How to write professional email signatures (with 20+ examples)
1 April 2022
In this guide, we look at the value of professional email signatures and offer tips on making them stand out in an inbox. Get these key elements right, and you’ll always present your brand professionally and improve the reach of your marketing and feedback efforts.
Why’s an email signature necessary?
Email signatures are important as they provide authority to email messages by qualifying the sender’s credentials and communicating valuable contact information. A professional email signature block acts as an electronic, 21st-century business card.
For those willing to invest time and resources to transform their email signatures, they can act as more than just a way to convey basic contact information. Effective email signatures can also promote your brand’s identity, provide important marketing content, and maintain compliance with legal regulations.
But how exactly can businesses achieve these benefits?
What to include in a professional email signature block
A professional email signature block should be eye-catching yet simple. It should contain key personal and business information, including contact details, website links, and other valuable materials.
Businesses should also consider the visual elements of their email signatures – including logos and banners – and signals of trust such as certifications, awards, and a legal disclaimer.
The best email signature examples are made up of many vital components. These all work together to offer businesses of any size multiple marketing and feedback opportunities.
Let’s now look at each part individually to see how they should be used in a professional email signature.
1. Ensure your professional email signature is up-to-date
Contact details are the foundation of any professional email signature.
All business emails must include a minimum of standard contact details that are easy to read. You can then enhance these with other elements such as gender pronouns, office hours, etc.
What contact details should be included?
The employee’s first (given) name and surname. You’d be surprised how many people think using a nickname is acceptable. Over 30% of business email signatures don’t even include a name.
Job title. This lets recipients know what type of person they’re dealing with. They may rely upon your job titles to understand the structure of your organization and the way it runs.
Company name. Having your company name in your corporate email signature is a no-brainer. This can be done using plain text, but we advocate using your corporate logo instead.
Telephone number. This should be the main number that the employee can be reached on, be it a landline or business mobile.
Email address. Some email clients like Outlook and Gmail use display names rather than email addresses. So, when forwarding an email, the recipient might only see “John Smith” or “Sarah Green” rather than the actual address. We recommend you include your email address in your signature and link it with a “mailto:” link. A recipient can click the link to send an email.
Web URL. Adding a link to your company’s website is a great way to get additional online traffic, especially considering how many emails your organization sends daily.
Use photo images to humanize email conversations
Creating a corporate email signature with a photo image can help build extra professionalism and trust with recipients.
The popularity of personal photos on social media sites suggests there’s value in putting a face to written communication.
You can include a photo in your internal email signature, an external one, or both – it’s up to you!
How to use images in email signatures
Personal images can be a powerful tool for connecting with the recipient. Here’s how to use them effectively and professionally:
High quality refers to the image quality – which should be high-resolution – and the image itself. Professional email signatures aren’t the place for party pictures or social snaps – instead, include professional headshots.
Consistent in design – professional signatures should be minimal, sharp, and consistent in their design, including personal images. This means formatting the image in a shape that blends with the broader design – this is often a 1×1 square headshot.
Friendly and approachable – email signature images should invite the recipient to continue the conversation. A headshot that includes a warm smile encourages engagement compared to a frown or a cheesy grin.
Email signature quotes
Including a favorite inspirational quote in your email signature can effectively add personality, spark conversation, and even convey information.
Quotes are popular additions to personal email signatures. Just remember to keep the quote professional – think of an industry leader, expert or respected figure.
These can be placed in white space below the sender’s contact information and social media links.
Calls-to-action
Calls-to-action (CTAs) may be incorporated as part of a professional email signature, such as social media and website links, feedback surveys, or marketing assets like videos or commercial links.
The key to a compelling email signature call-to-action is to make what the user needs to do clear and encourage them with eye-catching images or incentivizing copy.
This may include a recognizable Instagram logo – that the recipient knows will take them to a gallery of images – or sales copy such as ‘Exclusive Email Offer: Get 25% off your order’.
