Advice
October 11, 2024

How to sign an email?

By
Guillaume De la Sablonnière
Content Factory Manager

If you're here, it's because you're wondering how to sign an email. Right?

Up until now, no problem.

However, it turns out that for one person, "signing an email" doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as for another person.

Here are different definitions of what "signing an email" means and some tips on how to do it!

What does "signing an email" mean?

Exemple signature mail

Some people may sometimes confuse the signature found at the bottom of an email with the electronic signature of documents. As experts in professional email signatures, we will obviously tell you that there is a HUGE difference.

Furthermore, our research on the interwebs shows that when searching "signing an email" on search engines, some people are actually trying to find the ideal polite closing phrase for an email. You know, the "best regards," "looking forward," and "warmly" of this world?

So, no matter what "signing an email" means to you, here are a few tips to help you!

flèche qui pointe vers le bas

What do you want to sign?

First of all, it's important to clarify what you want to sign. The good news is that we’ve simplified the task for you. Just head to the subsection that interests you:

Add an email signature to the end of your email

Most of the time, by "signing an email," we mean: adding a signature at the end of the emails sent. This addition not only allows you to share your contact details (name, phone number, address, social media, etc.), improve your brand image, and launch marketing campaigns through banner ads. And if you're in sales, why not add a small appointment scheduling link?

To set it up:

We’ve written a few (or should we say a very large number of) articles on the topic. But to summarize here, the main idea is to start by selecting the right email signature tool.

  1. By using an email signature management solution, you can automatically create the email signatures for all your company’s employees;
  2. You can also set up an HTML signature and directly integrate it into your Outlook signature, Gmail, or Apple Mail;
  3. You can use a free signature generator (useful if you want to create just one signature);
  4. Then, you have the option to create an email signature as an image. This might be the simplest option, but it is generally not recommended. An image can sometimes display poorly depending on the devices used.
Comment signer un mail professionnel

Finding the Right Polite Closing for Your Email

If by "signing an email" you mean the polite words you add at the end of your message when sending professional or personal emails, then you should pay attention to the following points:

  • First, determine who you are addressing and your level of familiarity with that person (you won’t address someone you’ve never spoken to the same way you would address someone you know well);
  • If you are expecting a reply from the person, make sure to include a call to action (e.g., "Looking forward to your response," "Please accept my best regards");
  • If you’re not expecting a reply, you can simply remind them that you are available if needed;
  • And of course, take care of your spelling so you don’t end your message on a bad note
Context Example
ContextProfessional, very formal Example

— Please accept, Madam, Sir, the expression of my distinguished greetings.

— Please receive, Madam, Sir, my respectful greetings.

ContextProfessional, formal Example

— Best regards

— Yours sincerely

ContextClose acquaintance Example

— Best wishes

— With my best thoughts
— See you soon!
_ See you!

ContextExpecting a response Example

— Looking forward to your response

— Hoping for your reply
— Looking forward to hearing from you

Best regards or Yours sincerely?

In reality, there isn’t much difference. "Best regards" has a slightly friendlier, even more casual connotation, while "Sincerely" is more formal.

For or against "Looking forward to hearing from you" to conclude an email?

"Looking forward to hearing from you" is generally acceptable in a professional email, although the phrasing is somewhat outdated and less frequently used.

Alternatives like "In anticipation of your response" or "Awaiting your reply" can also be used.

Sign a document sent by email.

This is really the most distinct situation of the three.

Signing a document via email helps to facilitate and speed up certain administrative processes remotely. No more need to travel or apply a real handwritten signature to validate your papers! Even less need to print or scan documents.

This type of electronic signature is often used for contracts, agreements, etc. Thanks to secure solutions that meet current standards, the authenticity and integrity of your documents can be monitored remotely.

Companies like DocuSign and YouSign offer such solutions.

N.B. The email signature management solution from Letsignit does not handle document signing. It allows you to create and integrate a signature into your collaborators' emails.

Email signature ≠ document signature

Email signatures and document signatures by email are often confused. However, it's important to note that these two services meet very distinct needs.

Email signature

An email signature is a personalized content that is added at the end of your emails. It can include your name, your company name, your position, your contact details, your social media links, a meeting booking link, and why not, a beautiful communication banner (great for marketing campaigns).

Electronic document signature

On the other hand, signing documents by email involves using an electronic signature to authenticate and validate a document attached to an email.

Does it make things clearer?

We hope you now have a better understanding of your needs and have all the necessary information. Now, it's your turn to explain to those around you how to sign an email!

About the author
Guillaume is the Content Factory Manager at Letsignit! Through words, he creates various types of content (textual, videos, and in the most extreme cases, telepathic) to increase Letsignit's visibility on the web. The legend goes that at the age of 3, Guillaume built his first multichannel web marketing strategy using a dictionary, a bottle, and a bit of Chinese ink. We don't know if this is true, but at least, that's what they say...
About Letsignit
Letsignit is an email signature management solution that allows organizations to turn their employees' email signatures into a powerful 1-1 engagement medium for their brands and campaigns.

Questions
Fréquentes

1

Is it possible to track the number of clicks on email signatures?

