How to create a professional email signature

What are the elements of a professional email signature?

A professional email signature is not just for signing off an email, but it can also offer quick insights into your professional identity and how you can be contacted. 

Here’s what you should include in your email signature:

• Name, Title (if relevant), and Business Name: All this helps people identify who you are, what you do, and where you work. Make your name appear bold so it stands out from the rest of the details.
• Contact Information: Make it easy for people to contact you by including your primary contact methods, such as your (mobile) phone number, email address and physical location (if relevant).
• Company Logo and/or Professional Headshot: You can either have one or the other or both in your email signature. A photo in your signature will make your email more personal. Especially when you send out a cold email, strangers can see who they’re dealing with. 
• Social Media Icons: You could include icons and social media links to your business profile on the respective social media platform. 
• Website Link: Include a link to your website, portfolio or blog to showcase your work or services.
• Legal Disclaimers: Some professions must display a legal disclaimer, which might include confidentiality clauses, copyright statements, or company registration numbers.
• Call to Action: You could include a link to a specific landing page so that people can directly book a consultation, sign up for your newsletter, or visit your latest offer.
• Professional Affiliations or Certifications: You could mention these to add credibility.
• Quotes or Mottos: You could use your favourite quote, which can be a nice touch, but keep it appropriate and professional.
• Accessibility and Inclusivity Elements: Consider accessibility, such as providing a text-based alternative for information conveyed in images for visually impaired recipients or ensuring the text size is readable.

Keep it simple, informative, and uncluttered and most importantly, keep it up-to-date and accurate.

How to design a professional email signature

Gathering logos and information and adding them to your email signature is easy. But plan it properly so your signature is both functional and visually appealing.

1. Plan Your Content:

• What essential information needs to be in your signature? (name, job title, company name, phone number, and email)
• What additional features do you want to add? (social media links, logos, or a call to action).
• Avoid overcrowding your signature with too much information. Keep it concise and relevant.

2. Choose a Simple, Readable Layout:

• Make sure it’s easy to read. You might be tempted to simply provide the information line by line, which can shorten your email signature. You could consider a horizontal layout, which saves space and makes it look modern.
• Create clear separations between the different elements. You could use the pipe character (|) or other subtle dividers.
• Consider using a table structure (with invisible borders) in your email program to keep content aligned and organised.

3. Typography Matters:

• Stick to standard, web-safe fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, or Times New Roman. These are universally compatible and will display consistently across email clients and devices. If you use a font specific to your business, it’s unlikely that this font will be installed on the recipient’s computer. Their PC will pick a standard font, and your signature might not look like you designed it.
• Keeping your font size 10 to 12 points is ideal for regular text, while your name can be slightly larger (14 points).
• Use font colours that are easy to read. Dark text against a light background is a universal standard. Also, ensure you use colours that align with your brand’s colour scheme so that brand recognition is not compromised.

4. Images and logos in your email signature:

• If you use your business logo or a professional photo of yourself, ensure the image file is optimised for email. Keep the file size around 200 KB and check it’s visible and recognisable when displayed small.
• All social media icons should have the same size and be evenly spaced.

5. Add Links Thoughtfully:

• You can include links to your website, portfolio, or LinkedIn profile. Check every link is working and connected to the correct URL.

6. Use colours strategically:

• Don’t use too many colours so the signature is not too overpowering.
• You may use certain colours to highlight specific content but only use this sparingly to avoid visual clutter.

7. Include a Call to Action (If Relevant):

• If you want recipients to take a specific action, like scheduling a meeting, include a concise call to action.
• This could be a linked sentence or a button, visually distinct but integrated into the signature’s overall design.

8. Make It Mobile-Friendly:

• Many emails are read on smartphones. Ensure your signature adapts to different screen sizes and looks good on different devices.

9. Legal Disclaimers and Confidentiality Notices:

• If your profession requires this, include a brief legal disclaimer, confidentiality notice, or both.
• These are usually added in smaller font sizes below the main content of your professional signature.

10. Testing and Refinement:

• Send test emails to yourself or a colleague and different types of email accounts (for example, Apple Mail, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo mail, Microsoft Exchange) to see what it looks like on these platforms.

11. Keep It Updated:

• Regularly check your email signature and update any changed information. You could also amend your call-to-action regularly so that frequent recipients look out for fresh information in your personal email signature.

Signature Templates and Tools

If you want to create an effective email signature, you can use email signature software. These online tools often provide signature templates that are easy to use. There are many resources available to help craft an impressive email signature.

1. Email signature templates:

An email signature template is pre-designed and allows you to fill in your details in a structured and visually appealing way. They help balance creativity and professionalism, ensuring you include all essential elements without overloading your signature with unnecessary details.

Advantages of using email signature templates:

• Consistency: This is a must for larger companies. Use a standardised template so that every employee’s signature maintains the brand’s identity with consistent use of fonts, colours, and layouts.
• Easy to use: You don’t need advanced design skills to create a professional look. Simply replace the placeholder information with your details.
• Variety: There are countless templates available online, both free and paid, offering a range of styles to suit your preferences or branding guidelines.

2. Email signature generators and tools

These online tools can help you create professional email signatures. They often have a user-friendly interface, and you don’t have to use complex design software. Here are some popular email signature tools that can help with email signature design:

• Let’s start with my favourite: HubSpot Email Signature Generator is a free tool which is straightforward and practical, providing users with a hassle-free experience in creating simple, clean, and professional-looking email signatures.
• WiseStamp is a widely used tool that offers a variety of templates. It provides free and paid versions; you can easily insert social media icons, a profile picture, and even a call-to-action.
• MySignature is an online email signature generator that supports multiple email clients.
• NEWOLDSTAMP is more aimed at larger companies, but small businesses can also create signatures. It’s only available as a paid version with annual payments.
• Mail-Signatures.com offers examples, tools, and information on creating email signatures for various email clients.
• Signature Hound – free for individuals

Advantages of using a tool or email signature generator

• You don’t need design skills.
• The signature will be compatible regardless which email client you use.
• You can customise many elements of your email signature (e.g. colours, fonts, fields, and layout) to match your branding.
• Manage multiple signatures in one central application.

3. Integrations and Email Plugins:

Some email clients, like Gmail or Outlook, have add-ons or integrations for signature management. These are particularly useful for businesses with more employees, as IT administrators can control the branding elements and contact details in employees’ email signatures.

4. Use a professional designer:

If online templates or tools don’t meet your needs, you can hire a graphic designer to create a custom email signature.

Check out the following video where I explain how to create an email signature with the Hubspot Email Signature tool.

Hubspot allows you to create the signature and then copy the text or the HTML email signature so you can copy it into your business email signature. You can easily include your contact details, company logo and incorporate your brand identity when designing your email signature banner.