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How to Create a LinkedIn Email Signature



During the last few years, LinkedIn has grown into the leading professional networking platform worldwide. Today, it is also one of the biggest social networking websites. It’s the perfect platform to connect with all your work-related acquaintances and colleagues, but also the ideal platform to find new potential customers. Because of that, it’s important to learn/know all kinds of handy tricks to use outside of LinkedIn to significantly expand your network. Email is an excellent way of doing so.

We send dozens of emails every single day, not just to our team but also to new potential prospects. These include the people we meet at events, who have sent an email asking for more information about our products or services. Or they can be people who want to ask specific questions about our company. 

All this email traffic usually isn’t used to expand your LinkedIn network. However, it can be one of the most significant factors in getting new connections. With every email you send, you have the potential to add another person to your LinkedIn network. In return, this increases the chances of your LinkedIn posts getting more engagement. Even if you’re already using LinkedIn Lead Generation Forms, adding a LinkedIn email signature can still be remarkably valuable.


Every email we send has a specific signature. Most people use their name, role, and the company they work with. However, something that is often overlooked is the possibility to add a link to your LinkedIn profile. This way, people can add you on LinkedIn when they receive an email with your signature.


Email signatures with LinkedIn links are a vital aspect of expanding your network, and they can be incredibly useful if you are reaching out to companies. If you have already optimized your profile by adding elements such as a great LinkedIn background cover, people are much more likely to connect with you. The email receiver can check out your LinkedIn account with a single click and learn more about you.


In this article we will cover the following email clients:

  • Outlook

  • Gmail

  • Thunderbird

  • iOS Mail

  • Gmail for iOS and Android


Why add a LinkedIn button to the email signature

First and foremost, it will help you expand your LinkedIn network. It will also help you seem more trustworthy to people receiving your emails and let you know how people are interacting with your emails. 


Let’s say you have emailed the CEO of a company and want to make sure they’ve read the email. If you check LinkedIn later that day and see that the CEO has visited your LinkedIn profile, you know that they’ve read your email. All the addresses you use for your lead generation, such as emails from the LinkedIn email finder, can be tracked.


Along with that, it will also increase the visibility of your company. People often check the company pages on LinkedIn when they check out a LinkedIn profile. If you’ve optimized your company page properly, it can even turn these email recipients into leads or new customers. So, as you can see, there are many reasons to add a LinkedIn link to your email signature. 


Now that you’re aware of the many benefits of an email signature that includes a LinkedIn link, it’s time to look at how to create a great email signature in just several minutes that will help generate leads on LinkedIn


In this article, we’ve looked at the most popular email tools to give you the right insights into how to correctly add the link to your signature. At the end of the article, we will also take a look at several tools that will make it easy to create a distinctive signature for your emails. We’ll also see how to include your LinkedIn link in those signatures. 


Creating an email signature for LinkedIn 

If you aren’t currently using a signature in your emails, it’s time to start doing so. The signature will make your emails look more professional and personal. It will also save you time from having to type your final greeting and name with every email you send. Along with that, email signatures are a fantastic way to get people from your inbox to interact with you on other platforms. 


You could even add links to your portfolio or case studies, allowing potential customers to learn more about you and your company without having to Google it.


Below you will find the step by step guide on how to add a LinkedIn button to all the emails you will send. This includes: 

  • Getting the right link to add to your email signature

  • How to optimize it to make sure that people will actually check out your LinkedIn profile. 


When it comes to creating an email signature for LinkedIn, you can either make it yourself or design it with an online tool. Here are the pros and cons of both:



 

Your own design

Using a tool

Pricing

Free; you can use HTML or plain text to add links to your signature

Often paid for around $5/month. 

Layout 

Limited to HTML. You can insert your own images

Easily customizable by changing colors, picture dimensions, adding multiple social links simply by pasting a link

Different designs for different email accounts

Easy to customize for every account

You often paid for every account. If you’re using multiple email addresses yourself or want to create signatures for your team, this isn’t the cheapest option



Every user on LinkedIn has their profile page connected to a specific link. When people want to visit your profile, you can send them the link to your page. 


To get this link, you need to log into LinkedIn and go to your profile. You can do so by clicking your picture in the top menu bar on LinkedIn.com. It will take you to your profile. 


The link in your browser is the link that others can use to find your profile. This is usually your first and last name combined into one word, without spaces, starting with https://linkedin.com/in/ -> https://linkedin.com/in/{username}.


Copy the link in your browser and save it somewhere on a notepad for now. Then, head over to Outlook, Gmail, or Thunderbird to add a link to the email signature. Note that adding the signature to these tools is different in every case, so below, we will lead you through the process for every single tool separately.


Here’s how long it will take to create a new email signature in your email client.


Email client

Time

Outlook

Around 3 minutes

Gmail

Around 3 minutes

Thunderbird

Around 5 minutes

iOS Mail

Around 5 minutes

Gmail on iOS or Android

Around 3 minutes

Email signature tool

Around 5 minutes



For Outlook

  1. Log into your email account in Outlook and head over to the settings page.

  2. This will open a new pop-up with all the settings for your Outlook software on this computer. 

  3. There are several tabs on the left side of this pop-up screen, including one that says ‘E-mail.’ Click this tab, and Outlook will take you to your email settings. 

  4. In the next screen, you will see a headline called ‘Signature’ 

  5. Click the button next to the headline. Outlook will now open up a new screen on which you can add a signature to your emails. 

