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How to compose & use an email signature
What is a signature?
A signature is some text that appears at the end of any
email messages you send. You could include your name, work address, home address,
website address, marketing message or any other information you would like on
your emails.
You can get your email software to add a signature at the
end of each message.
 | This can save you time and is easy to set up |
| It lets you add routine contact details or a promotional
message |
| You can use the signature facility creatively to call
up blocks of routine text. |
| You can have multiple emails to suit formal, business or
personal contexts. |
| You have some control over when the signature is added.
For example you can arrange for it to be omitted when clicking to reply to
someone - on the grounds that they already know who you are. |
But
| The email signature is not a duplicate of your
handwritten signature or a legally binding mark, although the technology for
the signature to perform both functions exists. |
| The Internet-based email services, such as Hotmail, offer signatures but
not all the flexibility mentioned above. |
So how do you add new ones or
change the signature?
Using MS Outlook or Outlook Express
| Go to Tools and select Options. |
| Then click on the mail Format tab. |
| At the bottom you find the 'signature picker'
which gives access to the form where you can add, change or delete signatures. |
| When you have prepared the signature, save it with a
sensible name like 'formal', 'family' or 'business'. |
| You can tell Outlook to make one signature the
default one to use. |
To pick a signature when composing an email
| Go to Insert and pick Signature. |
| Pick the signature to use if you have several. |
| You can edit or delete a signature once it is inserted. (But not for
Internet email accounts where it is added to every mail once you define
it.) |
| You can automate the rules for adding signatures
elsewhere in the options. |
What makes a good signature?
| Separate your signature from the body of your message
with a line. |
| Limit it to 5 lines and confine any mini-commercial to
1 line. |
| No line should be wider than the typical mail window of 50-80
characters. |
| Make your name and email address clickable. You can usually
do this by pressing carriage return after the address |
| Think hard before disclosing real information like your phone number and address.
Do you want everyone to get this information when you email them? |
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