How To Create a Great Email Signature
Every detail matters when it comes to your emails. It’s what separates an effective and engaging email that will get clicks to those who will just remain unread in people’s inboxes. From your headline to your content to even your email address itself, everything can affect your email’s success. But one element is often overlooked – your email signature.
tbToday we’ll discuss everything you need to know about your signature, as well as how to create one – from choosing the right font, color, and content, down to your logo design (which can be easily done with our AI logo generator tool).
Ready? Let’s get started.
Why is your Email Signature important?
A well-crafted signature adds a touch of professionalism to all your emails. It shows that you are detail-oriented and care enough about how you present yourself that you even created a signature.
Next is information. Your signature contains all the necessary information about you. It’s an easy way to compress all these details and present them in a more visually appealing way.
Last is branding. By consistently using your color scheme, logo, font, and other visual elements, it reinforces your identity to your audience. Think of the Coca-Cola red and the IKEA yellow-blue combo. You too can be as recognizable as them with consistent branding!
What Should Be In Your Email Signature?
Your signature should be composed of the following elements:
- Your name – Use the name that you typically use. For example, even if your full name is Franklin George Williams, but you only use Frank Williams, then just put Frank Williams on your signature.
- Your company name and position – This is for people who are using emails for business purposes. If you are an influencer, blogger, or brand, you don’t need to include this.
- Your contact information – Include the best way to contact you, whether it’s a phone number, office address, Skype, website, and so on.
- A professional headshot – For people doing business emails, a professional headshot is welcomed. This adds a visual interest to your signature while also helping put a face to your name. This is also great for influencers who are aiming to build their personal brand.
- A logo – On the other hand, you can choose to use your logo instead. This reinforces your branding and also shows that you are affiliated with a brand or company. Don’t have a logo yet? Our tips on creating a logo can help you as well as our logo maker tool.
- Your social media links – Add clickable links that lead to your social media pages. Aside from giving people more avenues to contact you, it can also help drive more traffic and engagement to your pages. Make sure these links are trackable as well so that you can analyze the effectiveness of your email signature.
- A CTA / Content – This is not required, but if you have content that you want to promote, you can do so in your email signature. You can have a banner that details about a webinar, blog, or ebook. A CTA can also be a great alternative. For example, it can be a button that says “Book A Call With Me”, “Book Your Appointment Today”, “Learn More”, etc.
How to Design Your Email Signature
Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating your email signature:
- Add only the important information
- Use web-safe fonts
- Don’t forget your branding
- Keep it simple and clean
- Make it mobile-friendly
A. Add only the important information
Don’t overload your signature with tons of information that is not relevant or important.
For example, if you operate digitally, you don’t need to include an address. If you mainly communicate via email, you don’t need to add a telephone number. Or if you are active on TikTok and Instagram only, and you haven’t updated your Twitter page for years, then you don’t need to link to Twitter anymore.
The key is to keep it simple. Too much information can just be overwhelming and confusing. Not to mention making your design look too cluttered. Instead of listing every detail, a clean link to a discount popup with a special offer can be a smarter way to grab attention and drive action.
Another common mistake is to still include your email address in the signature. People already know your email since you are contacting them with it! So nix this one on your list as well. Instead, focus on adding other valuable information in your business emails, such as your job title, phone number, and social media links.
B. Use web-safe fonts
Web-safe fonts are fonts that are commonly preinstalled on most computers, devices, or browsers. Therefore, these fonts will show up properly no matter what device you use. If you’re unsure which font to use in your signature, it’s a good idea to stick to web-safe fonts to ensure that your typography design will be displayed correctly.
Some web-safe fonts are Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, and Trebuchet MS.
Keep in mind though that even popular fonts are not 100% web-safe. Helvetica for example is 100% compatible with Mac but only 7% with Windows. While Century Gothic is 88% compatible with Windows but only 53% with Mac. It’s best to do your research first before committing to a font.
