E-mail Signatures
You can save yourself and your email recipients time by automatically appending your name and contact information through an email signature at the bottom of your messages. For more details, please consult the University's guidelines for email signatures.
Elements to Include
People expect to see your name, title, company name, UMD address, phone, fax (if you use it), UMD Web address and social media account links (if they are important to you). If necessary for the type of work you do, disclaimers or confidentiality statements are also appropriate. Some people opt to include their email address, but since recipients presumably have your email address in the "From:" field, this is unnecessary. If you'd like to include a short UMD slogan that reinforces a key service, paste it below all your contact information.
Elements to Leave Out
Keep the signature block small. Refrain from philosophical statements or quotations. Leave those for personal emails, as you run the risk of driving away someone who doesn't agree with the philosophy or quote. Avoid images pasted into your signature. Spam blockers don't like them, and many email programs will show them as attachments. Your recipient can't tell the attached image is just your logo or some harmless icon. This will make many people wary of opening your email for fear of viruses that might be linked to attachments.
Benefits
Not including an appropriate signature can frustrate the recipient. If you've already sent someone an email, spare him or her the extra step of looking up your phone number or address. Links to your social media accounts and website within your signature are marketing tools because they can entice people to follow the links to learn more.
Style Rules
Keep your signature clean. Choose professional colors such as black or gray. Use one font. Stretch your signature wider rather than longer by using bullet points or pipes ( | ) between elements. You will commonly see phone, fax and Web address all on the same line in this manner.
Example
Michael Dean
Director, Business Applications
University of Maryland
A. James Clark School of Engineering
2201 J.M. Patterson Building | College Park, MD 20742
tel 301.405.2050 | fax 301.314.2020
eng.umd.edu | @ClarkSchool