2. Every professional email signature is on-brand
Images play an essential role in any organization’s reputation. Consistency and familiarity are critical to a company’s identity; always remember that company email signatures must conform to your brand guidelines.
Most companies spend a long time developing their brand and taking it to market. Professional email signature blocks reflect your brand just as much as any other branded material.
The best professional email signature examples will use corporate brand guidelines to convey the professionalism of a company’s brand. Email signature branding can then build and promote your organization’s brand awareness, mainly through the use of your corporate logo.
3. Let recipients quickly book meetings with an appointment calendar link
Adding dedicated calendar links to your professional email signature offers recipients an easy way to schedule meetings and demos with you.
All they need to do is click on the scheduling link and choose a time that works best for them. This avoids lengthy email conversations and makes scheduling your time much more straightforward.
Also, by linking to your calendar, you can let people know your working hours. This can be used to make sure your business email signature always gives correct and helpful information to your business contacts.
4. Include a display banner to promote key campaigns, events, and tactical offers
Professional email signatures represent a valuable opportunity to promote marketing material without the risk of getting caught by spam filters. This is done through eye-catching email signature banners that combine an attractive visual design with enticing sales copy.
The middle section of your professional email signature template is the perfect location to display a graphical banner. Here, you can provide a clear call-to-action to access new content like white papers, highlight special offers, access exclusive discounts, and more.
Even better, email signature clicks are all free – unlike many other marketing channels.
How should you use an email signature banner?
Always go for simplicity with the design. A banner typically goes below the contact details, so it naturally carries weight and credibility. There will be no other distractions for an engaged reader. You can tone down the intensity of the design, so your message lands more effectively.
Consider altering the banner messaging for different teams. For example, potential buyers could see a special introductory offer, while a regional office could promote a local event. You could also bring up potential upsell or cross-sell opportunities. The sales message will be suggested rather than imposed or forced.
Use display banners to keep employees updated with the latest internal communications. Examples include internal job opportunities, company-sponsored training, corporate events, and general office reminders. Employees will then passively read and process the message without feeling the pressure to take immediate action.
Make sure your banners don’t go stale. The best email signature examples form part of integrated marketing campaigns, so don’t continue promoting expired promotions or using banners that no longer conform to your brand guidelines. Keep on top of these just as much as you would any other of your marketing assets.
Track their performance. Add tracking code or UTM parameters to the URL you embed in the email banner. This will help you understand customer engagement and conversions via an analytics platform. You can then quantify your contacts’ interest in your professional email signature content and how likely they will convert to the individual level. This information can then be used to promote successful designs and calls to action over less-effective alternatives.
5. Use an email disclaimer for legal compliance
Email disclaimers are the legal copy included at the bottom of email signatures to protect the sender against any legal consequences associated with how the recipient uses the content of the email.
This is often also where businesses include their legal details, such as company name, registered office address, and company registration details.
Even though they are a holdover from the early days of email, disclaimers are still a matter of lawful and safe operation for many organizations.
Using an email disclaimer usually means:
The specific content of any disclaimer text will vary according to where your emails are going and when.
Sections of each email disclaimer may require a level of personalization, such as the actual sender’s name, to fully follow specific rules.
Email signature disclaimer best practice
Place the disclaimer apart from the rest of the signature after the logo and display banner.
Make sure the disclaimer font is small. No one wants their email taken over with a massive text block.
6. Gain customer insight by using one-click feedback buttons
Turning a professional email signature into a customer feedback channel and a marketing one is easy.
You can gain valuable customer insight by adding simple one-click feedback buttons to your professional email signature template.
How do you use a survey in an email signature?
Adding an intuitive and non-invasive customer survey to professional email signatures is easy. These typically feature happiness or satisfaction scales, with buttons represented as universal icons like emoticons or stars.
With just the click of a button, customers can offer essential feedback. These buttons can direct customers to different landing pages to add further comments.
As with all other corporate email signature elements, ensure these survey buttons aren’t too large and distracting. They should be discreet yet noticeable enough that people want to click on them.
