How To Create A Better Email Signature

Most businessmen and women have an email signature, but have you given much thought to how effective it is? If it’s been a while since you’ve given any thought to the email signature you’re using, now might be a good time to revisit the issue.

So what makes a good, effective signature? We’ll outline several just below.

The first thing is, shorter is better. Nobody wants to read a paragraph-long signature, and if yours is too long, it will lose any impact and punch it might have had. Keep it short, keep it simple, and keep it succinct.

Second, you should make sure you’ve got the basics covered. Your name, your email address, phone number, and company address. A small photo or company logo is okay, but no more than one, and it should not dominate the signature space. Including your email address is important here, because depending on the recipient’s email system, that information may or may not be visible to them in the header portion of any email you send. Note here that if your company has a social media presence, the link to the most prominent one should be included.

Third, you want to make your closing salutation generic. Using something like “Best” or “Kind Regards,” won’t be appropriate for all situations. Imagine sending out an email talking about layoffs, and ending it with “Kind Regards.” Talk about a PR nightmare, and a totally avoidable one, at that! In its place, try to use some brand-centric closing that ties you and your email to your corporate brand.

Finally, you should strongly consider using some sort of link to additional information beyond the link to your social media page. This will give you two links total in your signature, and you should consider that to be a hard limit. Nonetheless, this gives you an opportunity to direct the readers of your emails to a page where length is less of a factor.

Given the above, how does your current email signature stack up? Is it in need of tweaking? If so, now is the time.