IT Best Practice
Business Messaging - Email Signatures
It is very important for small businesses to have common (consistent) email signatures. Often, employees create their own email signatures, and they may be unprofessional and/or confusing to your customers. A (common) email signature allows your customers/clients the ability to identify you.
You can look at your company email signature as a digital business card.
Some of the best practices when creating a company email signature are to keep it simple and consistent. You can create communication problems with an email signature if you include items that may be considered a threat by security and client software (antivirus/malware protection, Microsoft Outlook, etc.) . You can find examples of corporate email signatures all over the internet but unlike many of those examples I recommend that you do not include any type of URL link, email return addresses, or graphics.
Some companies may include a link to their company website and social media accounts. You may not have problems with the majority or your customers, but links to URL’s can be blocked as a security threat to some email recipients. The same may also be applied to email addresses, The recipient will already have access to your return email address. There is no need to include it in your email signature. I also recommend that you avoid adding graphics to your email signature. Some companies like to place logo’s or even the users profile picture in their email signatures. Graphics are often blocked by default settings in some email clients. If your graphics are blocked it may look unprofessional to your recipients.
It is good to remember your company email signature is not the place to display an individual’s creative preference. It isn’t your identity that you are disseminating, it is your company’s identity. Find a design that you and your employees are happy with and go with it.
(Sample) Corporate Email Signatures and Privacy Disclaimers (Page Two): Link
Example: Business Email Signatures
