Your email signature appears at the bottom of every email you send — dozens, sometimes hundreds, of times per week. Yet most professionals treat it as an afterthought. A well-crafted email signature is one of the simplest ways to build credibility, reinforce your brand, and make it easy for people to reach you.
Here are the 10 best practices that separate professional email signatures from forgettable ones.
1. Keep It to 3–4 Lines of Information
A great email signature is concise. Stick to the essentials: your name, title, company, phone number, and one or two relevant links. Nobody reads a signature that's longer than the email itself.
Include: Name, title, company, phone, website
Skip: Inspirational quotes, lengthy disclaimers (unless legally required), multiple addresses
2. Use a Professional Headshot
Adding a photo to your email signature personalises every email and helps recipients put a face to the name. This is especially important for client-facing roles — real estate agents, consultants, account managers, and executives.
Use a high-quality, recent photo with a clean background. A professional headshot doesn't need to be formal — just polished.
3. Include Your Company Logo
Brand recognition happens through repetition. Every email you send is an opportunity to reinforce your company's visual identity. Include your logo in a reasonable size — 80–150px wide is the sweet spot.
4. Make Your Phone Number Clickable
Over 60% of emails are now opened on mobile devices. A clickable phone number (using tel: links) lets mobile users call you with a single tap. This small detail dramatically improves accessibility.
5. Limit Social Media Icons to 3–4
Include only the social platforms that are relevant to your professional life. For most people, that's LinkedIn and perhaps one or two others (Twitter/X, Instagram, or GitHub depending on your industry). A wall of 8 social icons looks cluttered and dilutes your message.
6. Use Web-Hosted Images, Not Embedded
Embedded images (base64 or attached files) increase email size, trigger spam filters, and often display as broken attachments. Always use images hosted on a web server with https:// URLs. All EmailSignatures.au templates use hosted images for maximum reliability.
7. Test Across Email Clients
What looks perfect in Gmail might break in Outlook or Apple Mail. Email clients render HTML differently, and some strip out CSS styles entirely. Test your signature in:
- Gmail (web and mobile app)
- Outlook Desktop (Windows and Mac)
- Outlook Web / Microsoft 365
- Apple Mail (Mac and iOS)
- Your phone's default email app
8. Use a Consistent Design Across Your Team
If you're part of a team, standardise your email signatures. Consistent formatting, colours, and layout across all staff creates a cohesive brand experience for clients. It also looks more professional than everyone using a different style.
💡 Tip: Our Professional and Executive templates are designed for team consistency — same template, different details for each person.
9. Add a Call-to-Action
Turn your email signature into a marketing asset. Add a single, clear CTA — "Book a Meeting", "Visit Our Website", "Download Our Report", or "View Latest Listings". A well-placed CTA button can drive meaningful traffic and conversions.
10. Include Legal Requirements (Australia)
Australian businesses should consider including:
- ABN — Required on business correspondence
- ACN — For registered companies
- Licence numbers — Real estate agents, financial advisers, builders
- Professional registration — AHPRA for health practitioners, practising certificates for lawyers
- Confidentiality disclaimers — Standard for legal and financial communications
The Bottom Line
A professional email signature takes minutes to set up but works for you in every email you send. Keep it clean, on-brand, and tested — and remember that less is almost always more.