Sincerely Yours, Me

I know, I know – email is so 20th century. Unfortunately, though, not everybody has bought a smartphone and/or developed lightning-quick thumbs. For your Neanderthal correspondents, you will still have to send emails from time to time. And email is probably the most common form of communication for businesses, now that faxes have gone to the technological dungheap. (And good riddance. That thermal paper was annoying.)

But cheer up, Bunky – you can make your emails part of your personal brand, and squeeze in a little marketing while you’re at it. Just customize your signature with a few links.

Your email application will very likely let you set-and-forget your signature. Go to Settings (in Gmail, click on the gear icon at the top right of your screen; for Outlook 2007 and above, it’s under File – Options – Mail; the rest of you are on your own, sorry) and look for the option that says, “Signature.” Just type your signature block in the box and save it. The program will then automatically add it to every email you send.

But what should you put in the box? That’s up to you, but there are some caveats. For example, don’t include your book cover, or any other graphic. Many email programs will send the image as an attachment, and recipients who don’t know you may be afraid to open your message (and rightfully so – for all they know, it could be a virus). And that cute animated rainbow GIF doesn’t look professional, anyway.

You also want to think twice about including a quotation in your signature. You just never know what people will take offense to.

So what’s left? Well, information on how to contact you is probably the best idea. But don’t include all your social media links and/or your resume, or you run the risk of making your signature longer than the content of your email. Instead, use a link or two that will take people to sites where they can get the rest of your info: your blog, say, or your Amazon Author Central page. I use both of those, and I also include a link for signing up for my newsletter. Try to keep your signature block to three lines – four, max. If you want to include more links, you should bunch them together on a single line and separate them with a colon or a vertical line (the upper-case character on the backslash key on your keyboard).

It’s okay to inject a little personality – I saw one example on the web in which a guy prefaced his Twitter link with the words, “Stalk me” – but don’t go overboard. A little snark in an email signature goes a long way.

The only other thing you might include in your automated signature is a closing line. Any of the usual closing lines for business letters would be fine: “Sincerely,” “Very Truly Yours,” and so on. I’ve been seeing variations of “Regards” in emails at my day job, so I’ve chosen to use “Kind regards” as my closing line. I’ve also seen the single word “Best,” but I would avoid using it, as it seems to irk some people (“Best WHAT???”). Don’t forget to add a comma after your closing, and you’re done!

Kind regards,

Lynne Cantwell

Author: Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. But she began as a fantasy writer (in the second grade), and is back at it today. She currently lives near Washington, DC. Learn more about Lynne at her blog and at her Amazon author page. View all posts by Lynne Cantwell