Equally y'all tin probably imagine, nosotros take heard thousands (if non tens of thousands) of great stories regarding how unlike companies set up their email signature templates, or at least endeavor to.

Over the last few months, nosotros've begun collecting examples of the practice'southward and don'ts that nosotros've discussed and learned from our Xink customers, prospects, and partners. Many of the items in this listing are self-explanatory, but we've also taken the time to provide a little chip more than colour on the topics presented for the uninitiated.

There are many reasons to choose Xink as your email signature management solution. From make consistency and compliance all the fashion to creating a new marketing aqueduct for quality traffic and conversions, there's a tremendous upside to leveraging your company'southward most widely used communication method (electronic mail) to drive marketing value. If y'all use Office 365, G Suite, something else on good ol' Exchange Server, we accept a solution for you…

1. Become an email signature

This shouldn't come up as a surprise. This web log is filled with examples of why, regardless of your industry or company size, you lot should consistently use the email signature block, no matter your client – from Part 365 to Gmail email signatures.

2. Get an email signature – fifty-fifty if you're in IT

We've had 100 conversations where we larn that the Information technology section chooses to boycott any electronic mail signatures in their emails. Many become a pace further to only ship out emails only in plain text format. The email signature is an important marketing lever – pull accordingly.

3. Requite your email signature format some manner

Your email signature format should not just include the obligatory name and telephone number. It'southward a great opportunity to share contact details, marketing messages, the latest tweet or blog postal service.

4. Add together your visitor logo to your electronic mail signature

This is a widespread discussion topic. The days are long over when it was considered dangerous to add graphical content to your e-mail signature templates. Modern electronic mail programs can actually handle this quite well.

five. Give your electronic mail signature format as much thought every bit a marketing entrada

Just equally you do with your marketing campaigns, ask yourself who are you targeting with your e-mail signatures (this might betoken out that you need more than than ane template for your organization), what' behaviour you want to drive (CTAs), and how are you going to measure results (do you lot need a landing folio, are you setting upwards UTMs to track traffic?), etc.

6. Follow visitor brand standards

If your company has a brand style guide and doesn't accept a standard email signature for the visitor – that's a trouble. Electronic mail signatures can easily be designed to fit even the most stringent make guidelines.

7. Don't stop at the contact details; market to your contacts with campaigns

Electronic mail deliverability rates for mass marketing email is on the decline. 1 of the virtually efficient routes to the inbox of your customers, prospects, and partners is via peer-to-peer electronic mail, the electronic mail we ship every solar day.

Choose an email signature management solution that allows you lot to create and manage electronic mail signature campaigns while at the aforementioned time measuring them for success.

When it comes to designing email signatures, there are a lot of things to call up.

viii. Starting time with HTML to Pattern Your Signature

Have a web designer take your existing electronic mail signature template and mark it down in HTML (note: several entries in this weblog mail on how far to take HTML coding for signatures…hint: not far). HTML will give you the flexibility to create corking-looking signatures in a highly portable format that y'all can apply just almost anywhere, given the correct email signature direction tool.

9. Try to use TABLE tags

We always recommend the use of HTML tables when you generate your email signature content. The reason for this is that y'all have corking control over the visual layout. You lot tin can optimize the signature towards mobile readers if you wish, and the tables are scalable and are expert every bit content generators. Ever use tables if you tin.

10. Always add Peak and WIDTH to your images

If yous don't add together a top and width to your images in your email signature, they might get resized by the recipient'south email programme. This is the #1 crusade of the dreaded "my electronic mail signature doesn't look right" complaint from your end-users.

xi. Find a decent balance between text and image size in your email signature

This is actually a design discussion… Nosotros accept seen signatures with a clear asymmetry between graphics and text/content. Ensure that you accept a properly designed email signature that looks professional while considering the sizes of logos and promotional banners to fit the overall blueprint.

12. Use inline CSS, but…

Inline CSS is understood and rendered correctly by most email programs. It goes against what you'd presume in today's calculating environments, just old-schoolhouse HTML is the better format. But…

13. Brand the HTML every bit robust as possible

You tin can skip the HTML5 code. For at present, e-mail readers don't know what to do with it. Make your HTML as solid as possible. Need examples? Ask the states.

14. Consider how it looks on mobile devices

Advisedly consider your email signature pattern for mobile devices. A adept rule of thumb is using your logo equally the horizontal anchor, setting it at 300px (max 320px) width. As long equally your contact details don't go beyond your logo, you should be in good shape.

15. Endeavour to proceed the signature below 650 pixels, vertically

The mobile screen vertical should be below 650 pixels. Same considerations as above.

