Email signature contact details matter above all other signature elements. They give all recipients valuable information for getting in touch with you and details on your overall company structure.

Make sure you follow best practices by following our top 10 email signature contact details DOs & DON’Ts and turn your business email signature into an electronic business card.

1. DON’T include everything

Only include ESSENTIAL contact details within a signature block. These details include name, job title, company name, mailing address, phone number, and email address. Too much contact information can come across as slightly desperate.

Also, only use four to seven lines for your email signature contact information. Using more than this will make the signature harder to read and look untidy. Remember that less is always more!

2. DO include a full name on all email signature contact details

Did you know that over 30% of professionals don’t include their full name in their email signature contact information? Not very professional, is it?

All users must include their first and last names at the top of the contact information section of their email signature without exception. The name should always be their proper name, not a nickname. A middle name or initial can also be included if a user wishes.

3. DO make sure all contact details are up-to-date

The primary purpose of a professional email signature template is to provide contact information to recipients over email. If an email signature does not include up-to-date information, it becomes somewhat redundant.

People change job roles, phone numbers change, and organizations move offices. Make sure this is reflected in all users’ email signature contact information. Ideally, take the details from your Active Directory to ensure they are accurate.

4. DON’T forget to include your email address with a ‘mailto:’ link

Including an email address in a signature template is often thought to be pointless. After all, you can see who an email is from by looking in the ‘From:’ field.

However, some email clients like Outlook use display names rather than email addresses to improve readability and familiarity. So, when an email is forwarded to another person, the display name will appear rather than the email address. For example, ‘[email protected]’ would be shown as just ‘John Doe. This is not much use if you want to email that person.

The best way to avoid this is to include an email address and link it with a ‘mailto:’ link. This makes it easy for someone to send an email to the original sender.

5. DO use different signatures for internal and external recipients

Different email signature templates are particularly important if you have multiple office locations or many employees. So, for an internal recipient, you would use a simplified version of your primary corporate email signature.

This template does not need as many email signature contact details, but including full name, job title, department, and extension number makes it easier for colleagues to contact you.

6. DON’T include personal information

This is a professional email signature, not a place to promote your personal Twitter page. Personal data should not be used for business purposes or to communicate with professional associates.

Most recipients won’t be interested in your personal social media profiles, and you probably don’t want them to know how to contact you outside work hours.

7. DON’T forget to check the rules

Depending on where you are based, a good email signature includes additional information such as a company registration number, office address, and VAT number.

The above are legal requirements in many European countries, so don’t risk your organization getting fined. Make sure you do your research and find out what rules apply to your company so you can apply the right content to your email signatures.

8. DO consider adding a photo

Used by many people who work in real estate, finance, and law, a photo in an email signature adds a much more human touch to corporate email communications. You are a faceless entity on the other side of an email message without a photo.

Letting people see what you look like is a great way to increase trust and build positive business relationships. Coupled with your company logo and corporate branding, you will also increase the effectiveness of your email content.

9. DO have different signatures for different departments/locations

Do you have salespeople who work out of the office? Do you have employees working in different locations? Ensure this is reflected in their email signature contact details.

Keep everyone happy by letting each team use a different template to suit their email signature needs. Give extra branding to the marketing team’s signature but give a promotional banner to the sales team.

10. DON’T do it yourself

If this all sounds too daunting, don’t worry. There are third-party email signature software solutions that can do all of the hard work for you.

By using an email signature solution, you will always get consistent email signature contact details like names, departments, and job titles pulled from your Active Directory/Google Directory. You can also precisely control email signature designs and easily vary them for different teams/departments. You can even add additional elements such as an email banner with a specific call to action, social media icons, and more.