We all see them, but do we really take the time to make them effective?

The email signature provides a few essential things:
– Your name, how you would like to be called.
– The name of your employer
– Your title
Mainly how someone can contact you.

This provides the same basic information that one would find on a business card.

Why not take this and make it more effective and usable.
An email signature should contain the above items including:
– One contact number
– One email address
– Url
– Tag Line
– Your mailing address (on the fence about this)

A few items I think can be dropped from your signature:
– Every phone number that has your name on the voicemail. I want to have one number that I can use to call you. While if I really need to speak with you I will call around, but if I you are in sales and I can not locate you, I am going to the next name. With tech like Google Voice, no need to have multiple contacts, make it simple. One phone number.

– Graphic versions of your contact information. I am not talking about a nice html touch, but the entire signature in one big graphic.
I feel this is the biggest no-no when it comes to an email signature. If I think that I am going to want to add you to my contact list or add information about you to a follow up list, the graphic forces me to re-type all of your informaiton. If this is going to be for sales and I enter your information wrong, no sale for you. Allow your customer to quickly copy your information from your email and paste it into a contact file or contact management system.

Keep the signature simple yet effective:
(NAME)
(JOB TITLE), (DEPARTMENT)
(COMPANY NAME)
(PHONE) (FAX)