16. Make sure contact details are up to engagement

Your e-mail signature template must incorporate up-to-date contact details. Y'all'd exist surprised how ofttimes phone numbers and systems change. Offices modify locations, etc. Our customers avoid the embarrassment and cost of change of this type of information by hooking Xink upwardly with their Active Directory deployment for a consequent, accurate source of information for signatures.

17. Add together a Twitter icon to increment your follower base

You lot'd exist surprised how many organizations don't do this; the email signature is a keen way to abound your social networks. You can utilise our pick of FREE social icons in diverse sizes and colours right here.

18. Use a different email signature for your replies and forwards

In that location is probably nothing more frustrating than existence looped into an email thread, only to observe that 90% of the thread is electronic mail signatures and their electronic mail disclaimers. Xink allows you to specify a different signature for replies and forwards, which gives y'all the pick of cutting downwards on valuable existent manor for those important emails.

19. Add your latest content marketing content to your email signature

Use your email signature to extend the life of your content marketing assets. This is a great strategy, especially for 'paid-for content – each new conversion brings downwardly the overall cost of that item over fourth dimension.

xx. Permit your It guys help, to a limit

It's nifty to get Information technology involved, simply we've constitute that it'south best if Marketing is left to control and manage signature and campaign content once the organization is up and running.

21. Nominate someone from Marketing to be responsible for the content

See to a higher place

22. Comply with the law

For many organizations, the email disclaimer statement(s) at the end of their email signatures is an absolute requirement. Be it for regulatory, legal or even transnational trade requirements. These email disclaimers are a key part of staying on the right-mitt side of the police.

Automate these e-mail disclaimers in the same way you lot automate the placement of your email signatures.

If you're unsure how to implement electronic mail disclaimers properly, contact usa, and we can help advise which rules might utilize to you.

23. Add together an image of yourself to the electronic mail signature

A trendy choice of national real manor, insurance, and legal entities. Just as you shouldn't fear to put in a jpeg of your company logo, your flick shouldn't exist off-limits either. Get a nice haircut and show it off!

24. Be consistent beyond every device

Make certain your device not just renders well across all devices but that y'all can send your company standard signatures from all of your computing devices.

25. Apply Outlook for iPhone or Android if y'all accept Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

It's the easiest way to ensure you become your company signature consistently, every time.

26. Always create a plain text signature culling

If y'all receive an email in Plainly Text, Outlook will respond in kind (the same applies to rich text). Outlook thinks it is doing you a favour and creates the signature in these formats itself with a horrible result if non supplied ahead of time. Do it yourself and ensure your brand is represented correctly.

27. Create a Rich Text signature also, but…

They haven't used too much anymore, an outlier being Outlook coming together invitations in RTF format.

28. Add a decent color scheme to your electronic mail signature pattern

Consider the utilize of colours in your electronic mail signature. Don't use dramatic or aggressive colours, always making sure to comply with company standards, but no one says it has to be a standard black font colour.

29. Add together LinkedIn…only whose?

Similar to the previous, with a small contraction. We've seen information technology be very prevalent with or customers in the engineering space because salespeople at tech co's prefer their LinkedIn page to link in their signature cake instead of the visitor LinkedIn folio.

Which way is preferred? It'southward really upwardly to the company. The more important aspect is that your email signature solution allows you to provide that selection to your employees.

30. Measure the traffic you go from your email signatures

I can't believe we put this at #30, as important every bit this is! Developing, implementing and managing electronic mail signatures and campaigns is a waste of time if you exercise not measure out the outcomes.

This is specially truthful for email signature campaigns –the promotional marketing campaigns promoting new products and services, event sponsorships, even awards you lot've won!

Measuring the positive impact of campaigns is fundamental to identify potential new sources of traffic and conversions. Xink offers native analytics and seamless integrations with 3rd political party analytics packages such equally Google Analytics, Omniture, and Webtrends.

31. Ensure your signatures are consistent beyond Outlook and OWA

A key to establishing whatsoever make is consistency. An important attribute of this is at present your email signature is presented, regardless of your computing device. Y'all definitely want to make sure that your e-mail signature is delivered consistently, regardless of the device you use to create your email.

32. Remove "Sent from my iPhone."

No one cares. The same goes for other vendor messages.

33. Become an practiced to help to code your email signature

If you lot don't have a designer on staff –allow united states of america aid you. Your signature is too important to go it "almost correct". We're happy to help.

34. Spam filter test your signature before using it

You'd be surprised how often a horribly configured/designed email signature adds to an email's spam score. MailChimp has a not bad primer hither on the things that spam filters hate (or like, depending on your outlook of things). A proficient alternative is Hunter.io's email verifier.

