Images in Email Signature: Pros and Cons

1. Images in signature: pros
2. When it’s not a good idea: cons
3. Summary

An email signature is a kind of must-have for business people who mail a lot. It is not the issue of good manners and politeness only, but a powerful marketing tool to promote a company with every letter. However, when some information without any doubt has to be included in it, an image in the signature is something to discuss. So let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using pictures for the email signature.

Images in signature: pros

What captures your attention first when you see the information on the screen? Probably yes, underlined bold text or an image. This also works for a picture in a signature. When you make the signature with an image, you use an anchor to attract a reader. Whether it is your photo or the company’s logotype - it works the same way: it visualizes, it grabs the mind, it sells.

And it’s not some miracle or a trick: the majority of people are visual, so that’s the nature of perception.

However, let’s go step by step to understand why you need to add a picture to the email signature.

• If it’s a logotype, it contributes to brand recognition. The image in a signature is a way to remind a person about your company. When you insert pictures for your email signature, you advertise your business one more time - not in an obsessive way but gently, without concentrating on it. Later on, a person even may not notice from where he or she remembers your logo, but probably it will stay in mind.
• It builds intimacy. In case you create a signature with an image of yourself, you go even further. With the internet and mass communication, it becomes more and more difficult to build intimacy with a reader, so people do not have a feeling of a person behind signs and computer windows.The picture in the signature helps to retain that feeling of conversation; it builds an intimate atmosphere like you are talking personally to a reader. Especially when you do not know a person in real life, it’s better not to hide a face sending a message to him or her.

• It sells. Especially when you pay much attention to how to make a signature with an image and combine all elements in a proper way. Both with links to your social media or corporate website, it’s a powerful marketing tool. Either you sell a brand or yourself as a brand, that works.
• It attracts. People glance at text not reading it for a long time but just picking up some sentences that seem to be interesting. That’s also not a secret; it is a result of information overload. Therefore, if you want to pay particular attention to some point, just add a picture - a signature will work as an anchor.
• It’s aesthetic. No doubt, everything can be decorated in a proper way to look nice. However, letters themselves are not so attractive as photos. An email signature with a picture is more artful than a usual one. Moreover, it may force a wow-effect: someone sees your image in signature and wows: how it was done?

When it’s not a good idea: cons

Do you create a signature image after everything listed above? Stop for a while to notice that nothing is perfect, and even such a great thing as the picture signature has its disadvantages.

What are they?

• Some email services do not support images. Sad but true. We live in the computer era, but such nonsense still exists - an image in the signature may become a source of spam or virus, so some services automatically reject it or send it as an attachment. For instance, a grey cross instead of a picture in a signature is a default option in Outlook. So if the reader did not fix that, the argument about aesthetics does not work.
• Email signature with picture takes more bites than the usual one. Some people complain that the picture signature is too heavy, so it’s better to reduce it. However, taking into account the opportunities guaranteed by email services, it sounds not so convincing.
• When you add a picture to your email signature and send many letters in one branch, it may look like a long tail of the copied text. Some people become crazy while scrolling down.

Summary

So how to conclude - to create a signature with an image or not? You should find your answer. As for me, a picture in the signature is a nice way to stay a human, not a list of bites. Many people become crazy about it while for others it’s a sign of good manners.

Trying to predict the future, I would say that service is developing, and images for email signatures will not be indexed as something suspicious. Moreover, with the rapid growth of computer technologies people look for more opportunities to remain themselves in real life, and the principle of social media profiles - picture and descriptions - permeate into everything.

Therefore, a logo - if you are a small business - or your portrait (for corporations) sounds like a nice trend.

And if you would like to create a signature image - just follow our link to do that easily and professionally.