Email Signature Failures
I have a pet peeve… (ok I have a lot of them) Let’s say you are looking for an email for a client, a vendor, or some obscure contact you finally find the email, open it to look for their phone or website and there is zip, zilch. They signed off without any kind of signature information. Or worse, there is a logo you click and it’s not linked. Why do people make it so hard to connect? Your email signature is a very consistent way to supply all your contact details in a professional way. (read that again, super important!)
5 Things NOT to do on your email signature!
1. Too many fonts!
2. Too many colors!
3. Too big of a picture or logo!
4. Not linking logo or picture!
5. Adding URL prefix (https://www……)
My friend in Switzerland used to have this saying,” A dog from every village” that is what it looks like when you mix font sizes, and styles. A jumble, making the eye bounce all around. Not good. The same goes with too many colors. It’s not a carnival or a child’s birthday party.
I know you think by making something in an alarming red will help it stand out. But it’s jarring and not necessary in an email signature. Do you really think by the time they’ve read your email and have not already bought your special sauce that the giant ad offer at the end will sway them? Maybe it would have been in the 50s or 60s but today’s folks are pretty savvy to the ways of old-timey marketing. Yes, I did call it old-timey.
Whether you add a logo or an image, keep it in proportion, and for god sake LINK the damn thing. Don’t know how? Follow this and use the easy version! Did you notice I ‘buried’ the link in the words of the text? If you want to look professional/competent, and who doesn’t -never ever put a whole link anywhere, ever. Just use the little link symbol and add your link in there keeping your email or document crisp clear and fancy!
5 Things to DO on your email signature
1. Sleek and predictable
2. Name, title, phone
3. Limit the amount of info (tagline, ok if it is not overbearing)
4. Correctly sized image or photo and LINK it
5. Pronouns, (if it is important in your industry)
99% of people, (my own made-up research percentage) read their email on the go- on their phone. So sleek and professional is the cleanest way to present your email signature. Important facts: Name, title, phone, you do not need to add your email again because it is already an email and you want to keep it all to the minimum.
Limit the amount of info on your signature. If your tagline isn’t too big you can add it, I am not big on quotes or inspirational messages (don’t @ me, I know I used to have a quote on my signature but I reconsidered and evolved.) Always add your logo if you can, if your brand is your picture that’s good too, both might be a lot so size them to match and keep them small but legible. Regarding pronouns, you might think it weird, but it can be important for diversity reasons.
Balance is everything, keep it clean, sleek, and predictable. If you need some ideas, search your emails and collect the signatures you think are good, and emulate them!
Audit. Edit.
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