35. Always use the ALT tag when adding an image to your signature

This is a peachy fill-in if your recipient is filtering images.

36. Target e-mail signature campaign content to recipients

We're obviously a big laic that email signatures should include marketing campaigns, in improver to enforcing brands. Nonetheless, you should accept the aforementioned approach you do with whatsoever marketing campaign – consider your audience. For instance:

  • Support team members – a link to the KB might salvage the occasional back up ticket here and there.
  • Finance – driving recipients to your AP or AR pages could speed up payments
  • HR – a link to your open jobs page tin net a great candidate

Encounter, it'southward not just about product leads and sales – every group in the company tin leverage signatures to create more qualified engagement with their respective audiences.

37. Provide employees with signature options to choose from

Nosotros've been pretty consistent here well-nigh preaching consistency, just 1 thing to consider is providing options for your end-users in terms of signature templates. Xink makes it easy to provide multiple email signatures to your users.

Operationally, many of our customers also specify an "internal-but" signature, which pares down the contact info of signatures to minimize multi-response threads' clutter.

A unique example is also constabulary firms – one of our constabulary firm customers provides an internal-but signature that contains legal staff's internal five digit extension and their billing code, which comes in handy when collaborating with other attorneys via email.

38. Consider other geographies

If you do considerable business in other countries and languages, it makes sense to support those with localized signatures.

39. Make the e-mail signature a mandatory role of your electronic mail.

Information technology sounds somewhat draconian, simply the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Plus, I have kids to feed – so, come up on.

40. Way tip: Color code your URL links

This keeps your visited links from changing colour, which could appear to be a pattern oversight on your office.

41. Add images to your e-mail signature only in 100% size.

Don't calibration a logo that is 500KB to a width of 4%. Scale the logo to match a 100% signature size. Otherwise, email readers might scale it for you, and that could create a nightmare signature appearance.

42. Don't accept your respond signature take upwards the whole screen

Create a divide signature for the reply and forwarded emails, with pared-down information. Your recipients volition give thanks you.

43. Add simply your disclaimer once and in the right identify

Don't stack them and consider the bodily relevance of them.

44. Add your registered company details and VAT number into the email signature

European companies, take notation. This isn't a 'dainty to take. It's the police. Automate this wherever possible.

45. Brand certain your links in your e-mail signature are not dead.

Common sense, of form, just there is no greater buzzkill than arriving at a 404 folio.

46. Integrate analytics into your email signature clicks and statistics

This goes along with measuring your positive outcomes. If you are using an analytics package, definitely integrate it with your e-mail signature direction solution.

47. Provide a vCard link

vCards are cross-platform and ever work. A smashing style of getting a recipient to add your contact details into a vCard.

48. Always apply HTML as your electronic mail format and create the e-mail signature equally HTML

HTML is no longer an surface area of concern with regards to electronic mail signature formatting and evolution. It'south great to be able to specify a manifestly-text alternative email signature.

49. Where possible, make email signatures read-but

I can't tell you lot how many inflated titles I've seen when it comes to employees spinning their ain signatures. If y'all must, use an email signature management solution that allows users only to edit pre-approved items. This also ensures the email signature format.

50. Don't make the signature apply the standard blue reply font

This tin can happen if the signature is not properly coded and simply generally looks unpolished. Ensure your email signature form is OK also when replying and forwarding emails.

51. Have a clear Call-to-action in your email signature marketing bulletin

This is Marketing 101. Consider your audition and use your email signature to drive behaviour. Examples include:

      • Joining your social network
      • Visiting your blog or knowledge-base
      • Attending your briefing

52. Apply your whole corporate identity through your email signatures

If you employ for sub-brand or department level corporate ID, behave that through to your email signatures besides.

53. Apply your internal electronic mail signature to promote internal visitor information

If your intranet doesn't go the traffic it used to, use your email signatures to promote internal visitor information.

54. Promote your industry awards

Get your company the credit and awareness it deserves. It'south a great credibility booster with your recipients.

55. It's ok to utilise the expensive font that a pattern agency made for only for you lot

If you lot have paid a million dollars for a pattern agency to pattern your own company font, yous tin can use this in your email signature without problems.

The only thing is that it will display correctly inside your company merely not externally considering the font volition most likely not be installed on the recipient'due south computers. Instead, make sure that you ascertain an culling font if the default font does not exist on the computer. As well, test this and brand sure that the signature notwithstanding looks prissy with another font.

At present, on to the don'ts.

56. Don't become without an e-mail signature

If you work for a serious visitor about establishing a make, or if y'all operate in a competitive market – don't laissez passer on the branding, awareness and potential marketing value of the email signature.

