Put your John Hancock in your e-mail

Q: How do people get their name and phone number to appear at the end of every e-mail they send out?

A: The information you are referring to that appears at the end of people’s e-mail is called a signature.Setting up an e-mail signature varies with each type of e-mail software but I’ll walk you through how to do it with the 2003 version of Microsoft Outlook which is still a very popular software program for checking e-mail.

Start by selecting the Tools menu item and then selecting Options. A window with multiple tabs across the top will appear. Click the Mail Format tab which is where you will find the Signatures button.

Click the Signatures button and another window will appear displaying all of your current signatures. Since you do not have a signature yet, click the New button and follow the steps in the wizard which include naming the signature and entering the actual text that you want to appear at the end of your e-mails.

Once you close out of all of the windows, you should see your signature appear automatically the next time you start a new e-mail.

If you aren’t running Microsoft Outlook just use the Help function of your e-mail software to search on the keyword signature.

A few more words on signatures. You aren’t restricted to just one signature. You can have as many as you like. Some people use one signature for friends and family and another for everyone else they correspond with.

And for business people, signatures are one of the easiest and cheapest methods of marketing you can find. Have a certain product or service you are trying to promote this month? Why not add one line to your e-mail signature mentioning the promotion?

One last thing on signatures. Don’t get carried away. Too often people put so much information in their e-mail signature that it loses its effectiveness. If you want people to notice it, keep it short and sweet.

This post was originally broadcast Friday, February 9, 2007 on “Tech Talk with Noobie”, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday at 11:30 a.m. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to [email protected].