Best Format for Email Signature? Examples & Tools
Try Publicate For Free Today
Start Now
Want to leave a lasting impression on those who receive your emails? In business, a simple email signature that follows the proper email signature design standards can help you leave your mark and be remembered by clients and colleagues alike. It may seem small, but it does provide for a grand impact. We’re going to share the best format for email signature styles so that you can cover the must-haves.
And, in order to take the guesswork out of your email signature creation, we’ll talk about how a professional email signature template from a tool like Publicate can be the answer to all of your questions.
An email signature is intended to be like a digital business card. It should be easy for readers to find what they need. Consider including the following pieces of useful information:
This is crucial for people to know who you are.
This adds to your credibility and establishes a professional relationship.
The business’ name builds brand awareness and helps readers to know who is communicating with them.
You can include your office phone number and keep a mobile phone number as optional.
It’s a great way to drive traffic to the business’ website.
Since you’re already sending an email from your email address, this is a choice to include if you have the space.
Should you be promoting a new service, product, blog post, or the like, you can push people towards the next step using a clickable promotional banner.
If your social media accounts are up-to-date and professional, consider offering them as another way to connect.
Include a photo of yourself so you’re recognizable at industry events or during meetings.
If you have any additional custom links to include, feel free to add them at the bottom of your signature.
An email signature contains a lot of useful information. Since you don’t want the information to compete with each other to get overlooked, it’s valuable to set up a content hierarchy for your included elements.
In order to choose the best format for your email signature, consider what you want to include. Then, you can place the items in order of importance and get to designing. Of course, you’ll want your name to be the most notable element and then continue into your contact information thereafter.
When starting to design the best format for email signatures, it helps to narrow down your options by looking at the shape of your company’s logo. If you have a tall logo, then a vertical email signature can be helpful. If instead the logo is wider, then consider a horizontal setup for your information.
To create the perfect email signature layout, consider using an email signature generator like Publicate. Equipped with many templates to choose from and drag-and-drop editing functionality, you can browse an array of options before building your own. When you’re ready, it’s as simple as customizing your information, but the layout is already set up for you.
If you don’t use an email signature generator, you may find yourself building an email signature from scratch. Keep in mind that this can be more time-consuming than necessary. If you do go this route, then HTML tables can be useful to help lay out the email signature with the aid of invisible tables.
HTML tables set up your email signature with columns and rows so you can neatly organize the information. But, you’ll have to test your email signature across screen sizes and email providers to ensure the table is rendering how you envision.
If you decide you want a photo of yourself (beneficial in certain client-facing industries like real estate, for example) or a logo (recommended for all), then you’ll need to pay attention to the size. For a logo, it’s best practice to size it at 300-400 pixels wide and around 70-100 pixels tall.
When you add an image to your email signature, it also adds “weight” to the signature itself, which can affect load times. So, when you add an image within an email signature, be sure that the whole block is no heavier than 40kb to make sure that your email doesn’t end up in SPAM.
In email signature design, your images can also be in a few different formats to work. These are the optimal format types for visual media:
When you use an email signature builder like Publicate, adding a photo is as easy as clicking on the photo icon and uploading the logo or image of your choice. Additionally, you are able to input GIFs. The email builder offers the ability to crop and resize photos by using the visual editor within the tool. This way, it’s easy to see exactly how your email signature will look on the recipient’s end.
Designing an email signature opens the door to endless possibilities. Having so many open-ended options can be a blessing and a curse, so to keep you on the right track, here’s how to design the best format for email signatures.
If you know how to code in HTML and CSS, you may be tempted to use that knowledge. However, some email clients don’t read CSS coding, so your design setup will be completely ignored. That’s why email signature generators are so helpful.
With no need to code at all and no graphic designer necessary, you can create visually stunning email signatures with a drag-and-drop visual editor. It also ensures that your design will maintain its integrity across email providers and devices.
We’re nearing a time when more emails will be read on mobile devices than desktops (in 2022, that figure was at 46%, and mobile users grow daily).
As such, it’s vital that your email signature renders properly on mobile devices. If your email signature is wider than a mobile device size, then your content won’t be displayed as you want it to. With an email signature generator tool like Publicate, you’ll be able to create a mobile responsive email signature.
When creating email signatures for employees within a company, the branding should remain intact across the board. However, the amount of information can differ from person to person.
For example, an employee who works remotely won’t have a direct office phone number like an employee who works in the office. So, the information can vary from person to person. Remember to adjust the information accordingly based on what’s needed in every case.
If you have social media that’s related to the business you do, it’s another place where you can connect with your audience. So, why not drive them there if they are already reading your emails? An optional addition to your email signature are social media icons.
Now, let’s take a look at some email signature design examples to inspire your own creation.
This email signature simply has your name, title, company name, phone number, and website link.
An email signature that includes social media links typically will put the icons at the bottom of the signature. Remember to add your name, title, phone number, and company logo, along with the icons.
If you have a lot of methods to get in touch with people, then a vertical signature could help lay them all out. Consider adding your photo on the left, your name title, and contact information options down the center block of the signature, and social media icons in a row vertically on the right.
Want readers to take the next step and perform an action like clicking on a banner? Add your marketing call-to-action within an eye-catching banner across the bottom of your email signature for “free” advertising.
For company email signatures, add your company logo along with the company’s color palette. Try to stick to two colors that are not too overwhelming and those that are easily visible on white backgrounds.
The best format for email signature comes along innately when you choose the best email signature generators. Here are some tools that are helpful and will save you time:
Publicate offers an online email signature generator (along with an email builder tool) so you can design professional email signatures without any coding or design background.
Choose from hundreds of templates, with an inline image editor plus easy export to your favorite email platform its easy to get started.
Wisestamp is an email signature generator that supports features like adding buttons, banners, and videos. You can create a global company design so every employee can have a similar look and feel.
Newoldstamp automates email signature generation and is very useful to marketing-related email signatures. It integrates with major email clients.
Signature.email is a drag-and-drop editor to create HTML email signatures. Like Publicate, you can choose from templates and customize them to your liking.
Making high quality email signatures is simple to do when you use an email generator that’s already set up with the best practices. To keep your email signature looking professional and clean, remember these points:
Don’t overfill all the space in your email signature section with content. You want it to be easy to read so that recipients can glance over to find the information they need.
Be sure to stay within the size guidelines for email signatures so they fit across screen sizes and don’t get too heavy to load.
Choose fonts that are legible and work across email providers, too. Web-based fonts are the way to go!
The best format for email signature is the one that includes all your necessary elements without overwhelming the reader. It should help to end your email on a professional and memorable note, rather than cause confusion.
Email signature generators like Publicate make creating professional, engaging, and informative email signatures as easy as sending an email itself!
You get to choose from hundreds of templates, customize how you wish using drag-and-drop functions, and rest assured knowing that your email will follow all best practices and render properly across all devices and platforms. Try it out for yourself by signing up!
