2019 Professional Email Signatures - Best Practices & How To

Back in 2012, I got an email that included the following question about creating the perfect corporate email signature:

So I have been given the task of creating an email signature template for our company. I have researched ways to do this so that it is viewable from any device, web browser and email server. Also, to not come across as an attachment like this email probably did. I have been seeing HTML email signatures and embedding the file or image into the email. Do you know of way to make this viewable on all devices/browsers?

Name Redacted

They gave me an example of how it should look. I am recreating that here with my contact info to preserve anonymity.

Below is the how the information displays inline when coded with HTML.

Christopher M. Handy
Marketing Professional
817.601.5253 https://www.closedwon.com

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.

So I answered him with a version of this blog post.

Here is code for that with three columns you could use.

<div style="float: left; width: 33%;">
<img alt="logo 158" src="/content/images/wordpress/2018/01/closedwon-450-1024x701.png" width="300" />
</div>
<div style="float: left; width: 33%;">
<p>Christopher M. Handy</br>Marketing Professional</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="ClosedWon.com" href="https://www.closedwon.com" target="_blank">https://www.closedwon.com</a></li>
<li>817.601.5253</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="float: right; width: 33%;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.</span>
</div>

Depending on your mail client, you may not be able to create HTML signatures for use in your emails.

Actually your emails will appear differently in just about everyone’s email box depending on the email client they use.

That’s right. Outlook, Apple Mail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail all have different viewing styles. Formatting your email signature to be perfect for all these clients is not easy, and in the end is probably not necessary for day to day communication.

When creating marketing-focused emails, It is best to use a professional service with tried and true formatting techniques, and you won’t be sending these from your Outlook either. 2018 Update: consider plain-text like you’ll see below for marketing emails regardless of communication method, marketing, sales, whatever.

Quick Aside

This is day to day communication. And you would like for people to be able to read the email on any client, and on any device for that matter.

Think about it. Where do you consume most of your email?

Seriously…. Stop and think for a minute about where you read your email.

Do you light a candle, grab a hot cup of cocoa and sit down to a nicely scheduled email reading session every day?

Get real.

You read your email on your phone like everybody else. Do you care how much spacing is between the phone number and the logo?

NO!

You have hundreds (if not thousands) of other emails to churn through while you are at it.

The important things for you are :

Whether or not the phone number link works to call the person back.
That you do not have to pinch and zoom around to read the darn thing?
That you understand the point to be made and any actions that need to be taken.

So. Back to properly formatting the perfect email signature.

You can try my code from above, or if you want to get really deep into the coding side of things, you can read the internet for more on formatting your HTML code.

OR you can do what I do. Zero Text Formatting. No fluff. Just links.

Do you want to know the single biggest way you can improve your email signature?

My email signature should save me and my recipient’s time and energy.
My email signature should generate business development meetings for me.

You, just now.

Chris Handy
ClosedWon.com

1. Send me an instant message
2. Schedule a meeting on my calendar
3. Connect with me on LinkedIn

I can reliably count on people to find their way to the site when i hyperlink our domain name. Not including titles or extra information doesn’t distract from the brand.

I don’t actually want phone unscheduled calls in 2019. Can you send me a chat if you want to talk now or just an email if you want to talk but not right now.

Want to meet? Grab a time. I’m an open book for 15 minute slots. Just make sure to tell me what you would like to discuss in the process (if I don’t already know) and we are golden.

and while you’re here… connect with me on LinkedIn. Moving conversations and relationships out of email only and extending them to LinkedIn is a great way to keep in touch and its a form of permission to contact prospects again even when email doesn’t feel right.

Interested in learning more about how to create stellar marketing? Want to know more about the most effective ways to space your emoticons for maximum results? (That one was a joke.) Read about the must haves for driving traffic and leads to your site with our free guide to B2B marketing here.