An email signature must contain the right amount of information. Too little, and you may be missing out on business opportunities. Too much, and the bottom of your outbound email becomes cluttered.

You should also consider your role in an organization and your email recipient audience. For example, if you are in customer service, your signature may have a link to your product knowledge base or FAQs. If you are in sales, your signature may have a link to an online meeting scheduler.

Keep in mind that certain recipients of your emails may use an app, such as a CRM system, that scrapes your information and adds it to a database. So, whatever elements are in your signature will appear to the recipient’s organization’s CRM users.

Let’s look at some common elements in professional email signatures and the considerations for each.

Full Name

The sender’s full name is often a default signature element, but there can be several variables.

Do you want to use your full first name, such as ‘Jonathan,’ or should you use the name most people call you — e.g., ‘Jon’? Should you include a higher-learning degree or professional certification after your last name, such as ‘MBA’ or ‘PMP’?

Company or Organization Name

This is another element that can take multiple forms. For example, if your company has a DBA, should you use that rather than the corporate name? If there has been a recent acquisition, should the acquired entity’s brand be used temporarily for familiarity?

Company or Organization Logo (Branding)

A company logo takes up more real estate than a line of text in the footer of an email. However, if generally emphasising or promoting your brand is a high priority, your logo can be used in place of text.

Email Address

If an email address is included in a signature, it is usually there for easier copy/paste or for an information scraper. After all, the sender’s email address is already a part of the email header — some consider it an optional signature element.

Phone Number

The type of phone number displayed in the signature can be role-dependent. A customer support representative may have a general helpline number in their signature. On the other hand, a salesperson may want to share their mobile number to provide prospects and customers with a high-availability, direct line.

If you have a high posting and engagement level on a social media platform or platforms, it may be worth adding icons for those to your signature. Consider excluding relatively inactive social media profiles, as directing your email recipients to these will not add value.

If your company’s marketing team is active on LinkedIn but you are not, it’s better to link the icon to the company page rather than your personal profile.

An Upcoming Event Banner

Directing people to a webinar or live event landing page is a popular tactic in email signatures. However, the effectiveness of using these in signatures should be measured, given the space a banner occupies.

If your organization sells a SaaS product that lends itself to easy sign-up or test-driving, a signup banner in an email signature can be a revenue generator. An educational institution can include a link to a sign-up page for courses.

‘Schedule a Meeting’ Link

It’s common for salespeople to include a link to an online meeting scheduler in their email signatures. A calendar icon or emoji can serve as a visual cue for this call to action.

Disclaimers & Legalese

Disclaimer text or other legal wording is important for email senders in certain industries, such as financial services. Since these consume the most space of any signature element, their usage should be carefully considered.

Quotes

Quotes from well-known people are often personal and may not resonate with all email recipients. It is, in turn, a personal (and business) decision as to whether to include one in your signature.

Other Elements

Insurance companies and building contractors often include a license number in their signature. A customer service representative’s signature can link to a customer portal page or to a commonly requested document.

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If you plan to implement an organization-wide email signature manager, there should be planning and consensus on which signature elements to include for each role.

Striking the right balance creates benefits without adding unnecessary distractions.