How to Make the Best Use of An Email Signature
So many times email signatures are an afterthought and not really looked at as an opportunity to sell. What we mean by “email signature” is the signature you put at the bottom of your person-to-person emails, not on your email marketing campaigns (although you can use signatures for that as well!)
Business operations depend on specifics, especially in a successful business. Your email signature is significant, providing your contacts with contact details and conveying information about you as a person or company. Unfortunately, many business owners only pay attention to global issues, ignoring more subtly effective ways to influence a target audience, like an email signature.
That’s likely why so many of us look for examples of professional email signatures when we switch jobs, get promoted, or have a sneaking worry that our current sign-off isn’t up to snuff.
A strong technique to present your professionalism to your readers and provide them with your contact information is via your email signature. Each email has a signature at the bottom, which helps you create a good first impression and sets you apart from your competitors.
The measures you may take to create the ideal email signature are listed below:
1. Use a Common Font
Arial, Verdana, and Times New Roman are common text typefaces. These fonts have a polished appearance and are simple to read. Change font size instead of using different fonts to draw attention to details. Alternatively, highlight specific text in your email signature.
2. Give Only the Necessary Contact Information
Email signatures are rarely read because people typically need more time to do so.
Make an effort to include your contact information:
- Both your first and last names
- Greetings, if applicable
- Position and division
- Company Telephone
- A Google Maps link will save space, but you can also include your company’s website, mailing address, and social media profiles. However, avoid including your email address because it is already present at the top of the email.
3. Make Your Signature Mobile Friendly
Your email signature must be responsive for mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. Make sure your signatures also take into account the device’s maximum width. While most signatures are designed with desktops in mind, mobile devices should only see campaigns that are no wider than 295 pixels wide.
4. Add Legal Disclaimers
Disclaimers in business email signatures may only be enforceable in some countries. But it is recommended that certain professions, particularly those in the legal, banking, and financial sectors, include a disclaimer in your professional email signature.
A confidentiality clause is essential to all business email signature disclaimers. By doing this, you can tell that the email is personal and only for the intended recipient. Exclusion of liability clauses, security clauses (which warn against the protection of viruses), and regulatory compliance clauses are additional items to include in a legal notice.
Remember that while you want to protect your business, you also don’t want to clutter your email signature with many pointless items. Think about the nature of your company and the need for legal protection when deciding what to put in your employees’ email signatures.
5. Demand for Action
Including a call-to-action in your email signature is one of the wisest moves you can make. Ideally, email signature CTAs are straightforward, current, non-obtrusive, and consistent with the tone of your email, giving the impression that they are post-script rather than a sales pitch. Select a CTA that supports one of your current business goals, and change it as necessary. You can use the VerticalResponse Button Builder to create your own call-to-action button for free.
6. Offer Icons for Your Social Media Links
Your email signature can also serve your social media marketing objectives. Linking to your social media accounts in your email signature will help you grow your following if you have a strong online presence and your accounts are active and well-managed. That is a really easy way to increase your audience!
7. Photo or Logo
Images are the simplest way to add a unique touch to your email signature. A professional photograph, for instance, can help communication seem more natural. As an alternative, including the logo of your business, can aid in raising brand awareness. Therefore, be sure to use professional tools to create a logo or hire a designer to adopt a more professional approach.
Therefore, it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice and design an email signature that will astound your recipients. Remember that your email signatures reveal who you are and what makes you unique.
Conclusion:
Using an effective email signature, you can advertise your business and drive more people to your website and social media pages. It serves as cost-free brand promotion. Not to mention that it is simple to point potential customers to your website or contact information. So, use these pointers to help your staff develop effective, polished email signatures. They ought to be professional-looking and accurately reflect the essence of your company so that you can make a good impression on the people who receive your emails.
Incorporating an email signature with the initials “V R” is a great way to enhance the professional look of your emails and give your brand a higher rank. This can also be useful in military email settings where signatures are used as a means of identification and to showcase your rank or position. An email signature is a quick and easy way to leave a lasting impression on your recipient and make your messages stand out from the rest. By including a “V R” email signature, you can create a consistent, professional image for your brand that is easily recognizable.
Side note: Our social media manager found WiseStamp, and inserts your information PLUS the latest Tweets, eBay items, and any other social media outlet you want people to see.
© 2010 – 2012, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.
What if we need to put a PS note that is usually written after the signature, I think that with this amount of information the receiver won’t notice it, what do you suggest in this case?
E mail signature can help in many ways. We try to use them wisley it s help. We add social media sharing buttons, and start getting response. So jump in, it s wort effort.
We try to avoid pictures in the signature at our offices; too many clients and partners’ email spam filter hates images. We made it a policy to not add picture because of all the problems with spam filters in the past
Be informative. The recipient should glean a lot about who you are from your signature. Always try to include a call to action.
Interesting post. Email signature is important for everyone 😉
Your e-mail signature is a great place to prove you’re a professional .. Leave the field blank. Here is a simple test that you can do if you having trouble understanding how awful long time to replace e-mail signatures actually have your signature links Goo.gl shortened links. Goo.gl track how often your shortened links when they are created, while logged into a Google account. This will identify exactly what your “necessary” signature advertising works.
