An email signature is essential and often neglected. It is a valuable space for communication and can be modified according to company updates, business events, and seasons.
A Gmail signature is different from a publication on social media, as it enters into the privacy of the recipient. Emails are direct and personal, and most people check their email almost daily. As a result, your recipient is more likely to interact and click on your signature than to comment on one of your social media posts.
The size and the design of your signature are decisive for the success of a good email signature. In this article, we will provide an overview of the importance of having a professional and effective Gmail signature. And if you really want to stand out, you can also choose to create animated Gif signatures.
We will also provide step-by-step instructions for setting up an email signature in Gmail, including how to access the Gmail signature settings and customize them.
How to create an optimized Gmail signature?
Few tips for optimizing your email signature on Gmail
- Keep it simple: Your signature should be easy to read and clear.
- Include important information: Your signature should include :
- your name,
- job title/ position /profession exercised,
- company name (if you are an entrepreneur, the name of your own company),
- phone number,
- company's website.
- If relevant, you can also include your company's physical address.
- Use a professional photo: If you decide to include a photo in your signature, make sure it is a professional headshot that is properly cropped and sized. But it is ultimately up to you whether you want to include a photo or not.
- Use signatures for different purposes, such as a more formal signature for business communication, and a more casual signature for personal emails.
- Test and optimize: Test different versions of your signature to see which one works best. Use analytics to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
- Be consistent: Make sure your signature fits across all of your accounts, including your email, social media, and website.
- Most important are the links. Your signature should be clickable and redirect to your website, social media accounts, other relevant online profiles, or a landing page of your choice.
- Add UTMs parameters to the links in your signature to track conversions from your emails.
⚠️Warning: I have always found it strange to put the email as a signature because you send it from an email... Do you see? It's downright redundant.
Size of an email signature
My advice: Not too big, Not too small! ^_^
Some interesting sizes to create an Email signature:
- Business card size: 400x200px
- Slightly larger square format, interesting to be seen both on mobile and from the computer: 400x400 px (or 200x200 px)
- Extended format, kinda like a banner: 600x200 px
- Format like a postcard effect: 600x400 px
By following these tips, you can create an effective and professional email signature on Gmail that helps you make a great first impression and makes it easy for people to get in touch with you.
Gmail Signatures: 5 different content and design
An email signature should reflect the image of your company, whether you are more traditional in your job or very creative and quirky. Which style suits you?
1 / Classical Gmail Signature
A traditional email signature looks like the front of a nice business card.Here are some rather classic models with comments:
👁️🗨️ This business card is very "corporate", sober, and effective for a marketing signature. However, not very eye-catching.
👁️🗨️ The yellow is quite warm and flashy. The person in the photo is smiling, and instinctively, we want to click on the card to see more.
👁️🗨️ Here is a signature with a slightly designer black-and-white effect. The photo is a bit overworked, and not very natural, but it's a particular style.
👁️🗨️ This signature is pretty cool, however, we don't know her functions or her logo.
2/ Event-specific Gmail Signature
Here's a great idea: instead of sending the traditional Happy New Year card, you can create an event email signature and leave it for 15 days (one week before and one week after, for example).
A list of events to create a useful signature:
- Merry Christmas
- Happy New Year
- Happy Chinese New Year
- Happy Valentine's Day
- Happy Mother's / Father's / Grandmother's / Grandfather's Day
- International Women's Day
It is of course necessary to adapt this list to your target and your culture.
💡You will notice that this signature is indeed a gif. If you want to create one very quickly, I advise you to go to Canva. You will have many templates to build your email signatures. If you want an animated signature, create one and choose to save it as a gif.
3/ Sales-focused Gmail Signature
If you have a discount, a promo, or a sale to highlight that redirects to a landing page: this is the ideal place! Your recipient will easily click away from a well-made, personalized email.
4/ Design-oriented Gmail Signature
Here is another slightly designer signature format. If you want to stand out, take the time to create a very nice signature, or hire a graphic designer. It won't be a waste of money because again an email signature is a very interesting place in terms of marketing. You will quickly get a return on investment!
⚠️ Elongated size. Very beautiful on the computer but be careful: this format will come out a little small on mobile. You must make a signature as relevant in computer format as in mobile format. To do this, do some tests by sending them to you.
5/ Inspirational Gmail Signature
You can also opt for artistic and inspiring signatures. Beautiful images with quotes always have great effects. You have to decide if this is compatible with your target.
How to set up an email signature in Gmail
Here are the steps to set up an email signature in Gmail:
- Log in to your Gmail account.
- Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the page, and then select "Settings."
- Scroll down to the "Signature" section, and then click the checkbox next to "Create a new signature"
- Name your signature.
- Import your jpg of the gif.
- To include a link you can use the option to insert a link (your image can be a link, or you can add a linked text.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Save Changes."
- Your new signature will now be automatically added to the bottom of all outgoing messages.
⚠️ It's important to test your signature on different email clients and devices, to make sure it looks good everywhere.
