Using Email Signature Photos Effectively

You might be asking why you would use email signature photos in the first place. You're already presenting your contact information in your signature. How would your signature design be improved with a photo?

Email signature photos are already used quite extensively within the legal, real estate, and insurance sectors. However they might not necessarily make sense for users working in other professions.

Simply put, the answer depends on what industry you work in, your corporate culture, and how much of an extrovert you are.

The benefits of using email signature photos

A professional photo in your signature can go a long way to building personal connections over email messages. People, especially younger people, find visual content much more engaging irrespective of the channel. Using photos in email signatures can therefore have a significant impact.

Using a photo also puts a face to your name. This makes it much easier build a relationship with you over what is traditionally a faceless form of communication. Look at the popularity of personal photos on social media sites, particularly on LinkedIn and Facebook. It's clear to see there is value in putting a face to digital communications.

Think how much easier it makes communicating with people when they can see what you look like. A photo serves as a powerful visual cue for them to easily identify your company.

It is also much harder for someone to be rude to you over email when they can see your face. You suddenly become an actual 'person' in their eyes. Maybe if we all used photos in every email we send, we would be much nicer to each other!

Finally, email signature photos work well in large organizations with lots of employees and/or multiple office locations. It’s always great to put a face to a name. This is particularly true for people you’ve never met before or don’t frequently have face time with. Also, think how much easier it is to find someone in a massive office when you know what they look like.

Email signature photo image tips

Here are our top 7 tips to help you get the best email signature photo images for all of your users.

1. A user must look straight at the camera. Their face can be at an angle though as this isn't a driving license or passport photo.

2. Make sure that the photo is clear, in sharp focus, free from red eye and free of any reflection/glare from glasses.

3. Ask the user to look natural and relaxed. Let them smile if this is acceptable to your senior management, but let the user act in a way that is comfortable for them.

4. Email recipients want to be able to see the face in a photo image, so don't let a user hide behind items like sunglasses or hair. Also, only let them cover their head if it is for religious or medical reasons.

5. Don't accept any ridiculous poses. The photo a user has in their email signature doesn't just reflect them, but your organization as a whole. Remember this is still a professional photo!

6. This goes without saying, but make sure there is only one person in the photo. Each photo should represent one person only.

7. It might look interesting, but it is not a good idea to digitally manipulate any images. You want all photos to look as 'real' as possible and fancy effects will detract from this.

Managing email signature photos

Once you have lots of great headshot photos available, you then need to add them to the correct email signatures. However, don't go through all the pain of updating email signature photos doing this manually. It's an incredibly time-consuming process and difficult to manage.

Instead, use Exclaimer’s email signature software solutions to make this task incredibly simple.