57. Don't re-create someone else's

If yous do copy someone else, PLEASE brand sure to go in and alter the links, and so they accurately reflect:

      • Your bodily email
      • Location of your company logo
      • Social networks
      • The electronic mail signature format

58. Don't send out a iii-page 'how-to' guide for employees to update their signatures themselves.

I can tell you exactly what will happen if you do: nothing. 40% adoption at all-time.

59. Don't use bullets, checkmarks or numbering

Try to avoid full general MS Word-similar format style piling of contact details and other information. This volition destroy the email signature format.

60. Don't Add animated GIFS, merely…

You could add animated GIFs, but virtually electronic mail programs won't render them to play. Animated GIFs are considered unsafe content in Outlook, and it has been blocked since Outlook 2007, and so only the first frame is shown. Interestingly plenty, Outlook for Mac does render them fully and most spider web-based electronic mail apps likewise every bit on mobiles. So you could, in fact, consider using them…

61. Don't create your electronic mail signature as a unmarried image

There are a few issues here. First, what if you want to update it? Ya, that's a pain. 2d, and probably most importantly, actually, is that there's every real adventure your image location may change or get mixed up in formatting, and your emails volition finish with everyone's least favourite fault message – the red X.

Lastly, consider your recipient. What if they want to cut and paste your contact info into a contact carte or pass information technology forth to a colleague?

62. Don't automatically add together your vCard equally an zipper

Spam magnet. Provide a link to it instead.

63. Don't add a Powershell script snippet into your email signature

This is generally for the IT crowd out there. Don't do it, even if you are a PowerScript MVP!

64. Don't overcomplicate an email signature projection

It actually doesn't require heavy Information technology lifting or 30 design meetings. It's washed pretty easily.

65. Don't testify a picture of a landline phone before your telephone number

We did that in the last century—also, no envelope icons next to your email. A little bird for Twitter is ok though.

Email Signature

66. Don't utilize Times new roman equally e-mail font

Just don't.

67. Don't use Comic Sans either

Please, just don't.

68. Don't ship an electronic mail without some type of marketing message in the signature

Take advantage of the convict audience; don't miss out on this opportunity. With electronic mail deliverability on the decline, the e-mail signature is an efficient road to your prospect's inbox.

69. Don't add 100 social icons to your signature

Go along it unproblematic. Use your primary social networks to drive the secondary networks' growth.

seventy. Don't forget to create a plain text signature also

When you receive an e-mail in patently text, Outlook will reply in plain text. So, exist sure to create a plain text alternative according to your guidelines. The aforementioned applies to rich text. Outlook creates the signature in these formats itself with a horrible result. It looks horrible.

71. Don't allow Outlook generate Rich text and plain text signatures for you!

They look horrible. Just horrible, and your email signature format is destroyed.

72. Don't be afraid of adding images to your email signature – merely practice information technology right!

This is cheating, sort of, equally we mentioned earlier, every bit something to definitely do!

73. Don't scale your images

Scaling images once it'southward in your signature can lead to crappy results. An image born as a 500-pixel image volition about ever revert to its original size after information technology's sent. The result is your email signature with a logo the size of a Times Square billboard.

74. Don't re-create an email signature template from Microsoft Discussion

Oh! The horror! When yous cut and paste between MS Office applications, you get literally (literally) hundreds of unnecessary lawmaking lines forth with information technology in the background. Basically a bunch of XML junk. When that unnecessary code sits in your email signature, Spam filters look at it with a weird heart, and your email ends upward in the spam filter.

75. Don't leave information technology to IT

And we stuck the controversial item at #75. Managing company-standard email signature templates doesn't accept to be an IT chore. In fact, Marketing should own information technology – its branding at its core. IT will but destroy both the design and the email signature format.

76. Don't include completely unrelated information in your email signature template

We've seen it all – daily affirmations quotes from Globe State of war II generals, etc. Don't exercise it. It dilutes your brand.

77. Don't add it to the peak of your email

We get asked well-nigh this a lot, really. Clever marketers ofttimes want to start with the signature, especially in large-make companies. Our suggestion is to pb with your message, end with your signature and promotional bulletin.

78. Don't forget to specify a fallback font

Not all fonts are loaded on all machines by default. Stay in command and specify a fill-in font in your electronic mail signature template.

79. Don't go colour-crazy when it comes to your font color

Stick to one colour, 2 if you have an accent colour. Any more than than that, you will defeat the purpose of having a professional email signature.

80. Don't forget mobile devices

Xink offers a brilliant solution for mobiles, so don't forget mobiles!.

