10 Email Signature Mistakes That Make You Look Unprofessional

Your email signature is seen by every person you email — clients, colleagues, suppliers, prospects. It's one of the most viewed pieces of your personal brand, yet most people get it wrong.

Here are 10 email signature mistakes that make you look unprofessional (and what to do instead).

1. No Signature at All

The most common mistake is not having one. Every email you send without a signature is a missed opportunity to:

• Show who you are
• Make it easy to contact you
• Reinforce your brand
• Drive traffic to your website

Fix: Create a professional signature today. It takes 2 minutes with SendSignatures.

2. "Sent from my iPhone"

Nothing says "I couldn't be bothered" like the default Apple signature. It tells the recipient that you're emailing from your phone and didn't care enough to set up a proper signature.

Fix: Replace it with your actual signature in your phone's email settings. Both iOS and Android let you set custom signatures.

3. Inspirational Quotes

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." — Abraham Lincoln

Please don't. Quotes in email signatures are distracting, take up space, and often have nothing to do with your business. They also make your emails longer for no reason.

Fix: Remove the quote. If you must include something, make it a short, relevant tagline about your business.

4. Broken or Missing Images

A broken image icon where your logo should be is worse than having no logo at all. It screams "I don't pay attention to details."

This usually happens because:

• The image was pasted from your desktop (not hosted online)
• The hosting service went down
• The image URL changed

Fix: Host your logo on a reliable CDN and use the URL in your signature. SendSignatures Pro handles this automatically.

5. Too Much Information

Some people treat their signature like a CV:

John Smith | MBA | PMP | PRINCE2 | Six Sigma Black Belt
Director of Strategic Operations & Digital Transformation
ABC Holdings (Pty) Ltd
A subsidiary of XYZ International Group
Tel: +27 11 555 0000 | Fax: +27 11 555 0001
Mobile: +27 82 555 0002 | WhatsApp: +27 82 555 0002
Email: john@abc.co.za | Alt: john.smith@gmail.com
123 Business Park, Cnr Main & Long Street
Sandton, Gauteng, 2196, South Africa
www.abc.co.za | www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmith

That's 10 lines. Nobody is reading all of that.

Fix: Keep it to 4-5 lines maximum. Include only: name, title, one phone number, email, and website.

6. Using a Personal Email for Business

Emailing clients from johnsmith1985@gmail.com immediately undermines your credibility. It suggests your business isn't established enough to have its own domain.

Fix: Get a custom domain email. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 make this affordable (from ~R50/month). Use john@yourcompany.co.za.

7. Multiple Fonts and Colours

Using 3 different fonts, 5 colours, and a mix of bold and italic makes your signature look like a ransom note. It's visually chaotic and hard to read.

Fix: Use one font (Arial or your brand font), one or two colours (your brand colour + dark grey for text), and consistent formatting.

8. Huge Logo

A logo that takes up half the email is overwhelming. It pushes the actual content down, loads slowly, and often gets flagged by spam filters.

Fix: Keep your logo between 150-250px wide and under 100KB in file size. It should complement your signature, not dominate it.

9. Outdated Information

Still showing your old phone number? Previous company? A website that no longer exists? Outdated signatures erode trust and can cause real problems if someone contacts the wrong number.

Fix: Review your signature every 6 months. Set a calendar reminder. Update it whenever your contact details, title, or branding changes.

10. No Mobile Optimisation

If your signature is wider than 600px or uses tiny text, it'll look terrible on mobile. And over 60% of emails in South Africa are opened on a phone.

Fix: Design for mobile first. Use a single-column layout or a narrow two-column design. Test on your phone before deploying.

Bonus: The "Made with [Free Tool]" Branding

Using a free signature generator is great for getting started, but leaving the "Made with..." branding at the bottom tells everyone you used a free tool. It's subtle, but it undermines the professional image you're trying to create.

Fix: Upgrade to remove branding. With SendSignatures Pro, it's a once-off R450 — no subscriptions.

The Quick Audit

Run through this checklist for your current signature:

• Is it under 5 lines?
• Does it have your name, title, and one phone number?
• Is the logo hosted (not embedded)?
• Does it use consistent fonts and colours?
• Does it work on mobile?
• Is all information current?
• Does it include a link to your website?
• Is there no "Sent from my iPhone" anywhere?

If you checked all boxes, you're ahead of 90% of professionals.

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Need a fresh start? Create a professional signature in 2 minutes — free to start, no design skills required.