Skip to the result: build yours with the email signature generator.
What a signature is for
A signature tells the reader who you are and how to reach you, without making them search. It is a small business card at the end of each message, and it repeats on every email, so it should be short, clear and consistent.
What to include
| Always | Often useful | Usually leave out |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Phone number | Inspirational quotes |
| Job title | Website | Every social network you have |
| Company | One or two work social links | Several large images |
| One way to reply or call | A button for one action | Long legal text on every reply |
Design rules that hold up
- Keep it narrow. Stay under about 600 pixels wide, so it fits on a phone.
- Keep it short. Five to seven lines are enough.
- Use one safe font and one accent color. Arial, Verdana and Georgia are on every computer.
- Use a readable size. 12 to 14 pixels for the text, and a little larger for your name.
- Make it consistent. The whole team should use the same layout, colors and order of lines.
Images
- Host the image online and link to it with https. Files from your computer do not display for the people you write to.
- Use a square photo or logo of about 100 pixels shown size, with a file twice as large for sharp screens.
- Keep the file small, for example under 50 KB, so the email loads fast.
- Add a clear alt text, because many programs block images until the reader allows them.
- Never put your contact details inside an image. They cannot be copied, read aloud or clicked.
Prepare the picture with the image resizer and the image compressor. Use JPG or PNG, because some email programs do not show WebP.
Links and social profiles
Text links work everywhere and do not need images. Name the network in the link text, such as LinkedIn, and link to your own profile and not to the home page of the site. For quick chat contact, a WhatsApp link can go in the same line.
Legal and privacy lines
Some countries and industries expect company details, such as a registration number or a registered office, in business emails. Confidentiality notices are common too. Ask your legal or compliance team what is required for you, and keep the text small and at the bottom.
Accessibility and dark mode
- Choose a text color with strong contrast against white. Dark gray is better than light gray.
- Some email programs invert colors in dark mode. Test the signature on a dark background.
- Do not rely on color alone to carry meaning. Say what a link is.
Test before you roll it out
- Send the email to yourself and to a Gmail and an Outlook address.
- Open it on a phone and on a computer.
- Switch off images and see if the signature still makes sense.
- Click every link.
How to install it
- Gmail: follow the Gmail signature steps. Paste the finished signature in the settings.
- Outlook: follow the Outlook signature steps. The steps depend on the version.
- Apple Mail: in the Mail settings open Signatures, create one, and turn off the option to always match your default message font, so that the formatting is kept. Then paste.
- Thunderbird: attach the signature from an HTML file. Get the file and the code from the HTML signature generator.
Common mistakes
- A signature taller than the message.
- Many fonts, many colors and many icons.
- Pictures that are not hosted, so they show as a broken box.
- Only an image of a business card, with nothing to click or copy.
- Out of date titles and phone numbers on old signatures.
A simple plain text signature
Alex Morgan Marketing Manager | Northwind Studio T +1 555 010 1234 www.example.com | linkedin.com/in/alexmorgan
Use this as a fallback for programs that send plain text, and as a base for your designed signature.