81. Don't think just considering you use Chiliad Suite to accept a standard email signature.

Of course, you can have a standard email signature with Xink.

82. Don't assume your signatures volition look the same across every device

You know what they say about assumption…seriously, though, your signature volition testify up differently on diverse devices. Test and re-exam. It is like expecting that any web site will look the aforementioned in all browsers – they don't! Take it seriously and code a decent looking signature in the right email signature format.

83. Don't use the same signature for new emails as replies/frontward

If your email plan allows you lot to use another signature for replies, so use this. Create a brusk version with more than condensed information than the one for new messages.

84. Don't forget to check your email links!

If y'all accept copied a signature from someone else (and we already told you not to do this, so shame on you lot) and find this to exist good plenty, and then please check that when yous click the email link, it doesn't send the email to the person yous've copied it from. Or the person that this person copied it from…

85. Don't exit the default border paradigm on your images

In your signature's HTML, remember the parameter Edge=0 in your tag to prevent the images from showing upward with a think blue border around it if you tin click on it.

86. Don't cut and paste your email signature images from your website

The images and logos you take on your spider web site might not be suitable to add together to your e-mail signature. It might shrink, show upwardly odd or simply not evidence up at all. Produce graphics specifically for your email signature in the correct size, and don't calibration it.

87. Don't waste space with unnecessary information

Why add "if you are non the intended recipient of this email, and so delete information technology"? This information is a waste of space. Anyhow, oft do you lot actually receive an e-mail that was not intended for you? And if you receive one, wouldn't you lot just reply to the person anyways that information technology was probably for someone else? Instead, employ that valuable infinite to add a marketing bulletin and go some traffic to your site.

88. ASCII fine art, don't exercise it

Do you actually want people knowing you accept that much time on your hands? ¯\_(?)_/¯

89. Seriously, ditch the ASCII art.

90. Brand sure 2 signatures don't automatically appear

This happens more than yous think! Ensure that a signature is not added to your email automatically while you still are making your own. The result is not professional. The two signatures volition expect unlike and get out the recipient with a very confusing brand impression. Brand sure you accept just one.

91. If you lot're a corporation or brand, don't copy a template off the internet

How much did you invest in logo development? Wouldn't even i% of that toll be wise to put toward creating a unique, brand-appropriate electronic mail signature template?

92. Don't forget to update your Alt-tags for images in your signature

We already told you to do this, but don't forget to regularly update it with new taglines or descriptions, equally appropriate.

93. Don't feel guilty for reading this unabridged blog post

It'southward time well spent, heck, information technology's educational, and too if you got this far, you get a free 45 solar day trial of Xink (normally fourteen!). Isn't that cool?

94. Sometimes democracy isn't the best thing

Peculiarly when it comes to email signature standards, the first rule of branding is consistency – without it, there can exist no brand. If you will accept a company-wide arroyo to deploying your email signatures, and then darn it, set a standard and enforce it.

95. Don't assume everyone knows where y'all're based

Many assume that addresses are condign less common in today'due south email signature templates. Nevertheless, given the mobile nature of employees these days, information technology's not a bad idea to include some geographic marking (beyond area codes) that can help a recipient approximate the best time to call yous straight.

96. Don't forget almost it

The worst thing about an electronic mail signature, and frankly one of the reasons we started Xink (and eMailSignature earlier that), was that the email signature has so much more value than simply being a piece of content that you set once then never think almost again, as it gets added mindlessly to email after email. Treat it as a piece of content from your content marketing strategy. Update it. Examination variants. Ain information technology.

97. Don't forget the rule of ii-one-two

Don't utilize more than than 2 colours (one for slight accents, like the @ symbol, for instance), 1 font and 2 font sizes.

98. Draw the line between contact data and personal information

True story – a former colleague included a link to his son's Little League team folio in his email signature. Certain, he was their coach, and they won their commune, but it wasn't advisable for the company email signature.

99. One job per signature, please

Do you sell cosmetics, health supplements or multi-level marketing cleaning products as a side task? Linking to that in your company email signature is probably a big no-no.

100. Don't put it off till tomorrow

The ROI of quality traffic, conversions, and ultimately revenue that an effective email signature can provide is immediate. Just get it done!

And finally…

101. Don't become overwhelmed

Did you really read all 100? We've thrown a lot at you over the length of this blog mail service. Information technology'due south a lot to consume—a lot to get right and a lot that you lot can go wrong. If you have any questions, just reach out. We're here to help. You could also accept a wait at our Email Signature eBooks that contain more detailed data!

Endeavor Xink or volume a meeting with united states for a FREE i-on-1 demo!