Your cold email signature is your business card.

It’s a visual representation of who you are and what you do, and in this case, people do judge a book by its cover.

So you need to strategically place information such as your name, job title, and contact information in every email, to establish trust and credibility.

This can be done in 5 simple steps.

Five Tips to Create a Compelling Email Signature

Here’s everything you need to know about writing a cold email signature that catches your leads’ attention.

1. Keep it short

Based on an analysis of millions of lemlist cold email campaigns, the most successful cold email signatures are short and sweet: between 4-6 words.

A bar graph with the title "how long should your cold email signature be?" The Y axis shows click-through-rate, and the X axis has 4 columns: 1-3 words, 4-6 words, 7-10 words, and 11-20 words. The 4-6 word column has the highest CTR, 3.5%

Writing a concise email signature helps you:

  • Share your most relevant information
  • Leave focus on your pitch and CTA
  • Make your prospects remember you

2. Add your image (optional)

For a personal touch, you can choose to include a professional photo of yourself in your cold email signature.

Including a headshot or a professional photo in your email signature helps you:

  • Establish a human connection that fosters trust and relatability
  • Create a more memorable and personable experience
  • Add authenticity and establish a relationship with your leads

Note: Too many images in a cold email can lead to formatting and deliverability issues. Also, many email providers already allow you to add a profile picture to your contact information – so this step may not be appropriate for everyone.

If your team is going for a more unified approach, you can also include your company logo, so prospects can make the connection quickly.

3. Include helpful links

Want to build credibility and build followers for yourself or your brand? Add links for prospects to follow.

By adding links to relevant articles, eBooks, or other valuable resources to your email signature, you can:

  • Enrich prospects’ understanding and decision-making process
  • Position yourself as a thought leader
  • Guide your prospects toward deeper engagement

In fact, in our data analysis of millions of cold email signatures, we found that adding links increases the success rates (replies and clicks) of your cold outreach:

A bar graph with the title, "should you include links & images in your cold email signature?" The Y axis shows

4. Showcase relevant awards

If you’ve been recognized as a top company or earned prestigious badges from reputable sites like G2, include them in your cold email signature.

Showing off relevant awards helps you:

  • Add social proof
  • Demonstrate you’ve been acknowledged and endorsed by industry experts
  • Establish your position as a trusted and reliable partner

Note: avoid adding too many images or symbols in your signature, as this can lead to formatting issues.

5. Include a CTA

If you want prospects to follow up with you, give them a clear indication of how to do it.

Include a link to a virtual calendar where prospects can easily schedule a call or a demo to:

  • Move the conversation forward
  • Eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth
  • Demonstrate your commitment to your prospects

4 successful cold email signatures

For some extra inspiration, here are the four sales email signatures that had the highest click-through rates of all the cold email campaigns in our study.

These are real signatures that lemlist users have sent to get more replies and conversions.

For privacy, we have anonymized their names and contact information.

Notice that each signature:

  • Is concise
  • Includes links
  • Provides contact information
  • Is simple
A graphic with the title "Cold email signatures with the highest CTR." There are 4 squares, each showing a cold email signature. They contain: Name (in bold), position, phone number or email, a link to their website, and in some cases a logo

Cold Email Signature Generators

Creating your signature manually can be quick if you’re keeping it super simple, but if you want to make it stand out and look good on your first try, using a good cold email signature generator is the way to go.

We’ll leave you with our two favorite and free generators.

lemlist

lemlist’s email signature generator is simple to use. With 9 different layout templates, you can design your signature to make it as personalized as possible.

Include images, links, contact info, and other relevant information.

Try it out now! ⬇️

To add your signature to the sales engagement platform lemlist, head over to the lemlist academy. You’ll find a lesson on setting up an email signature for your lemlist campaigns, along with other lessons on using lemlist to build relationships with your leads and generate more revenue.

HubSpot

With HubSpot, generating your signature and implementing it is simple.

Step 1: Add your name, title, department, contact information, and more in just minutes.

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Step 2: Leverage additional custom materials with tools like the free logo maker to uplevel your signature even more and make it more custom.

Step 3: Download the file and upload it to your email provider of choice, whether it’s Gmail or Outlook.

Step 4: Start sending out your emails with your newly enhanced signature!

What next?

Once you have your signature, make sure your signature setup is done correctly, and start sending those emails!

Following these five best email signature practices can help you:

  • Catch your prospects’ attention
  • Establish credibility and trust
  • Get more replies and book more meetings

Consider it a concise yet comprehensive snapshot of your brand that helps you stand out in prospects’ inboxes, book meetings, and grow your business!

Tony Do
Tony Do

Marketing Manager, Digital Marketer, and SEO Strategist @ HubSpot