7. Showcase credibility with certifications and award logos
Corporate certifications and company awards in professional email signatures often provide value, but they need to be managed and used correctly.
Putting individual achievements on email signatures allows employees to make a strong statement about their expertise and provides them with a positive morale boost.
The same is also true if you win an industry award. It tells recipients that you are the best at what you do and that your industry has recognized you.
Creating professional email signature examples that actively promote award wins means they will be seen by thousands of recipients, thereby increasing their exposure.
After the sender’s name and contact information, add logos or icons within a banner that highlight their achievements – adding authority to email communications in a subtle and unobtrusive way.
8. Link to social media accounts
Finally, use company email signatures to promote your social media profiles and your latest content to those with the highest chance of connecting with it – those who read your corporate emails.
Combining social media accounts with email signatures is a great way to get loads of new fans for free, improve the reach of your marketing campaigns, and increase your customers’ loyalty.
Social media links are free marketing tools. Include small, recognizable social media icons in your signature – under the contact details – to take users to their preferred channel at the click of a button.
How do professional email signatures and social media profiles work together?
Email signatures have a strong situational element. A recipient is already thinking about your company when reading your email. This means they can probably spare a few minutes to look at your social media profiles once they’re done.
Social media is a powerful tool and often provides the most up-to-date information about your company. Linking your profiles to your email signatures means you’re easily keeping your most important clients in the know.
Offer recipients another way to communicate with your company. People are more likely to engage with your brand on social media if they already have a relationship with you. Links in your professional email signature can therefore be used as a subtle lead-nurturing avenue – one that can work better than targeting them with ads and email communications.
However, you must ensure that the social content you link to is relevant and up-to-date. Don’t add links to accounts you don’t use anymore. Recipients only want to read relevant and up-to-date content, so adding links to inactive social media profiles wastes their time.
9. Use the correct email signature format
While professional email signatures typically include the same features – from contact details to social media icons, images, and marketing materials – how they are formatted and designed allows employees to appeal to various contexts and audiences.
Each aspect of a corporate email signature can be tailored to suit a chosen formality, audience, and industry. Simply adjusting the placement of features to prioritize key messaging – such as contact details or links to book a meeting – or the size and placement of images and icons can engage different recipients.
Using professional email signature templates in your company
Email signatures can also play a valuable role in helping employees meet unique industry-specific expectations or legal requirements.
For example, those handling sensitive or confidential data can use email signatures to include regional legal disclaimers. These are used to cover the business against the implications of not following data regulations such as HIPAA, GDPR, or CCPA.
Similarly, company email signatures can be used to promote a company’s green efforts. Green email signature footers are lines of text that convey the sender’s eco-credentials and urge the recipient not to print out the email or any documents enclosed. These are especially valuable to those in ethical or environmental roles, such as SHEQ Managers.
Regulations aside, email signatures are valuable real estate for roles in sales, marketing, and more. Including high-quality images and videos within email signatures allows Sales and Marketing Managers to demonstrate products and provide promotional material in an easily accessible and unobtrusive format to an engaged audience.
Now that you’ve seen what goes into a professional email signature, you can start making your own. Here are some email signature examples to inspire you:
Marketing Manager email signature example
This professional email signature example doesn’t just promote the organization this Marketing Manager works for.
It also showcases her as an individual with a clear headshot photo and an appointment link to book a meeting with her.
Marketing Executive professional email signature example
As a marketing professional, your email signature should showcase strong, consistent branding and include links to other marketing channels.
This email signature example includes social media icons that will help to increase the company’s follower base.
Sales Manager professional email signature example
When working in sales, you want to provide as many avenues as possible for customers to do business with you.
If you are running a special promotion, your email signature template is a great place to promote it to as wide an audience as possible.
Head of Sales professional email signature example
It’s always good to put a face to a name, particularly if you are the head of a department.
This email signature example puts the staff member front and center by using a professional headshot photo.
