Email Signature Best Practices
A professional email signature identifies the sender, makes contact details easy to find and stays readable across major email clients. Begin with the information a recipient actually needs.
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Lead with your name, actual job title and company. Follow with a useful contact route and company website. A sales manager may need a direct line; a support desk may be better served by a shared number. Give the name the strongest visual weight, then the role and organisation.
What to leave out
Remove outdated social accounts, several competing numbers, long slogans, decorative quotations and personal details that should stay private. A compact signature remains clearer in replies and on phones.
Company and contact details
Use the business name people recognise. Include an office address when visitors, deliveries or policy make it useful; otherwise a city may be enough. Link a short website label to the correct HTTPS URL. Test telephone and email links after installation.
Logos and headshots
A logo supports shared identity. A real, approved headshot can help relationship-led work. Keep either image smaller than the key text. Host images at public HTTPS URLs and provide meaningful alt text when an image conveys information. The size guide gives practical ranges.
Width, image dimensions and banners
Many signatures work around 320–600 CSS pixels wide, but content and client determine the final width. A logo around 100–220 pixels wide or a headshot around 64–120 pixels square is a useful starting point. Export about twice the display dimensions for high-density screens, then compress. Keep campaign banners within the signature width, give them a clear destination and avoid pushing contact details out of view.
Fonts, sizes and colours
Use widely available fonts such as Arial, Georgia, Verdana or Tahoma with fallbacks. Body text around 12–14 CSS pixels is a practical starting point; names can be larger. Check smaller disclaimers on a phone. Use brand colour for emphasis and ensure links and pale text have enough contrast.
Mobile readability and accessibility
Avoid fixed wide layouts and long unbreakable lines. Check the reading order without images and on a narrow screen. Descriptive link text, useful alt text and adequate contrast help recipients who cannot see the visual design.
Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail
Classic Outlook can adjust spacing and image scaling. Gmail may alter pasted markup; Apple Mail can substitute its default font. Small table layouts and inline styles usually travel better than complex website CSS. Use the Outlook and Gmail guides for installation, and read the HTML guide for the underlying markup.
Image hosting and legal text
Use absolute public HTTPS image URLs, not local file paths or private drive links. The signature must remain useful if recipients block images. Add legal text only when your organisation needs it, with approved wording after the useful contact details.
Common mistakes
Watch for oversized logos, tiny grey text, broken destinations, too many social icons, a banner without a clear purpose and HTML copied from a word processor. A browser preview alone does not prove the sent message will look the same.
Test before rollout
Send a new message, reply and forward from the installed account. Open them in relevant desktop and mobile inboxes. Check links, image loading, wrapping, dark backgrounds and quoted text. For a company, settle an approved template, review employee exceptions and then distribute. See team management and available templates.
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Social links
Include only active profiles relevant to the work. LinkedIn may help a consultant; a current listing profile may help a property agent. Two purposeful links are easier to scan than a long icon row. Give icon-only links accessible labels.