Email signature best practices.
What to include, what to leave out, design rules that actually work in 2026, and how to make your signature do something useful instead of just hanging at the bottom of your emails.
What to include, what to leave out, design rules that actually work in 2026, and how to make your signature do something useful instead of just hanging at the bottom of your emails.
A good email signature is short, professional, and useful. Include: your name, title, company, one contact method (phone or website), and an optional out-of-office routing URL. Skip the quote, the postcard-sized logo, the link to every social network you've ever joined. Keep total height under 6 lines. Use system fonts. Test it in dark mode.
That's the entire list. Anything else is bloat.
Stick to web-safe sans-serifs: Arial, Helvetica, or system-ui. Custom fonts will fall back to defaults in 90% of email clients, and you have no control over what those defaults look like. Trust the system.
Body size: 13-14px. Name: 15-16px and bold. Don't go bigger.
Pick one accent color (your brand color, usually) and use it for: your name, hyperlinks, and maybe a vertical divider. Everything else: dark gray (#1a1a1a or similar) for text, mid-gray (#6c7782) for secondary lines.
Two colors max. Three colors and your signature looks like a ransom note.
If you must include a logo, keep it small (60-80px wide) and simple. Avoid headshots — they look weird in dark mode, render poorly across email clients, and add visual weight that pushes your actual contact info further down.
Most signatures are vertical (lines stacked). For high-volume senders, consider horizontal/inline format — name and contact on one line, separated by middle-dots: "Glen Gomez-Meade · Property Manager · glen@example.com · (555) 123-4567". Saves space, scans fast.
Your signature is the second-most-clicked thing in your email after your CTA. Make it work for you. $9.99/month for active routing; free tier covers 5 dispatches/month. Three minutes to set up.
Set up your routing page →"Be the change you wish to see in the world." — Gandhi (probably). Skip it. Quotes feel earnest in person and try-hard in email. Your signature is professional metadata, not a Pinterest board.
If your reader is going to print the email, they will print it. The line doesn't stop them. It just signals you copied it from a 2008 corporate signature template.
Pronouns are great. Include them: "(she/her)" or "(they/them)" inline next to your name. Don't include a paragraph explaining what pronouns are or how to use them — that belongs in onboarding docs, not every email you send.
Pick the ONE social network where you're actually professionally active (usually LinkedIn). Include that one. Skip the rest. Five social icons makes your signature look like a sticker collection.
Some email clients don't render embedded calendars cleanly. If you book through Calendly or similar, include a short "Book a meeting" link instead of an embedded scheduler.
Strip everything down to the legal minimum: name, title, agency, phone, email. Skip the accent color. Skip the routing URL if your IT policy doesn't allow it.
You can include one extra line: a CTA like "Book a 15-min call" with a link. Keep it to one line. Don't turn your signature into a landing page.
Make sure your company name is clear at a glance — vendor relationships fail when the recipient can't immediately tell who you work for.
Your signature is your business card. Include: name, role descriptor ("Independent Consultant" / "Freelance Designer"), website, and one direct contact (phone or email). Plus the OOO routing URL when relevant.
Use our free email signature generator — four professional styles, six accent colors, optional OOO routing URL line, copy as HTML or rich text. Drop into Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail.