Common Mistakes Made with Email Signatures

Every time you look at your email signature or any marketing piece for that matter you should always ask yourself how can I make that look better.  Does your email signature make your group say WOW!

Here are some common mistakes I see and how you can make your email signature better:

1. No hyperlinks. Most of your web traffic will come from your email signature.  People are already online when checking email, why not take them to your website or multiple pages within your website.  See my other post on creating hyperlinks in email signatures.
2. Email signature too long. Sometimes the abbreviated version is better for people who you keep in contact on a regular basis.  If someone prints out a correspondence and more than half of the communication is email signature then you have a problem.
3. Always including the email signature. Replies on email messages should not contain them.  Just my personal opinion.  If you inserted the long or short in the origination of the conversation then why include it again.  Recipients can easily scroll down and retrieve your information.  Overkill of the signatures can be dangerous.
4. No physical address. Can SPAM Act of 2003 says all commercial emails must include a physical address.  Will the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) track down an agent who sends out 1000 per month?  I can’t say yes or no but we must include it anyway to avoid potential problems.
5. No fax number. Yes. there are some people that still use fax machines.  Be sure to include the fax number on the email sig because if I want to send you a contract right now but I can’t find your fax number anywhere we have a probelm.  Put it on the long sig.
6. Insert the / character (example 555/555/5555). Those of you that have smartphones and try to dial  out directly from emails that insert the / character now have to write your phone number down and then call instead of tapping the link on the phone.  It is just a common courtesy to do this for others who you want to call you.  Dashes and periods are fine for differentiating prefixes.