Yes, with the 'Campaigns' offer, it is possible to track the number of clicks on the email signatures of all your employees in the 'Statistics' area of the platform.

You can then access a detailed or global view of the number of clicks on the email signatures of each employee. You can use the search option to target a specific signature or a given period. Finally, you have the possibility to export all statistics to an Excel document.

If you launch campaigns with banners inserted in your email signatures, you can also access their performance via this same space.

2

Can we add links to social networks, our website, and appointment-setting applications such as Calendly?

With Letsignit, you can easily add social network icons in your collaborators' email signatures and link to your company pages. Also, our "attributes" feature allows you to manage personalized URLs for each of your collaborators such as their individual LinkedIn profile.

And that's not all: you can add links to an appointment-setting application, allow your customers to leave reviews easily, and integrate our 'Chat on Teams' widget to let anyone start a discussion via Microsoft Teams chat.

3

Can employees update their signature information themselves (number, function, etc.)?

It’s up to you! As an administrator of the Letsignit platform, you choose whether or not to grant modification rights to your employees. These permissions are managed on an attribute-by-attribute basis, which means that you can decide to allow the employee to change their phone number, but not the address of your premises, for example.

This feature applies to all attributes in your directory, including custom attributes created on Letsignit. When your employees change one or more attributes, your directory is obviously not affected.

4

Why it is important to standardize our email signatures on a large scale to ensure our identity and brand image?

It often happens that employees make their email signature their own: custom format, bad fonts, colors inconsistent with the brand standards... all of this has an impact on your brand!

A consistent visual identity is considered authentic and outperforms a perceived weak one by 20%. And, your customers are 2.4 times more likely to buy your products.

With Letsignit, take back control over your brand identity by standardizing all your email signatures. Our tool has many features that allow you to customize your signatures by department, by audience or by subsidiary. Not to mention the possibility of carrying out campaigns within your email signatures thanks to our Campaign offer.

5

What is the user experience like for our employees?

What is the user experience like for our employees?

  • If you opt for the Letsignit Add-in for Outlook, they will have a dedicated space in their Outlook account where they will be able to view the signatures and campaigns assigned to them.
  • If you opt for the Letsignit Desktop APP, they will be able to preview all their signatures and campaigns in this space. If they want to change their default signature to another one when sending an email, this will be done in their signature library in Outlook.

In both cases:

  • They preview their signature before sending an email and choose from signatures assigned to them.
  • Based on the permissions granted, they will also be able to modify their personal information such as their name, position, or address in these spaces.

In short, they have autonomy in their email signature, but you keep control on the field, signatures, and banners they can edit or use.

6

Can my employees have multiple signatures available to them?

With our "multi-signature" feature, your employees can benefit from multiple email signatures. No technical manipulation is required. Thanks to our Add-in for Outlook or the desktop app, they can change their email signatures as they wish with just a few clicks.

Regarding the creation of email signatures, you can make several variations such as:

Everything has been thought of to go further in the personalization process based on the recipient of your emails.

7

Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

8

Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

Questions
Fréquentes

1

How to sign off at the end of an email / How to end an email?

So, it depends on what you mean by "signing off at the end of an email."

If you're referring to polite phrases, you can head over to our section "Finding the right polite phrase to end your email."

And if you're looking for how to add an email signature at the end of the text, our section "Adding an email signature at the end of your email" will guide you.

2

How to add a signature in an email (Outlook, Gmail, etc.)?

To add a signature in an email, go to the settings of your email account (such as Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, etc.). In the section dedicated to signatures, create or modify your signature by including details like your name, title, company, and contact information. Once saved, this signature is automatically added to the end of each new message. Depending on your needs, you can also use an email signature management solution or a signature generator to assist you.

3

How to add a banner in an email signature?

To support your ongoing marketing or communication campaigns, share your latest news or blog post, you have the option to add banners under your email signature. Email signature management solutions like Letsignit allow you to set them up automatically for all employees in your company. Otherwise, you can always design them manually (using a photo editing software like Photoshop) and add them directly to your email account.

4

How to create a great email signature?

To design a great email signature, it's important to include essential information while avoiding clutter (there's no need to add all 40 social media platforms you're on). Also, draw inspiration from your brand image to create something that aligns with the overall identity of the company.

If drawing inspiration solely from your brand image doesn't seem enough, take a look at our signature library for ideas!

5

How to sign an email on a phone?

If the goal is to set up a mobile email signature, you can proceed in the same way as for setting up an email signature on a computer (see "Add an email signature at the end of your email").

Note that the process may vary depending on the email provider you use.

And if you're looking to sign a document received by email on your phone, simply follow the procedure provided by electronic document signing apps.

6

How to sign a document received by email?

Here, there are two options:

  1. If a link was sent to you from an electronic signature solution, all you need to do is click on it and follow the provided procedure to complete the process.
  2. If you received a document by email and wish to sign it, start by downloading the document to your computer or smartphone. Then, upload it into an electronic signature solution (such as DocuSign, YouSign, or CertiSign) to add your signature. And that's it! All that's left is to send it to the relevant person.

7
8

Looking for a tool to manage your email signatures?

Letsignit allows you to create, manage, and deploy email signatures for all your employees in just a few clicks.
Discover Letsignit