Are You Making These Email Signature Mistakes?

 

There you are, standing in line at the coffee shop, checking email on your phone, minding your own business. You open a client email and suddenly your phone seizes as it tries to render the 800px wide image in their email signature. You open another email, this one from a recruiter, and it’s bogged down with a company logo, six social icons and three full paragraphs of legal disclaimer.

But this last one is clearly the winner. It’s a note from Sheila in accounting that signs off with neon pink Comic Sans font and a glittery GIF that says “Have a nice day.” This begs the question: Is this a business email or a Myspace page?

There’s so much freedom when it comes to creating an email signature that it’s easy to take the bait on designing something that you perceive to be quirky or unique. Don’t be part of the problem (looking at you, Sheila). Follow these email signature best practices to end your communications on a high note every time.

Things to leave out of your signature:

  • Your email address, it’s redundant and unnecessary.
  • Fax numbers, it’s 2017 y’all.
  • “Sent from my iPhone.”
  • All of your social icons. The best thing to do is select two to three that you want to focus on to grow your business and build your brand.
  • Large image files that take forever to load.
  • Images that are copied and pasted rather than embedded. These will show up as attachments in your emails and can cause confusion.
  • “Inspirational” quotes, save them for Instagram.
  • Text that is too large, colorful or uses strange fonts.
  • Full web addresses for things that should be hyperlinked with anchor text.

Things to make sure your signature includes:

  • Seven lines or less (you can do it!).
  • Creative, enticing copy around your website link. The key is to promote interest around your site to solicit click-throughs. Imagine generating a new lead with every email you send (p.s. The average person sends 41 emails per day.)
  • Your phone number (seems obvious, right?). And don’t forget the international prefix if you work with international team members or clients.
  • Consistency. Keep all your copy the same font and size; use bold, underlining and italics sparingly.
  • Stick with your company’s branding.

Additionally, make sure you test your email signature in multiple email clients and on mobile. What may look amazing in Outlook may not come across the same way in Gmail, for example. Same thing with desktop and mobile. Another best practice is to turn off your signature for reply emails. Be kind to your recipients and eliminate the added bulk from your threads.

Need a signature overhaul but don’t know where to start? Make the right impression on everyone in your contacts list with email signature customization services from nobox creatives. Get in touch with us today.