One thing that must be added (although the digital age, which may seem out of date) would be the fax number, if you get a lot of customer transfers. Even if you have any visual content (eg articles in your website or YouTube) would be a link to this ideal.
For those of you who have used QR codes in your signature line – how the public react? I would love to know how they were conceived?
With so many people using their phones to check their mail make sure your phone number is clearly listed as text and not in an image so your so people can just click and dial you.
https://albamedia.net
and belive me …90% of your email will go into JUNK MAIL…dont follow these steps..i had one client for which i did, it was bad idea, he thought he wanted to incorporate the whole website into the HTMLised signature….Unless you want to be stuck in spams
Thanks for the tips … I’ve added my logo and link to linkbait material.
You make some important comments. Emailing is communication and it has to be done right and not at the spur of the moment.
Great tips Janine,
Thanks for mentioning WiseStamp as well.
Note that we have a wide collection of Email Apps that can help you easily promote your business – Add your Newsletter, promote your Etsy & eBay sales etc… check them out https://apps.wisestamp.com
The “testemonials & webinars” are great ideas and added to our to do list – thanks!
Josh @WiseStamp
I like to do character counts on emails to compare the actual content to the signature. Just got one that was 10% content and 90% signature. The best is when you end up having to read through a whole reply thread that’s been bouncing between a bunch of signature junkies. It’s like “I agree, what do you think, John?”, scroll, scroll, scroll, “I’ll run it by legal asap”, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, “any update?”, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, oh I don’t care anymore, delete!
I must wholeheartedly second (or third, or fourth) the commenters who stated that, with email signatures, less is more.
Your email signature is an excellent place to demonstrate that you are a professional.. by leaving it blank. Here’s a simple test that you can perform, if you have a hard time comprehending just how awful long email signatures truly are: replace the links in your signature with goo.gl shortened links. Goo.gl tracks the number of times that your shortened links are clicked if you create them while signed into a Google account. This will identify precisely how well your “necessary” signature advertising works.
In case that doesn’t work, allow me to paraphrase The Oatmeal: Your email signature makes me hate you. With a burning passion.
great tips
Thx
We did not win our own award – the blog has won numerous industry awards, including a Stevie award which you can read about here: https://www.verticalresponse.com/about/press/verticalResponse-marketing-blog-wins-thropy
Cheers!
Checkout the VR award winning blog:
Link to the VR blog.
Why would you put in your signature that you won your own award?
IM SUPER PROFESIONAL GUYS
Very good idea. Thank you.
No, giant email signatures are dumb. Even worse is telling me to save a tree and not print it. Who prints emails?
Great post…thanks for sharing!
Gigantic email signatures are not marketing, they’re a pain in the rear.
Name, title/function, and contact information.
Nothing else. Anything further wastes space, and no one needs to see the rest of it more than once, if that.
In your example, it would be best to use only the first four lines, and cut out the rest of the junk.
I suggest not to use a text version of your signature, but a jpeg or pdf version of it, so that the words contained in it are not included in your mail searches.
I never thought before to utilize email signature and you give me fresh idea about it. I plan to put my logo and deal of the week link on my email signature. I wish it could improve my business. 😀
I like to have my logo in my email signature, but I make it a Hyperlink. You click on the logo and it goes to the desired site. Same with Twitter, Linkedin.
Have a great day selling!
Implemented a “speacial offer” into my signature and have gotten new customers already. Cheers Janine.
Please think of the mobile users. Long signatures, signatures with graphics, and as others have stated, no plain-text phone number make it harder on the mobile workforce.
I like more information but i don’t like it when images are included. I am misled into thinking there is a document attached to the email when really there is nothing.
Your P.S. is 100 times more important (and likely to be noticed and read) than any comment or promotion you make in your signature.
I see signatures with links to 5 websites and with 2 and even 3 logos. Keep your signature clean and relevant to contacting YOU.
I personally find a “less is more” approach for email signatures to be better. Certainly, having relevant contact info is necessary… but if your email signature is longer than most short novels, perhaps it might be time to trim it a bit.
Here’s an example from The Oatmeal, that explains it much funnier than I can: https://bit.ly/g168gG
Good article, i also use a QR code with all my contact info in my email signature
A nice tip. However, I feel the signature in the image example is quite redundant. I am not sure if this can cause the mail content to be less significant.
Thank you.
With so many people using their phones to check their mail make sure your phone number is clearly listed as text and not in an image so your so people can just click and dial you.
A great tip, I will be passing this one on to my readers
One thing I would add (even though in the digital age it may seem outdated) is your fax number if you receive lots of transmissions from clients. Also, if you have any visual content (ie: items on YouTube or your website), a link to that would be ideal.
For those of you who have used QR Codes in your signature line – how has your audience reacted? Would love to hear how they have been received?
Yes, the email signature I prefer to be an image to avoid spam
Hmm, great ideas brewing from this. I think I will setup a central signature for all employees so it updates weekly! Thanks for the tips 🙂
thanks for the great tips… will makes some changes to our company signature now 🙂