://, for example) also leaves the code holding the details.

To put each person's QR code on a printed business card, export them from Users and groups. See Contact cards.

Contact card button

Contact card (in Media and social) adds a button, a text link or an icon that opens the sender's contact card page or downloads their contact file. It is described in Contact cards.

Counting clicks on these links

The social icons, the WhatsApp link, the Microsoft Teams link and the booking button can have their clicks counted, as can the website and any linked image. Counting is off until you turn on Count clicks on this template's links above the editor. Each element then has Count clicks on this link under What it shows, to leave one link direct. A QR code is not a link: the scans of one that opens a contact card or a web address are counted whatever this setting, and one that holds details or text is never counted. See Count clicks on your signature's links.

Related articles

• Show your latest posts in signatures
• Count clicks on your signature's links
• Merge fields and empty fields
• Attribute mapping
• Using the signature editor