Personal Email Signature Examples, Key Benefits & Tips

Most people understand the importance of having a strong professional signature for their work or business emails. However, the same reasons that make professional signatures so important hold for a personal email signature as well.

Whether you’re reaching out to someone new or want to look like a more credible person, having a well-designed email signature for a personal email address can be very useful in a variety of situations.

In this guide, let’s explore what is a personal signature in an email, reasons why they’re useful, and some examples of personal email signatures you can use as inspiration.

What is a personal email signature?

A personal email signature is a block of text or visual elements that appears at the end of your emails. Effectively, it enhances the basic sign off, providing more relevant details for the email recipients to help them understand who you are, how to reach you, and what you do.

Many personal email signature examples also include personalization elements, such as inspirational quotes or photos, to show a bit more of the person behind the email address and what they’re like.

Just like business cards, the best personal email signatures offer an efficient way to share key details in just a few seconds, while also forming a stronger connection with the person you’re emailing.

Key benefits of a personal email signature

Effective personal email signatures come with a range of advantages, some more obvious than others. Let’s explore the main reasons you should consider using it below.

Professionalism

Whether you’re sending a business or personal email, you always want to remain professional and represent yourself well. Especially, since the line between personal and professional email correspondence can often become blurred, with people reaching out to your personal email with a variety of inquiries.

When you have a well-designed personal signature for email, you can always make a positive first impression, and provide more context, which will not only nurture stronger connections but might lead to additional opportunities as well.

Branding

Another key benefit of a personal email signature is the opportunity to establish a personal brand and connect your personality with what you do or your expertise. By showcasing your interests, skills, or experience, you can become more associated with the area you operate in, helping raise your recognizability and leading to new paths for growth.

Every time you receive or send an email, your email signature will act as a banner informing the other person of who you are, firmly associating your name with what you can offer through essential branding elements.

Efficiency

One of the biggest time wasters when it comes to email is the back and forth of sharing various details. Whether it’s scheduling an appointment, sharing your phone number and office address, or even providing social media pages and relevant links, these details can result in countless emails that could have been avoided.

But if you could anticipate the common needs of the people you’re communicating with and provide those details in your signature, you could save everyone a lot of time and help move the email communication forward much faster.

Networking

Even if you’re not actively trying to network with your personal email, communications related to your professional life will inevitably happen from time to time. And when they do, you’ll want to make sure that you provide the relevant details that could help grow your network and following, growing your online presence in the process.

When it comes to email signature examples, personal emails don’t get as much attention in terms of networking, but they can be just as effective for sharing your LinkedIn profile, X and Instagram account, or other relevant social links where you are active or are an influencer.

Call to action

If you want to promote your personal blog, project, or event, your personal email signature is the perfect place to showcase your passion and get more people to see what you’re doing, perhaps even helping you generate leads in the process.

Today, you can choose from a variety of good email signature designs that can encompass enticing call-to-action buttons or even banners, generating interest and getting people to click through to learn more.

What information to include in personal email signatures

There’s an infinite list of possibilities for what you could include in your email signature. But while it’s a good idea to consider your individual needs, some details are more important than others and probably deserve their place in most designs.

Let’s look at some of the essential and more optional details you could include in the design hierarchy, as well as explore a few key formatting tips.

Essential information

Your full name: An email signature simply cannot exist without your name. This is the detail that matters most, so make sure to not only include it but also make it clearly visible and easy to read. If you have a middle initial, it’s a good idea to add it as well.

• Phone number: Many people might need additional contact details, so providing your cell phone number is a good way to reduce the back and forth and allow people to reach you faster. Unless you specifically don’t want to share your direct mobile number, adding it is usually a good idea.
• Links to relevant social media accounts: An email signature is the perfect place to share your social media links and grow your online presence. Add social profile links to all platforms that you’re active on, and consider using social media icons instead of text links to save space and make the design more appealing.
• Website or blog: If you have a personal website or blog, that usually deserves a place in your email signature as well. Email signature may boost more traffic to your site and also let people learn more about you in a centralized place.

Optional additions

• Job title: Even though this is a personal email address, you may still want people to know what you do. If so, including your job title and business name or workplace name can be a great way to add credibility and context.
• Favorite quote: Quotes are very popular in email signatures because they quickly convey what you believe in and what’s important to you. If you have a quote you love or just want to share something about yourself, this is a great way to do it.
• Link to personal project: If you’re working on something and want to share it, adding a call-to-action button urging people to check it out is another great addition to your personal email signature.

Additional tips

• Keep it concise. Even though you can include a ton of information, that can also dilute your email signature if not executed well. Therefore, decide what to prioritize and try to keep your email signature as clean and concise as possible.
• Infuse personality. Since it’s a personal email signature, make it look like one. Add a personal touch that shows who you are and what you’re all about using quotes, images, hobbies, and anything else you want to share.
• Maintain consistency. If you’re building a personal brand identity across social media platforms, maintain consistency throughout. That includes colors, fonts, and overall style, as well as the messaging.
• Consider your audience. Make sure to align your email signature to the people you will be mostly communicating with. Since it’s a personal email signature, that most likely means you shouldn’t make it too formal, as you will often be communicating with friends and family.
• Choose an easy-to-read font. A key part of an effective email signature is readability. Therefore, avoid unusual fonts and stick to professional, web-safe options like Arial, Verdana, or Calibri.
• Select an appropriate font size. Since space is very limited, you need to balance the font size with readability. Don’t opt for fonts that are too big, but also avoid tiny fonts that will be hard to read. You can use a free email signature generator to ensure the design is easy to read.
• Add a line. Adding a horizontal line after the body of your email will help distinguish the signature section from the rest of the email. However, if you use a professional email signature design, it will usually be easily distinguishable on its own.
  
• Be mindful when using images. If you decide to use a personal image, company logo, or even an eye-catching graphic, opt for smaller ones that don’t overwhelm the email signature. Ensure you don’t use an unprofessional photo or one of your casual photos of having fun with friends. However, when using professional email signatures, you will usually find that a place for the image will already be predetermined, making it easy to add.
• Always test. To make sure your email signature looks good on all devices, all screen sizes and email clients, thoroughly test it by sending emails to yourself and friends or family.

Best Personal Email Signature Examples

If you’re looking for some inspiration, here are a bunch of examples of different signatures to give you plenty of personal email signature ideas to consider.

Bottom line

Even though email signatures are mostly reserved for professionals, they can be very useful for personal email addresses as well. They can help reduce back and forth, provide relevant information, and even establish your personal brand.

If you want to create a personal email signature in minutes, you can’t go wrong with the Newoldstamp email signature generator. Customize every detail according to your preferences, choose from a variety of email signature template options, and rest assured they will display properly on any device.