Are you in the process of creating an email signature for your business or for yourself as an individual? Have you been wondering what to include in that email signature? If yes, then this article will help you. At Crossware, we specialize in the provision of email signature solutions for businesses large and small. We fully understand how important it is to turn ordinary emails into engaging tools that can help your business achieve the growth that it is looking for. But how should you format an email signature?
How to format an email signature
A well-crafted email signature promotes engagement and gives your brand the chance to promote itself in a variety of ways. The following are some of the things that you need to include in your company’s email signature;
Your name and surname
It goes without saying that the people to whom you are sending your emails need to know who they are communicating with. It’s important, therefore, for you to make sure that the emails that you send out include your full name. That is usually the first thing that the recipient should see when they open your email.
Your job title
Your job title should also be included in your email signature. Who are you within your organization? What department do you work for? This information is relevant in that it gives your emails credibility. People often discard or ignore emails because they think they are not important. Adding your job title and your role within your company adds weight to your message.
A logo of your company
The most professional-looking email signatures are ones that include company logos. Think of your log as representative of your brand. It’s how people can easily identify you. It’s also how you can make it easy for people receiving your email to tell who the message is from.
Logos need to be professionally crafted; otherwise, they run the risk of becoming a disservice to your brand. There are so many bogus emails floating around out there that people have become rather wary. It’s the reason why you need to a professional tool, such as Crossware, to come up with consistent and professional email signatures across your entire business.
Your company’s name
You should also include your company’s name in your email signature. However, it’s worth pointing out that this particular bit of information is optional if you have a logo as part of the signature. However, if there is no logo, then you definitely need to make sure that people who receive your emails know the name of the company that they are dealing with.
Phone and fax number
Email signatures are not just there because they make your emails look good and professional. At the core of their existence is the functional aspect. Your email signature serves as a tool that gives the people that you are interacting with additional information that they need about your business.
This information allows them to get in touch with you, or to further explore your business and its offerings. One thing that you need to include in your email signature is your phone number. This can be your fixed line number or your mobile phone number.
If your business is big, then it will have multiple phone numbers. You can list them, along with the departments to which they are assigned. That way, a person contacting your business will know the right number to use for their query.
You should also include your fax number as part of your email signature. Fax is no longer used as much as it was a while ago, but it remains an important tool for business around the world. Including it allows people to scan and send you documents.
Your company’s address
All email signatures need to have your company’s address. Where is your business physically located? Including your business address is part of the process of making sure that your email signature looks as professional as is possible.
Email address
That’s another important component of a well crafted email signature. Remember what we have just talked about in the above section; you want to give the people as many alternative contact options as is possible.
You website’s URL
Websites are representatives of brands in the digital world. They are a huge part of most businesses today. As such, one thing that you need to include in your email signature is your website’s URL. Make sure that it is clickable and that it directs people to your home page or to another relevant page.
Social media icons
Social media has grown to become one of the biggest parts of every business’ marketing strategy. Here we are talking about platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and YouTube. These platforms are where people spend most of their time in today’s environment.
Your email signature needs to include your social media links. We have previously given you information on how to add social media icons to your email signature. The process is pretty straightforward when doing it yourself.
One thing that we have noticed is that people create Facebook, YouTube and other pages for their businesses, only to ignore them after a short while. If you do this, you will be doing yourself a disservice. Your social media presence needs to be vibrant.
That’s the only way that you are going to foster engagement between the people that you are targeting and your brand. So, links to your social media pages that you include in your email signatures need to point to pages that have relevant and up to date content.
Email disclaimer
You should also have a disclaimer in your email signature. That’s actually a legal requirement in some jurisdictions. We have previously written on how to add email disclaimers in Office 365. Adding a disclaimer is a way of protecting your business, in case the email lands in the wrong hands.
Summary
In this article, we focused on providing information on how to format an email signature. We noted that email signatures are an important tool in business. In terms of format, an email signature needs to have such things as your name, your company’s name, a logo, your contact details and a disclaimer.
Need to create professional email signatures for your business? Why don’t you try out Crossware? We provide a wide range of email signature solutions for businesses large and small. We specialize in Office 365, Microsoft exchange and HCL Domino.
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