15 carelessEmail Signature

MISTAKES(that we’re all guilty of)

The Dalai Lama once said:

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them with ugly

email signatures.”

The Dalai Lama once said:

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them with ugly

email signatures.”

Just kidding, he never said that.

Gotcha.

Anyway, here’s a factthat is true:

Anyway, here’s a factthat is true:

The average worker sends 41 emails per day.

The average worker sends 41 emails per day.

(That’s over 1,000 emails per month!)

Anyway, here’s a factthat is true:

And guess how many of those 1,000+ emails per person have

email signatures?

Every. Single. One.

Every. Single. One.

Every. Single. One.

Every. Single. One.(At least for people who have an email signature)

So shouldn’t we make sure we’re not making any

foolish mistakes?

Well, we are.

In fact,

39% of people are making

the #1 mistake

in email signatures …

They include their email address in their email signature.

They include their email address in their email signature.

Huh?

They include their email address in their email signature.

Huh?That’s like introducing yourself to a stranger, then introducing yourself

again before you leave.

They include their email address in their email signature.

Huh?That’s like introducing yourself to a stranger, then introducing yourself

again before you leave.

It doesn’t make any sense.

But that’s only 1 mistake!

There are 14 others

Are you making any of them?

1

Including your email addressThis is the ultimate insult. You might as well say:

p.s. Just in case you’re totally oblivious to how email works, here is my email address at the bottom of my email from the email address you just received this email from.

Thanks, Captain Redundancy

2

Including a fax numberNo, most people aren’t still living in 1994 and sending faxes.

(Or 1894 and riding horses to work)

3

“Sent from my iPhone”Which also means...

4

Not promoting your website in a unique wayNoah Kagan, CEO at SumoMe, uses

this unique email signature:

So far his signature has generated hundreds of downloads.

(notice how it’s not just a boring link to his website)

5

Listing every social media profile

Newsflash: No one is going to click every single social media

icon.

So if this is you:

Start focusing on the few accounts that matter most to

growing your business or building your personal brand.

Wait!But what if you want to see the social media profiles for the

person who just emailed you?

Wait!Try this free tool for

Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail that automatically shows you

them inside your inbox.

Learn More

But what if you want to see the social media profiles for the person who just emailed you?

6

Using a LARGE image file that takes forever to load

If you use a 15 megabyte picture in your email signature, your recipient will reminisce to their dial-up internet days because your email is loading so dang slow.

7

Copying and pasting an imageinto your signature

By pasting an image into your signature, it will appear as an attachment, versus embedded in the signature.

8

Not including your phone number

There are two professional ways to get in touch with people:

1.2.

EmailPhone

They obviously have the first. Don’t forget the second.

9

Forgetting an international prefix (if you deal with international clients)

If you work with international folks, don’t forget the prefix for your country’s code.

For example in the United States: +1 (555) 123 - 4567

Or in Brazil: +55 (555) 123 - 4567

10

Using a corny quoteOh my gosh, how inspiring …

… but please keep the inspirational quotes on Pinterest and Tumblr, not in email signatures.

11

Colored, large, or weird fontRe: email sig

Yeah you’re right, I should probably fix my signature.

--

Scott TousleyGrowth marketer(555) 555 - 5555scott.tousley@hubspot.com

Have you seen our latest product, the FREE HubSpot CRM?!

12

Sloppily inserting the full hyperlinks to your website or social media accounts

--Willy WrongACME Corp(555) 123 - 4567website: http://www.acmecorp.nettwitter: http://www.twitter.com/willywronglinkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/willywrong

--Rachel RightACME Corp(555) 123 - 4567www.acmecorp.com Twitter | Linkedin

13

Including every service you provide

14

Using an entire email image as your signature

Including an image, such as your face or a logo, is risky because it may not work:

But having your entire signature as an image is just foolish.

15

Not testing your signature in multiple email clients

Just because it works in Gmail, doesn’t mean it works in Outlook.

(test in all of them)

These 15 mistakesare only for email signatures.

These 15 mistakesare only for email signatures.

But email signatures are just ONE element of proper email etiquette.

Discover the other email etiquette tips

used byhighly effective people.

Learn More