How to make a professional email signature
A good signature tells people who you are and how to reach you in one glance, and looks right everywhere: on a computer, on a phone, in Gmail and in Outlook. Here is how to make one.
What to include
Keep it short: four to six lines is plenty.
- Your name.
- Your job title and company.
- One or two ways to reach you (phone, website).
- Optional: a small photo or logo.
- Optional: one line such as an address or a booking link.
Design tips that work everywhere
Use one accent color and a normal font such as Arial; special fonts are replaced by the reader's app. Keep pictures small (a logo under 200 pixels wide) and avoid putting important text inside images, because many apps block pictures until the reader allows them.
Make it phone-friendly: one column, links that are easy to tap, and no wide tables. Outlook for Windows is the strictest app, so test your signature there if your clients use it.
Mistakes to avoid
Long quotes, many social icons, huge banners, several colors and legal disclaimers longer than the email itself all make a signature look cluttered. Also avoid a signature that is only one picture: it may not show at all, and nobody can copy your phone number from it.
Set it up step by step
Most email apps have a signature setting. In NotiSpark it takes about a minute.
- Open Settings, then Signature.
- Choose Ready-made design and pick one of the seven designs.
- Type your details, add a photo or logo and choose a color.
- Preview it as on a computer and on a phone, then Save.
- Choose which accounts use it. Already have an HTML signature? Use Import HTML file instead.
Examples that work
A simple signature might read: Maria Silva, Sales Manager, Bright Ideas Ltd, +1 555 0142, brightideas.example. Five lines, no pictures, and it looks the same in every app.
A designed signature adds a small round photo or logo on the left, the name in bold, the title in gray and the company in your brand color, with contact details below. On a phone the picture moves above the text. NotiSpark's ready-made designs work this way.
Photos, logos and pictures
Pictures make a signature friendlier but cause most problems. Many apps block pictures from senders they don't know, so the text must make sense without them. Keep the file small, ideally under 50 KB, and use PNG or JPG; some apps, including Outlook for Windows, may not show newer formats such as WebP.
If your logo is hosted on your website, check that its address uses https and won't change. A logo embedded in the email always shows, but makes every email a little larger.
Different signatures for different situations
Many people use a full signature for new emails and a short one (just name and phone) for replies, so long threads stay tidy. If you have several email accounts, give each its own signature, for example a business one and a personal one.
Keep the signature up to date: a wrong phone number or old job title looks careless. Review it whenever your details change.
Questions and answers
Should I add social media icons?
Only the one or two that matter for your work, such as LinkedIn. A row of icons adds clutter and pictures that may be blocked.
Why does my signature look broken in Outlook?
Outlook for Windows uses Word to show emails and ignores many modern layout features. Signatures built with simple tables, like NotiSpark's designs, avoid this.
Can I use the same signature on my phone?
Yes. In NotiSpark you can import the same HTML signature on the phone, and the ready-made designs switch to one column on small screens.