How to create a great signature
A relatively minimal signature is optimal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the signature—it’s all about editing. You need one phone number, not three (and you definitely don’t need a fax number). Link to one website—if it’s your work email, link to your company’s website. That’s all you need. Experts recommend that you type out the URL and make it a link (i.e. www.vitaldesign.com ) so that people viewing in plain text can copy and paste the URL and still get to your site.
When it comes to social media, select only the accounts you really use and want to use to reach out to the people you’re emailing. So, if it’s a professional email, you probably want to include only LinkedIn and Twitter, and maybe a company Facebook page. (You probably aren’t connecting with potential clients via your personal Facebook page, your Pinterest, your Skype username, your Reddit account etc.) That said, if your business does heavily use a particular social network (for instance, if you’re an interior design company that uses Pinterest) then by all means share it!
You may also want to include a link to a blog, a presentation video or a portfolio–this is great, but just include one and remember to keep it current. Don’t inundate people with a dozen links to projects or social accounts you may or may not keep updated. The key is focusing on the channels, projects and information that the email’s recipients are going to be interested in—and then ditching the rest.
An email signature should be simple and focus on just the projects and information your recipients need: goo.gl/XDzAU
— Vital_Design (@Vital_Design) January 4, 2013
Good
Vitale Designo, Vital Design
603.766.1902
Twitter | Facebook | Blog
Nice work. Makes people want to actually click on the channels you shared because they’re visible, in a clean placement and it’s not longer than the content of a lot of emails. We’d love to see this kind of text tricked out with a nice logo and social media icons.
Bad
Vitale Designo, Vital Design
155 Fleet St., Portsmouth NH, 03801
Phone: 603.766.1902
Fax: 603.799.1922
Cell: 603.555.1234
Skype: Vitaldesign155
Gchat: Vtldesign
Blog: www.vitaldesign.com/blog
Portfolio: www.fakelink.vtl
Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Digg | Reddit | Spotify
Check me out at the latest SMCNH event video!: youtube.com/fakelink
People just do not need 16 different ways to reach you. This is not a resume or a personal website, it’s an email signature. Editing is your friend!
Graphics: Do or don’t?
There are a few schools of thought about including graphics in your email signature–some people go straight text, others go straight HTML. We like images–we’re a design agency, after all–and although you can’t guarantee that your images will show up, you can soup up your use of text as well as ALT text for the images so that your signature is still functional (i.e. people can still find your phone number) in all email clients. People who read email with a client that blocks your image will still be able to view your information, and they’ll be able to view or download the image if they want to.
Your signature should never be graphics only, and you should test it on as many popular email clients as possible to see what it looks like. (Don’t forget to check out what it looks like on a smartphone). So use graphics, but use them intelligently: ensure that images come with ALT text, and use text throughout your design.
Are you looking for some help with your email signature? We can design a new one or dust off an old one, plus we also do custom logos, email marketing and lots more, so get in touch with us today! Also remember to join us on Facebook and Twitter.
