Email Signature Tips

Make it easy for people to contact you and find your services by creating a great email signature. Here are some tips:

  • Use 2 hyphens and a space (-- ) as the first line of your signature. It's the official way to indicate the start of a signature
  • Make sure it's in plain text so people can copy/paste it
  • Keep it as short as possible, say less than 10 lines
  • Don't exceed 70 characters per line
  • Include your full name
  • Include your position
  • Include your business name
  • Include important phone numbers
  • Include your websites address and make it a link
  • Include a small logo or even photo of you. Keep it smaller than 100x100 and make sure you specify its width and height in the html
  • Reference images from somewhere on the internet so others can see them. E.g. on your website.
  • Don't include personal stuff like your own website. Keep a separate signature for that
  • You don't need to include your email address. That's already in the from field
  • Only add a legal disclaimer if required
  • Only include your business address if you have walk in customers
  • Don't add quotes or personal comments as they make a signature large and may offend

Email Signature Ideas

And some ideas on how to further enhance your signature...

  • Use your business colours and font
  • Include links to other networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter accounts
  • Link to a vCard file (don't attach one) which can be used to quickly add you to their address book
  • Add some sales pitch, like a link to a new offer or service
  • Encourage clients to write a review or testimonial about you
  • Add certification images

It's best to use a branded email address if possible. E.g. use your websites domains based email account over your ISP (@bigpond.com.au) or web (@hotmail.com) addresses. It's more professional and invokes trust.

I have several signatures for different uses. E.g. personal, business, replies, promotions. Make your signatures suite the moment. My reply signature is shorter than my main signature so I don't clog up long conversations with long signatures.