The DOs and DON’Ts of Email Signatures

Your email signature is far more powerful than you think. It’s an easy way to promote yourself and/or your business in every message that you send. When used properly, email signatures can accomplish a variety of marketing objectives. While there are millions of templates and different strategies for using email signatures, the end goal should be to form a lasting impression with your audience.

There are several reasons why you should invest in an email signature design.

It’s an easy marketing opportunity
You provide a glimpse of your professionalism and sociability
It’s a quick way to provide contact information
It can be an integral part of brand identity
It’s another chance to delight your audience
You can drive traffic and generate leads

Email signatures are sometimes referred to as email footers, and they can include a lot more than just your name. Depending on the nature of your business and your relationship with your subscribers, there are various elements you can and should include. Name, position, company, and contact information are things you should include, but there are other elements to think about including. Take your email signature to the next level by adding a professional headshot or company logo, your mobile number, your LinkedIn URL, calendar link, social buttons, promotional material, slogans, awards, customer reviews, and legal disclaimers.

With a blank slate like an email signature, it can be difficult to go about customizing one. There are just so many possibilities. Let’s narrow down your choices with some important design tips and strategies.

Stick to a height of 150px-200px and a width of 300px-600px. These dimensions will ensure you have the optimum amount of space to contain all the necessary information while making it accessible across a range of devices. Also, keep the signature under 100KB in size so that emails load quickly.
Use web-friendly fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Georgia, Helvetica Courier New Tahoma, or Brush script. Size doesn’t matter as much, and colors should match your personality and logo.
Use social media icons instead of text links—icons are much easier on the eye and are instantly recognizable! You can use the social icons’ original colors, or go monochrome with a color that fits your brand.
Use a simple call to action (CTA) that’s relevant to your goals and overall tone. Buttons, banners, and inline call-to-actions all work well and aren’t too distracting. No matter which type of CTA you use, don’t forget to include a tracking code so that you can track how it contributes to your campaign success. Some examples of CTA’s would be an invitation to subscribe, a link to a free download, a link to a meeting, promoting an event, or sharing a recent publication.
The proper amount of whitespace between elements is another way to make your email signature easier to digest. Stick to the most important elements to avoid making your email signature too cluttered or overwhelming.
If you’re going to use a logo, a width of 150px-300px is recommended. Make sure your logo is high quality and optimized at the correct size to be displayed in your email signature. Ensure that when clicked it will take a visitor to a relevant website or landing page.
Make sure that your signature is mobile-friendly, as more than 40% of emails are opened by mobile clients. If your emails aren’t responsive, that’s a whole lot of subscribers that won’t be able to view your content properly. Check out how your email signature looks on different devices and clients, such as Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and Yahoo, before you send.
When used throughout an organization, it’s important to stay consistent. Don’t allow employees to create their own signatures, as you run the risk of people using old logos, outdated branding, and messaging that may not be approved.

On the other hand, here are some things you should avoid in an email signature:

Don’t use bullet points, they tend to render strangely across platforms.
Avoid animation – it’s a little tacky and it will make your email size balloon.
Don’t get too bold with color or font. The important part is the message you’re conveying.
Remember image alt text – you never know where your mail may end up after it’s forwarded. With alt text, anyone who gets that email can hover over an image and get an idea of exactly what it does.

Examples of well-designed email signatures:

Our very own email signature relies on a properly placed logo, headshot, contact information, and a CTA at the end that explains our benefits. It’s nothing over the top, and that’s perfectly okay for an email signature. We want new clients to get the message quickly and simply.

Treat email signatures as a whole marketing channel, with its goals, KPIs, and metrics, stay up to date with the latest trends and best practices and the results of your next email signature marketing campaign might leave you surprisingly happy.