Email signature lines that DO NOT annoy

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  Originally uploaded by Mrs. Bickerson.

I'm going to be starting with a new client soon, and I had asked  him "Do you know what you'd like my sig line to be?" (for when I send out email representing his business.)

This cool, laid back guy (I only work with cool, laid back guys ;-) ) told me, "Nope, come up with something fun and original :)"

So, I've been enjoying trying to come up with a really cool sig line.

I'm actually a bit ashamed to tell you how much time, energy and enthusiasm I've put into this quest for the perfect sig. (I am such a geek at heart! ;-))

Coincidentally, this evening, as I was following some of Gavin's links, I found Kevin Dugan's blog and his post "Stop Email Signature File Abuse!", and of course it got my attention.

I thought you might enjoy Kevin's top 5 sig line pet peeves (my comments are in green):

"1) Script Font: Using script font for your name as if you really wrote it yourself. That’s so cute. Not. (What about those sig lines that have the actual signature of the person? I guess it's inserted as a graphic. You're not fooling anyone--we know you didn't sign the email!)

2) ASCII Text Art: It’s ugly. See? (I wouldn't even know how to go about creating digital "art" like this. This is why I'm stealing Kevin's image.)

3) Any List: It’s a sig file, not a resume. And I don't care if you rode in the same elevator as Seth Godin. (Yeah, at no point should the sig line be longer than the email itself. )

4) Cheese: Automatic calculators tracking how old your kids are and any other related cheery, personal sap. (Again, over my head on the technology, thank God.)

5) Quotes: I don’t care who said what. It doesn’t make you cool or smart anyway. (Guilty as charged. Changing it right away...)

Less is more. We just need basic contact info. Thanks."

Hee hee--that cracks me up. Yeah, we seem to be getting away from the old school "let me show you a piece of my soul" sig lines, and more into the "just give me the damn info" ones.

From looking at Kevin's comments for his post, other no-no's are:

• embedded backgrounds, graphics and fonts (us folks with plain text emails never get to see 'em anyways)
• attached vCards (with or without your birthday included)
• anything that makes the sig file appear as an attachment

and let me add a few of my own...

• I also hate it when folks try to turn their sig line into a commercial to try to get you to go to their website--does this ever work? Who falls for that?
• And those people whose sig lines go on forever (I guess this would fall under the "Any List" sigs), as they tell you every contact under the sun: Here's my home phone, cell phone, work phone, the URLs of every one of my websites and blogs, my Ryze, MySpace, and LinkedIn pages, fax, email (even tho you obviously have their email cuz they just sent you an email), home address, and the IDs for every instant messaging tool in existence: skype, AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo --Geez, it's just too much info!

The gist--less is more. Too much info is annoying.

If you'd like to express your personality or share your philosophy of the world, do it on your blog, not your sig line.

I appreciate these guidelines. This makes it so much easier for me to create my new sig now.

Do anyone else have any other sig line pet peeves?

Comments

[Glen Allsopp]

Very funny, but you never told us what you came up with ;)

*My first comment here*

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Hey Glen,

Welcome! Thanks for chiming in.

Hehe, yes, when I wrote this post, I actually hadn't decided what my sig line would be, but now I've decided that the way to go is to keep it as minimal as possible (I wonder where I got that idea?;)).

First off, here's what I decided NOT to include:

Email addy--I'm thinking that they can just look at the "From" section to see my email addy.

Phone--If I want someone to call me, I will give them my phone number in the email. For general inquiries, I prefer to be contacted via email.

IM Id--Same with the IM id. I give that info on an "as needed" basis.

website URL--the URL is in the "From" section of the email as well.

fax--I don't use a fax

physical address--given on an "as needed basis".

After eliminating all this extra info, I'm left with:

My name, my job title (and I'm going with "thinker/ planner/ doer" on that one) and the company name.

That's it.

And there you have it! A streamlined, non-obnoxious email sig line.

For anyone who is crafting a sig line of their own, I would advise going through each piece of information, and asking yourself, "Is this really necessary, or is it redundant?" and also "Do I really need to give every person I come into contact with all of this info?"

If it's info that only a few select people need, then perhaps you could leave it off.

With that said, there are folks who really do need to include multiple phone numbers and IM ids--these are folks whose livelihoods depend on them being instantly available 24/7. Thank God this is not me!

[Verna]

Rats! Now I have to change my sig line (like that's hard!). This is really good stuff to know, Sharon. Thank you for setting me straight (OK, I'm still a lesbian, but you know what I mean). I had no idea that people find signature lines annoying. I mostly ignore them. I guess that tells me a lot about having one myself, doesn't it!

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Hey Verna,

After reading Kevin's post, I realized that I pretty much ignore the sig line too. The only thing I use it for is if I don't know the person and I want to see who they are (job title, company, possibly URL of website).

Especially if I see a whole bunch written down there, I instinctively look away. Information overload!

I used to include all my info, but I found that the few times that folks actually needed to call me, they would send me a IM or an email directly asking me "What phone number should I call you at?"

So, most of my stuff is given on an "as needed" basis now. Seems like lots of folks don't even look at the sig line because it's TMI (too much information).

[Kerch McConlogue]

You asked for a pet peeve about sig files? How about.. not having one at all?

I mostly don't pay attention to them, so it doesn't bother me if there's more there than I need to know at this minute...

And while you may think that my phone number and street address are to be shared on an as needed basis -- when I'm looking for the number of a person who's sent me an email, the first place I expect to find it is in the sig file. And it really makes me crazy when it's not there.

In addition, if you're dealing with the media who might be on a short deadline, a missing phone number might be the thing that keeps them from calling you.

I want it easy to find me.

Check on my rant on sig files here:
http://www.mapthefuture.com/blog/2006/12/13/sig-files-for-advertising/

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Hi Kerch,

Thanks for chiming in. Yes, there are some people who need to have that info. It depends on the needs of your job and also who you're contacting and what the purpose of the contact is. If you're setting up an interview with a journalist, by all means, share your phone number :-)!

One thing that annoys me is when someone contacts me asking me to work with them on their business, and they give me no background info, no URL, no nothing. I'm just left with a message that says "Help!" and I have to do a google search on their name to find out anything about them.

I actually didn't say that *your* street address and phone number should be shared on an as needed basis--I said that *my* address and phone number are shared on an as needed basis. :-)

I also said that there are folks who really do need to include multiple phone numbers and IM ids--these are folks whose livelihoods depend on them being instantly available 24/7.

Sidenote: Folks who want to be easily accessible to the media 24/7 might consider adding a Media Page to their blog/website so that everything a journalist needs is right there and they don't have to search for anything. For a great example of a Media Page, check out Andy's at http://andywibbels.com/pressroom/

[Christy]

I am in love with mine:

Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.
http://mypenisfun.com

and as mentioned, I have a version with my phone when thats appropriate

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