You may have seen those last few lines of an email, the ones that tell
you all you need to know, and probably a lot more, about the sender. The
email signature is one of those things that most of us just throw
together without thinking what its purpose is and what we should be doing
with it.
The main purpose of any signature is to communicate your contact details
to the end recipient. Simple.
Any artistic styling or lyrical flourish imposed on the signature is
secondary and shouldn't detract from the main goal, communication.
There is a multitude of data that could be attached to your email
signature from the basic necessities such as your name and main contact
number through items such as your online details (twitter, website etc)
to totally superfluous items such as famous quotes, lines from favourite
movies or other bits of wisdom that the sender feels the need to impart.
It is this multitude of options where most email signatures fall down,
too much info, too busy in design or totally irrelevant data. What might
come across as glitzy or humorous the first time can soon get irritating.
So the aim is to impart the necessary details in the fewest words or
pictures, to keep it simple.
The necessary
There are only really a few details that are essential for an email
signature. Name - Whether that's your full name of your first name is up
to you and will depend on who it's aimed at. Your main route of contact.
Most likely your daytime phone number but could be a return email address
if most of your business is conducted in an online environment. The thing
is about an email address is, is it necessary? They have your email
address, you just sent them an email. Most people include it anyway for
clarity but it's a personal choice.
The 'Should haves'
Secondary contact details such as a mobile phone number or another phone
number that can be used when you're not contactable on your main number.
Other routes of contact such as a fax number if you use one. The idea is
to provide alternative to your main contact route not to provide every
possible means for someone to contact you day or night regardless of
where you are or what you're doing. Address, this is a tricky one but
again only include it if someone is likely to need it so they can post
something or drop in.
The superfluous
Other methods of contact or showcasing such as Twitter feeds, Facebook
pages, websites. Unless these are directly useful to the recipient of the
email then they're not really necessary. Clever or famous quotes or movie
lines. These may help the recipient to form a view of your personality or
humour but do you really want them to. Unless you're going to change it
every time then it's going to become tiresome pretty quickly. A chapters
worth of legalese at the end, why? Unless it's a legal requirement in the
country of origin then leave it out.
The please don'ts
The only real no-no's really come down to the style and format of the
signature. Keep is simple, don't use a multitude of font styles, sizes or
different colours for each individual bit of information. The idea is to
communicate your contact info, not give people a headache.
To re-iterate, the main purpose of an email signature is to impart the
necessary information for the receiver to be able to contact you. Give
them what they need and keep is simple.