How To Make An Email Signature And What To Include

Would you like to come across as more professional, trustworthy, and reassuring in your emails? Did you know that using an email signature can help you do just that?

While email signatures are considered the ‘norm’ in the corporate world, I still see a lot of freelancers and business owners who aren’t making use of them. Setting up an email signature can take just a few minutes of your time but brings additional benefits to your business in so many ways, it’s worth taking that time to create your email signature today.

What is an email signature?

An email signature is a section of text at the bottom of your email that has your name, role and any other details you’d like to provide. You can create this in your email settings so that every time you create or reply to an email, your signature is added automatically.

What are the benefits of using an email signature?

An email signature acts as your official sign-off to your email – much like signing a handwritten letter. It’s therefore perceived as being authentically from you. This adds reassurance to your email, professionalism and trustworthiness and generally makes your audience feel more comfortable and confident when emailing you.

You can also use your signature to set boundaries with your clients by informing them of your working hours and when you will respond, alert them to any upcoming holidays or times you’ll be away from your business and give an additional point of contact if needed.

How can I create my email signature in Outlook?

Sign into your Outlook account and go to Settings > View all Outlook Settings.

Select Mail > Compose and reply and under Email Signature you’ll find a text box with formatting options to enter the text you want to appear as your email signature.

Once you’re happy with the text, tick the box that says Automatically include my signature on new messages I compose and the box for Automatically include my signature on messages I forward or reply to.

Click Save and it’s done!

Can I create an email signature on Gmail?

Yes, of course! Sign into your Gmail account, head over to Settings and See all settings.

In the General tab you’ll see the Signature section, click Create New.

Enter a name for your signature template and click Create.

Now you can add your desired text and use the formatting options to get your signature just how you want it.

When you’re happy with your signature, click Save Changes at the bottom of the window.

Go back to the General tab of Settings, and under the Signature box, make sure you select the name of your signature template under both the For new emails use and On reply/forward use boxes to use your signature automatically.

Make sure you keep your email signature updated

When you’re using your email signature to add working hours, etc do make sure you keep it updated when you’re away for holidays, etc. It can be easy to forget but for an email signature to be trustworthy the information in it must be accurate.

I’m often asked if it’s worth adding photos, images, links, etc to an email signature. I think the ‘keep it simple’ approach works best here because emails can display differently according to the device, screen size and the email client the recipient is using. A signature that can look stunning at your end could look very different at their end!

If you don’t use an email signature yet, why not take five minutes right now to go and set one up? Go on, you won’t regret it!