Emails have emerged as a fundamental part of our daily routine. The way you sign off in professional communications can speak volumes to your recipients. This article delves into the concept of an email signature, the rationale behind crafting one, and the optimal strategies for doing so. Keep reading to enhance your brand’s professionalism.
What Exactly is an Email Signature?
An email signature, also known as an email footer or branded signature, is the concluding portion of an email that the recipient reads. Typically, a professional email signature encompasses details about the sender, making it an effective method of sharing information about yourself or your business.
Varieties of Email Signatures
Email signatures come in various forms. Primarily, there are company-wide signatures and personal or individual signatures.
Secondly, within the scope of company-wide signatures, we can differentiate between general and specialized signatures.
General ones embody the organization’s details without specifying an individual. Such signatures are commonly seen in company newsletters. For instance, the email from the Semrush Team below doesn’t mention a specific sender.
Specialized or personalized company signatures display the employee’s name and company details. Semrush, for example, uses such signatures along with company-wide signatures. Personal or individual email signatures are typical of independent professionals like designers, writers, and photographers.
Why Should You Have an Email Signature?
Creating email signatures is beneficial for several reasons, and we’ll highlight the most significant ones.
Establish Brand Identity
Company-wide signatures usually incorporate a logo, enabling customers to readily associate the email with the business, thereby reinforcing its identity.
Ensure Consistency
When discussing employee emails, standardized signatures aid in maintaining consistency across different departments. You could allow all employees to design their own signatures following a common framework.
Alternatively, you might generate and personalize company-wide signatures for each staff member. In this scenario, if customers interact with representatives from various departments, they will receive emails with uniform, credible signatures that align with the brand’s identity. Such consistency undoubtedly fosters trust in the company.
Boost Traffic
The simplest method to steer traffic towards your company’s website is by including the link in email signatures. It’s effortless for customers to click the link in the email, and those who read the email till the end are likely to visit your site. Consequently, you can enhance your rank on the search engine results page with minimal effort.
Inform Customers
Incorporating banners that notify recipients about recent content (like blog posts, case studies, etc.), new products or services, sales, discounts, or promotions, or upcoming events (such as conferences, webinars, etc.) is one of the best strategies for email signatures. You can devise standardized company-wide signatures and tailor them for different departments or employees. This way, the target audience receives pertinent information.
Demonstrate Professionalism
For independent workers, an appealing email signature that offers vital contact details and leaves a lasting impression with a personalized professional touch is beneficial. Such signatures typically remind clients of your work or services and motivate them to collaborate with you.
Effective Email Signature Guidelines
Here are a few top tips to aid you in crafting an exceptional email signature.
#1: Decide on the Size and Format
The key principle is to avoid over-complicating your signature. Determine the vital information to feature and maintain a concise, tidy signature. An overload of details can distract readers, thereby negatively affecting your image.
Typically, professional business email signatures contain roughly seven lines. Each line should be about 72 characters long. This is sufficient to include essential contact details without cluttering your signature with superfluous data.
Regarding dimensions, a height of 150px-200px and a width of 300px-600px are recommended. These measurements ensure your signature looks appealing on various devices while accommodating necessary information.
#2: Arrange the Space Effectively
Proper spacing aids in highlighting important information. It’s advisable to use a hierarchy when displaying your details, leading with the most crucial ones. Another effective strategy is to use dividers to segregate the information efficiently and emphasize elements.
Additionally, review the white space in your design to ensure different parts of the email signature are easily distinguishable.
#3: Determine the Key Elements of Your Email Signature
Consider the nature of your signature, its main objective, and brand identity. Then, ensure that your signature aligns with your company’s style across all elements.
Fonts
Stick to popular fonts (Times New Roman, Tahoma, Arial, Courier New, Georgia, or Verdana) for safety. These fonts are not only easy to read, allowing customers to quickly digest the text, but they’re also supported by most browsers and devices, avoiding compatibility problems.
Emphasize your text with font style and size rather than experimenting with various fonts. Use larger letters for crucial information. Bold, italics, and an additional color for the font can also be used. Remember the golden rule of not overdoing it applies to fonts too; refrain from using too many variations.
Best Practices for Images in Email Signatures
High-quality images are critical in email signatures. Using low-resolution photos can tarnish your brand image. Typically, email signatures feature employee photos with a neutral backdrop. It’s more effective to use a headshot rather than a full-body image.
Your brand logo can also be used in both individual and company-wide email signatures. However, avoid overloading your signature with numerous images. Ideally, limit it to two images.