The only problem with web-safe fonts is that they are common. These fonts won’t help you stand out from the sea of people that use these same fonts. At the same time, these fonts might not be aligned with the brand image that you want to portray.
Don’t worry, you can still use a custom font if you want. You can either save your signature as an image file or add a fallback font to be used in case your custom font can’t be displayed.
C. Don’t forget your branding
Your email signature is another way to visually reinforce your branding. Make sure to use a font, color scheme, visual design, photo, or other elements that are aligned with your branding. For example, a muted color palette paired with a cursive script will work best for high-end brands. While warm colors and handwritten font will work best for influencers and bloggers who aim for a friendly and approachable vibe.
For your photo, if you’re not using your logo then your headshot should also adhere to your branding. A professional photo with white background works great for corporate or office work, while a candid photo is more suited for bloggers or influencers. You can have your photo taken in a professional photo studio or use an AI headshot tool to convert an existing selfie into a headshot.
Companies with multiple teams should also ensure that every employee uses a cohesive design. If your organization uses BIMI to display its logo in supported inboxes, a BIMI checker tool can help verify that the relevant domain and logo records are configured correctly.
Make sure your signature is consistent. Use the same signature on all your email communications – whether it’s a newsletter, sales voucher, or blog roundup. If you are in a company and have multiple teams, make sure your design is cohesive with each other as well. For example, you can use tools to sign documents online, ensuring professional and branded document handling across teams.
D. Keep it simple and clean
While we encourage adding color and visual elements to make your signature look appealing, it’s important to show restraint and not put too much design.
Use a maximum of 2 fonts. Same goes for color. Two or three is the right spot. Anything more than that can look too cluttered. And make sure the color you use is harmonious with each other. When in doubt, follow color theory.
And not blinky GIFs or meme images please! It can make your signature look childish.
Follow the rules of visual hierarchy as well. The most important info should be placed on top, and so on. Keep things balanced and centered.
The same rule goes for the info that you will put in the signature. Use a simplified version of your address and only use your main phone number, instead of listing all the numbers you may have.
E. Make it mobile-friendly
According to studies, 85% of people open their email on mobile. Therefore it’s crucial to ensure that your email and your email signature will be displayed properly on mobile devices.
How do you make your signature mobile-friendly? First, ensure that your text is big enough to be readable on mobile. Next, check if there is enough space between links and buttons. You don’t want people to misclick your links because they are too near each other.
Third, don’t make your design too wide. Remember that your signature will get narrowed down for mobile. Stick to 400px wide designs that will still look good and readable even if it gets scaled down.
Lastly, always test before use. Send some test emails to yourself first to see how the design looks on mobile before using it out in the world. This way, you can fix any errors or issues first. You can also incorporate email warmup practices to improve deliverability and ensure your messages consistently land in inboxes rather than spam folders. Consider tools like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) to help you. It is a cost-effective, user-friendly platform ideal for managing email and SMS campaigns with automation and advanced segmentation.
How to Use BrandCrowd’s Email Signature Maker
A tasteful blend of colors, fonts, and images can make your email signature pop. However, not everyone has the design experience to pull it off. But don’t worry! BrandCrowd is here to help.
Our email signature maker comes with a huge range of customizable email signature templates that you can easily edit to make it your own. Whether you’re looking for something simple, abstract, chic, professional, graphic, or vibrant, we got you covered.
How to get started? First, head on to our tool. You can enter a keyword to narrow down your choices (ex. “stripe”, “floral”, “blue”). Then choose a design that you like.
Click to customize. You can change the color, layout, font, background, icons, and other elements.
Happy with the look? Click “Download”, and you’re done!
Build Your Brand Today!
A well-designed email signature can take your emails from looking drab to looking fab. It can also help you with your goals – whether it’s to form a professional network, get more engagement from your customers, or build a stronger brand identity.
Aside from email signatures, you can also use other marketing materials to take your branding to the next level. Check out our other customizable templates such as business cards, LinkedIn Banners, and Instagram Stories Post.
We wish you the best of luck with your creative journey. See you next time!
