Is Your Email Signature Working For Your Law Firm - Or Against You?

Recently I was on a consultation call with the 2 partners of a small law firm about how their firm could benefit from our SEO content audit and online visibility and user experience analysis (An audit of your website content, UX and social media presence plus a competitor analysis to ensure you are optimized for search engines and UX, and you aren’t missing opportunities, leads and new business!) One of the questions I’m always asked is, We have a pretty good website and online presence - what do you expect to find in an SEO audit?

Typically my first contact with a new client is via email. All I initially know about them is what is in the email’s Sender field and their email signature. On this call, I responded, I’m looking at the email you sent me right now - are you aware that none of the links in your email signature actually work?

Needless to say, they were not aware. They’d set their emails up long ago and never looked at them again. Which led them to realize there are probably a lot of other missed opportunities and other issues that are impacting their rank and leads.

I’m always a little bit shocked at the number of email signatures I receive from lawyers that don’t say the firm’s name, have broken links, are missing a CTA or don’t even identify the sender’s role or title, ie “Attorney."

Here are some frequently asked questions and best practices on law firm email signatures.

FAQs On Law Firm Email Signatures

Your email signature is a critical part of your law firm’s branding - and an important part of your marketing. Your email signature is the most important, and undoubtedly most neglected, part of your email: and it’s FREE and EFFECTIVE!

Q: What should be included in my email signature?

Your email signature should be consistent for all members of your law firm. If you’ve worked with a marketing or branding agency, they’ve likely provided you with branding guidelines for your website, marketing, social media, advertising, etc. These branding guidelines should also include your team’s email signatures.

Your signature should include:

• 3-4 lines of text

  • your name

  • your title or role

  • the name of your law firm

  • your phone number

    • most people don’t include their email address in their signature - the reader already has it in the Sender field!

• Logo and/or photo

  • People do business with people. Adding your photo to your email signature is the start of a trusting relationship

  • Your logo is an important part of your branding and integral to differentiating you from your competitors

    • Attaching your logo to your email rather than embedding it in your ESP (email service provider) can result in distorted images

  • A notable award logo or rating helps establish your credentials

• Professional social media links 
  You do not need to add all your social media links, just the top 2-3 that are most important to establish your authority and knowledge:

  • Your LinkedIn or LinkedIn Company Page

  • YouTube

  • Facebook and/or Instagram

• Tagline
  If you have a great, memorable tagline that sets you apart and drives business, include It in your emails: don’t save it for billboards or radio promos!

• CTA

Q: Should my email signature have a CTA - and if so, what CTA?

Yes: your email signature should absolutely have a Call To Action. The best CTA for your email signature is the one, most important action you want your reader to take:

1. Book An Appointment (linked to your online appointment calendar)

2. Download Our Free: eBook, Fact Sheet, FAQs, etc (linked to your best free offer)

3. Sign Up For Our Newsletter (linked to your mailing list signup)

4. See Our Services (linked to Services on your website)

5. Check Out Our Client Testimonials (linked to Testimonials on your website)

6. Sign Up For Our Webinar (linked to your webinar reservation form)

Q: Can I use color in my email signature?

YES, color is an important design tool to make certain information stand out and get noticed. Just don’t overdo it. It’s a good idea to use color that matches or complements your firm’s logo and should be covered in your brand guidelines.

Q: Should my email signature have a disclaimer?

Each state or province has its own lawyer marketing standards. If your state requires all your marketing communications to include a disclaimer, that also likely applies to your emails.

If possible, avoid lengthy, wordy, legalese disclaimers in your email. Instead, KISS: make it short, clear and link it to the disclaimer page on your website (which I KNOW you have!)

This email does not create an attorney-client relationship. This email is confidential and used for marketing and communication purposes. See our firm’s disclaimer notice for full information. If you are not an intended recipient of this email, do not read, copy, use, forward or disclose the email or any of its attachments to others.

Q: I send work emails from my iPhone - does it need a custom signature?

If you send emails from your phone or tablet, it’s important to customize your email settings on each device to standardize your signature to conform with the

Depending on your ESP and your device, you will have different options to customize your email signature.

TIP: If you use Gmail and an iPhone, you can sync your device signature with your Gmail signature:

• Go to settings in the Gmail app on your iPhone

• Turn off Mobile Signature and your usual Gmail signature should automatically sync on your iPhone.

Have You Customized Your Email Signature?

If you have a custom email signature, take 5 minutes and perform a mini audit. Send yourself an email and make sure:

• it says what you need it to say

• all links are working

• its branded with your photo, logo or other image

• everything downloads easily and quickly

• the font is legible and easy to read

If you don’t have an IT team to help, and this seems overwhelming to you, there are some tools to simplify creating a custom email signature for lawyers:

• Wisestamp has professional attorney email signature templates

• Canva has email signature templates for lawyers and attorneys

• PicMonkey email signature tool creates branded, custom, professional signatures

The good news is once you set up an electronic signature, you can use it over and over again (as long as you test it at least annually.

Do You Want To Increase Your Law Firm’s Online Visibility and Rank?

What’s the point of having an email signature if it doesn’t convert?

If you want an electronic signature that is working for you - not against you - test your signature and see if it says what you want it to say, and if all the link works. If not, you should update your email signature today.

SEO My Law Firm can optimize and manage all your online digital content - including your email signature so you don’t have missed opportunities to grow your law firm. Contact Us Today about our SEO optimized content writing, blogging and other content.