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Do's and Don'ts of Email Signatures.  

Do’s and Don’ts of Email Signatures

February 2, 2022

written by
Rex Vokey

The other day I vainly scrolled left and right attempting to read an email in which the sender had embedded a full-size image (WHY?). It made me think about all of the ways email formatting goes wrong, all of the ways we try to fix it, and some of the things we do with good intentions that break it.

So here’s one of these things I think you should know about: email signatures.

gotta get that brand out there!

An email signature is a great way for those you converse with to have all of your contact info so they can reach you.  But it’s also a great way to establish and reinforce your brand presence.  Properly designed and developed, an email signature can really help make a better overall experience.

So, let’s get right to it.  Here are a few things you shouldn’t do, and a few things you should do!

don’t:

  • don’t clutter it up with information overload. We don’t need 5 phone numbers or a thousand MD, PhD, RN, MSA, ETA, PSA letters at the bottom.
  • don’t add wide images (or wide anything!) – it’ll make the whole email difficult to read. Just because it looks nice on your screen doesn’t mean it does for anyone else.
  • don’t get fancy with fonts – comic sans still sucks, these aren’t something you can easily embed, and they cost money to license.

do:

  • keep the layout neat, and only include necessary information.
  • use HTML tables to properly align elements – be sure to keep the width limited. Get a dev to help you if you need it.
  • if including images, such as a logo, host it someplace reliable and link to that image – don’t attach it to the email.

There are lots of other potential issues and possibilities with email signatures, but these are a few tips that’ll help get you on your way.