CEO professional email signature example
As a CEO, you’re the face of the company you run. This is why you should use a professional email signature to showcase yourself.
Any other marketing messages will also carry extra weight due to your position.
Founder professional email signature example
The above email signature example uses a powerful headshot to humanize their conversations.
It also uses simple, clean branding that doesn’t overwhelm the recipient.
Author professional email signature example
If you’re an author looking to promote your latest book release, a professional email signature is a perfect channel to introduce it to new business contacts.
Adding links to your work can drive more conversions with every email you send.
Software Developer professional email signature example
This simple design provides different contact information. It also includes a clear CTA directing people to subscribe to the company newsletter.
Product Manager professional email signature example
With sustainability playing a more significant part in good corporate governance, your email signature can be used to provide additional green messaging.
This email signature example asks people whether they need to print this email.
Event Specialist professional email signature example
Whenever your company wins an award, you should ensure that your email signature actively promotes it. You can then hyperlink any award image you use to give recipients more information.
Animated GIF professional email signature examples
Using animated GIFs in email signatures can prove eye-catching and effective. However, many employees worry that animated features will appear unprofessional in recipients’ inboxes.
While there are examples of unprofessional animated GIFs that have no place in corporate communications, this doesn’t mean they can’t be deployed successfully.
Animated email signature dos and don’ts
Firstly, we’ll look at what to avoid when adding animated GIFs to email signatures.
This includes complicated or irrelevant GIFs that are unrelated to the employee or business and risk detracting from the aim of the email or the business message.
It’s also important to remember that animated GIFs can increase email size. This can cause problems with loading speeds and even see emails caught in spam filters.
Some email providers, such as some desktop versions of Outlook, don’t support animation within emails, meaning the GIF may not appear at all. So, the risk is not always worth the reward when the animated element is crucial, such as a company logo.
However, used carefully and with consideration, there are plenty of benefits to animated GIFs in email signatures. Not only are animated elements eye-catching and stylish, but they also show the business’ credentials as a slick operator. This is especially valuable for modern digital or design companies.
Similarly, animated GIFs provide added marketing value compared with static images. They allow for greater detail and a platform for businesses to tell stories through short clips.
To reap these rewards, businesses must keep their animated GIFs short, consistent, and relevant. They must be short enough to avoid any issues with loading while still being on-brand with the rest of the email signature design, including the logo and brand color palette.
The animation must also be relevant to the email – for example, an animated brand logo, a short company profile video, or a product demonstration. Professional emails should not include off-brand animations such as cartoons, personal videos, or jokes.
Summary
Email signatures are an exciting opportunity to drive business conversations and engagement, promote marketing materials, drive traffic to key pages or social media channels, and more.
With so many features to consider – and potential business benefits – we’ve summarized our key points into a helpful checklist below:
Email signature blocks have more value than just providing contact details.
Include important contact information only.
Make professional email signatures come alive by adding centrally managed user photos.
Build and promote brand awareness by featuring your company logo.
Use promotional banners to showcase marketing campaigns, testimonials, events, or special offers.
Win new followers by promoting your social media channels.
Allow recipients to schedule meetings and demos via a dedicated calendar link.
Follow international email law by including a suitable legal disclaimer.
Boost credibility by highlighting recent company awards and certificates.
Gain valuable customer insight with one-click feedback buttons.
Start creating your own professional email signature template
So, you now understand what should go into your corporate email thanks to these professional email signature examples. It’s time to start building one. Follow our step-by-step guides below, and you’ll have a professionally branded business email signature design in no time.
Each email provider requires a unique set-up process to add, edit and manage email signatures. Select your relevant guide below:
Microsoft
Mobile
Other
For other hints and tips on how to make a professional email signature, read our 17 Email Signature DOs and DON’Ts.
And to make managing email signatures even easier, choose email signature software from Exclaimer.
Learn more and get yourself a free trial to see the power of email signature software for yourself.