Colors
Choosing your brand colors for your email signature ensures consistency. Select up to three colors (or shades) from your logo for your signature. Be aware that too many colors can make your signature appear unprofessional and garish.
A minimalist design with a white background and black text is also an option. Alternatively, you can apply your brand colors to the text and background. Ensure the chosen colors are not too light; darker and high-contrast shades are preferable.
Contact Information
An email signature serves to inform customers about the sender and provide additional contact methods. Therefore, include the following details:
- Employee’s name and title (for company emails) or your name and title (for independent professionals)
- Company name (and logo, if possible)
- Website URL (ensure the link is clickable)
- Email address
- Social media icons
Tips on Social Icons
When creating company-wide signatures, include social media platforms that best represent your brand. You can add links to your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube accounts, and blog. Customize social icons to align with your style and chosen colors. For individual signatures, opt for professional networks like LinkedIn over personal social media pages. Avoid cluttering the design with too many icons.
Company Slogan
While not mandatory, a company slogan can reinforce your brand identity. Avoid including unrelated quotes, even if they’re favored by employees.
Awards
Showcasing recent accolades and achievements in your email signature can boost trust and brand awareness. However, this is not a required element.
Disclaimers, Legal Notices, and Confidentiality Clauses
The need for disclaimers and legal notices depends on your industry and country of operation. They are especially important in sectors like finance, banking, and law. Frequently, email signatures include a confidentiality clause to protect the email content from unauthorized use.
The screenshot above demonstrates how Coursera safeguards its rights and informs email recipients accordingly.
#4: Incorporate Calls-to-Action
A call-to-action (CTA) is an essential feature of effective email signatures. It’s a straightforward method to maintain engagement with your audience. Common CTAs include:
- Subscribing to channels, blogs, social media, or newsletters
- Ordering goods or services at a discount (a promo code can be used for this)
- Providing feedback (if customers have already made a purchase)
Job opportunities (if you’re expanding your team)
Linking your CTA in email signatures to your marketing objectives can significantly enhance website traffic and conversion rates.
#5: Ensure Your Signature is Responsive
Considering the accessibility of your signature on various screens is crucial as an increasing number of people use mobile devices for checking their emails. A responsive signature reflects your company’s professionalism and consideration for all customers.
#6: Tailor Your Signature to Your Audience
For efficient email signatures, create multiple versions tailored to your customers’ needs. Once you’ve determined the general information to be included in the signature, segment your audience and include the most pertinent details. This can be easily achieved, even by using different banners.
Moreover, each employee can have several signatures. Longer signatures can be used for outgoing emails and shorter ones for replies. Experiment with different signatures to determine what works best.
#7: Thoroughly Review Email Signatures
Having numerous signatures for different departments and employees increases the likelihood of inconsistency. To ensure professionalism, review all signatures.
Firstly, make sure all signatures follow a consistent pattern and contain vital information. Uniform signatures across your company demonstrate attention to detail.
Secondly, meticulously check all links in your email signatures. A broken link can leave a negative impression and harm your reputation. The more people that encounter a broken link in a branded email, the greater the impact.
#8: Rely on Professionals for Coding
Best practices for company email signatures also include creating code that functions well across all email clients or apps. While you can design and save your signature, it’s advisable to entrust the development of an email signature HTML code to professionals if you’re unfamiliar with the process. This is particularly true if you’re working with a more complex design that requires a PSD to email conversion.
You can find email signature generators online. They’re user-friendly and allow you to generate signatures as needed. However, they often have design and function limitations.
When a professional developer creates code, you can specify all your requirements (information to include, the need for multiple signatures, email clients the signature should be compatible with, etc.). You’ll get exactly what you want.
#9: Regularly Update Signatures
In addition to checking elements in your signature like links, regularly updating signatures is crucial. Employee turnover, new departments, changing contact details, and updating banners in signatures all require regular updates to ensure customers receive the most current information.
Wrapping It Up
Creating an effective email signature entails much more than just listing your name and contact information. It’s about making strategic use of design, incorporating the right elements, and ensuring the signature is responsive and tailored to your audience.
From utilizing a minimalist design, including pertinent contact information, embedding social media icons and CTAs, to exhibiting awards and including necessary disclaimers, every facet of the signature serves a distinct purpose.
Regular updates and reviews should be part of your signature strategy to maintain consistency and relevance. By following these best practices, your email signature can become a powerful tool in your branding and marketing arsenal.