The Positive Benefits of a Personal Email Signature

Corporate email signatures are used for a variety of reasons, such as promoting social channels or complying with legal disclaimer laws. On the other hand, if you don’t work for an organization, you might not feel a need to include any sort of personal email signature.

However, it is often the case that you only ever use email in your personal life for formal activities. Examples might include job hunting, contacting a customer services department, or dealing with a bank. You are more likely to use instant messaging and social media for speaking with friends and family over email. This is why it’s good practice to use a personal email signature when sending emails.

Depending on how you want to use an email signature, its main goal is always to tell people and companies who they are dealing with. It provides important information and makes it easier for you to contacted. An email signature is also a great way to promote your own personal brand. It lets you present yourself as a serious professional, which is crucial if you’re hunting for a new job role.

What should you include in a personal email signature design?

• Your full name (first and last)

• Job title (if you’re a freelancer) or college degree

• Telephone number (a mobile phone number works best)

• Email address (make sure this is sensible!)

• Social media icons linking to personal profiles (only if they’re used for professional purposes)

• Personal headshot photo (optional but good for personal branding)

Below are some other tips that will help you to create the perfect personal email signature:

• Use between four and seven lines for your signature. Your design should be eye-catching yet well-organized. If you include too much information, your template will look cluttered and untidy.

• Condense information by using grammar such as colons to separate text on the same line.

• It is a good idea to not include inspirational quotes when creating an email signature. These are often subjective and provide no additional value to your email. It’s also important to note that not all people’s personal values will align with yours.

• If you’re using HTML, test the design thoroughly in different email clients to see if it renders correctly.

• Don’t include a legal disclaimer. You only need to do this if you work for a company.

Personal email signature use cases

Job hunting

A lot of people use a personal email signature for job hunting. It’s a great way to quickly display your contact information, so recruiters and employers know the best ways to contact you. You can also add a LinkedIn icon so recruiters can have a quick glance at your work history

Student signature

Whether you’re just starting your degree, or you’ve just finished it, a student email signature is another example of what a personal email signature can be used for.

Whether you’re using it while contacting employers for a summer internship or when emailing someone for a quote in an essay, a student email signature can have a positive impact.

Freelancing

Personal email signatures are particularly useful if you are a freelancer either seeking an opportunity or liaising with a contact for your work. If you are a freelancer with your own website or online portfolio, you can easily link to it in an email signature.

Online content creator

If you’re an online content creator who runs a blog or a YouTube channel, you might be likely to get in contact with brands for sponsored content opportunities.

By using a personal email signature, you will come across as a credible person, and you can directly include a link to your blog and social media pages.

Summary

These are some basic examples, but there is a lot more than you can get out of a personal email signature if you use it correctly.

For more information, make sure to check out our official Email Signatures for Dummies guide.