Stop Using Big Email Signatures!

Companies large and small seem to have an obsession with adding lots of unnecessary information to their email signatures, stop it, It's distracting.

It also makes it harder to find the important information in a chain of emails.

Example of a bad email signature:

Hi John,

This is an example of a bad email signature. It's too long and has too much information. It's distracting and makes it harder to find the important information in a long chain of emails.

Thanks,

Jane Doe
Senior Vice President of Sales
555-555-5555

Company Name | companyname.com
123 Main St.
City, State 12345

This message and any files transmitted with it are intended for the addressee only and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. Unauthorised use is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the addressee, you should not read, copy, disclose or otherwise use this message, including any picture or graphic and any attachment, except for the purpose of delivery to the addressee. We make every effort to keep our network free from viruses. However, you do need to verify this e-mail and any attachments to it to be virus free as we can take no responsibility for any computer virus which might be transferred by way of this email.

Example of a good email signature:

Hi John,

This is an example of a perfectly fine email signature. Any further company information can be found on our website.

Thanks,

Jane Doe
Senior Vice President of Sales
555-555-5555
Company Name | companyname.com

Here's an example of an email chain between two people with bad email signatures:

Hi Jane,

I'm following up on the email I sent you last week.

Thanks,

John Doe
Senior Vice President of Marketing
555-555-5555

Company Name | companyname.com
123 Main St.
City, State 12345

Hi John,

I received your email and will get back to you shortly.

Thanks,

Jane Doe
Senior Vice President of Sales
555-555-5555

Company Name | companyname.com
123 Main St.
City, State 12345

Hi Jane,

What's the status on the project?

Thanks,

John Doe
Senior Vice President of Marketing
555-555-5555

Company Name | companyname.com
123 Main St.
City, State 12345

Here's an example of an email chain between two people with good email signatures:

Hi Jane,

I'm following up on the email I sent you last week.

Thanks,

John Doe
Senior Vice President of Marketing
555-555-5555
Company Name | companyname.com

Hi John,

I received your email and will get back to you shortly.

Thanks,

Jane Doe
Senior Vice President of Sales
555-555-5555
Company Name | companyname.com

Hi Jane,

What's the status on the project?

Thanks,

John Doe
Senior Vice President of Marketing
555-555-5555
Company Name | companyname.com

BONUS POINTS!

On replies, cut the email signature down to just your name. There's no need to repeat the same information over and over.

Either "Thanks, John" or "Thanks, Jane" or "- John" or "- Jane" is perfectly fine.

Here's an example of an email chain between two people with good email signatures and bonus points:

Hi Jane,

I'm following up on the email I sent you last week.

- John

Hi John,

I received your email and will get back to you shortly.

Thanks,

Jane

Hi Jane,

What's the status on the project?

Thanks,

John Doe
Senior Vice President of Marketing
555-555-5555
Company Name | companyname.com

(This is the initial email)

Hopefully by the examples above, you can see how much cleaner and easier to read the email chain is with good email signatures, and even better with some bonus points.

Bad email signatures are a pet peeve of mine, so I made this site to help spread the word. Many a time I've been in a long email chain scrolling to find the information I need, with most of the chain being ridiculous sized signatures. It's annoying. Stop it.

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