  6. On the left, you will see the different profiles that you’re working within Outlook. Select the profile to which you want to add the email signature

  7. Scroll down until you see the big white box where you can type your preferred email signature. 

  8. If you don’t have an email signature right now, it’s best to start simple. Include your name, job title, and company. 

  9. Below, you can add a line that says, “Connect with me on LinkedIn.” Paste it into the white box and select the text. 

  10. Click the little icon on the top right that looks like a small globe with a link on it. 

  11. Grab the link from your notepad and paste it in the box. 

  12. Hit save on the link and click save on the screen to save your new email signature. 

  13. Done! All your emails will now have your new email signature, including the link to your LinkedIn profile. 


For Gmail

  1. Hop over to your Gmail inbox and click the little tool icon in the top right to go to the settings page. 

  2. Click the General tab which will take you to the page where you can add your email signature. 

  3. Scroll down a bit until you see a big white box in which you can type some text. 

  4. Google shows you two radio buttons: “No signature” and a button with a box attached to it. 

  5. If you don’t have an email signature yet, first click the second radio button and start creating your email signature. It’s best to begin by adding a greeting to your signature first, followed by your first and last name, your role within the company, and a link to the company website. 

  6. Below that, you can paste the following text: “Connect with me on LinkedIn”. 

  7. Select that sentence and click the little link icon in the menu bar of this text box. 

  8. Head over to your notepad and copy the link. 

  9. Paste it in the pop-up to create a hyperlink to your LinkedIn page. 

  10. Click on the ‘Save settings’ box on the same page. 

  11. You’re all set! Every email you send through your Gmail inbox on this account will include the email signature. Please note that this only works for the desktop version of Gmail. If you want to add an email signature to your mobile Gmail apps as well, please refer to the guides down below.


For Thunderbird

  1. Head over to Thunderbird and select the account you want to add the email signature to. You can do this on the left menu. 

  2. Click ‘Profile settings’. This will take you to a new window with all the settings. 

  3. In the middle of this profile settings page, there’s a white box to which you can add HTML code for your signature. Make sure to first check the box that says “Use HTML”. 

  4. If you do not have an email signature yet, this is your opportunity to add a final greeting to the signature. Also add your first and last name, job title and company to the box. 

  5. Press enter again to start writing on a new line and copy the following code:

"https://linkedin.com/in/YOUR-USERNAME-GOES-HERE> Connect with me on LinkedIn"

This simple line of code will allow you to add a link to your LinkedIn page in your signature. 

  1. Head over to your notepad to grab the link you pasted earlier. 

  2. Replace the ‘YOUR-USERNAME-GOES-HERE’ in the link with your own LinkedIn username. 

  3. Click ‘Save’ on the same screen. 

  4. That’s it. Whenever you send an email through Thunderbird, it will automatically add your complete email signature to the email. 


LinkedIn email signature for your mobile apps

Now that you have set your email signature on your desktop emails, it’s also useful to add them to your mobile apps. Most people send more new emails from their desktop, yet responding to emails often happens on our phones. Applications such as iOS Mail or Gmail (For iPhones and Android) can also include email signatures, which means that you can also link to your LinkedIn profile in every email you send from these apps.


For iOS Mail

Apple already includes a signature in every email you send out. The default setting for your email signature is ‘Sent from my iPhone” or “Sent from my iPad”. Most people have already deleted this from their email signature but it’s also useful to add an entirely new email signature. 


  1. Go to the General Settings application on your iPhone

  2. Head over to Mail, Contacts & Calendars

  3. Tap the ‘Signatures’ button on the next page

  4. Select the ‘Per Account’ option to add your email signature just to one account

  5. You will be taken to the page on which you can add your signature

  6. Now head over to your desktop email account and send yourself an email with your regular signature to the email address you want to add a signature to, in iOS Mail.

  7. Open your iOS Mail app and tap on the email you sent yourself from your desktop computer

  8. Select the email signature and drag the cursor to select the whole signature (make sure to include the link to your LinkedIn profile page)

  9. Tap ‘Copy’ and head back to the General Settings application

  10. Double tap the white box on the Signature page and tap ‘Paste’

  11. Move your finger to the top left corner and tap “< Mail”

  12. Done! iOS has saved your new email signature and it will be included in your future emails


For the Gmail app

  1. Head over to your desktop Gmail account and send yourself an email with your email signature

  2. Open the Gmail app on your iPhone or Android phone and open your email

  3. Select the email signature and drag the cursor to include the whole email signature (including the link to your LinkedIn profile) and tap ‘Copy’

  4. Click the hamburger menu in the top left corner

  5. Scroll down until you see the settings tab

  6. Tap the settings tab and scroll down

  7. Tap “Signature settings”

  8. Select ‘Enable Signature’

  9. Double tap the white box and select ‘Paste’

  10. Tap “< Signature Settings” in the top left corner

  11. Done! The Gmail app will save your email signature and add it to all your new emails


Other options for adding LinkedIn to email signatures

When you’re adding a LinkedIn email signature, there are many ways to optimize the signature. For example, you can add a LinkedIn badge to your email signature, which is a simple button containing a link to your profile page. In order to use this button, you need to download an image such as the LinkedIn logo, which you can then add to your own email signature. Not every email client provides the option to add images, or sometimes you need to add it with HTML, so make sure your email client supports it.


If you need to use HTML to add an image, you can simply copy and paste the following HTML code in your email signature box. Please note that you need to replace some elements in order for both the button and the link to work:

https://linkedin.com/in/YOUR-USERNAME-GOES-HERE” > https://WEBSITE-HOSTING-YOUR-IMAGE.COM/IMAGE-FILE.jpg” >

Replace the ‘YOUR-USERNAME-GOES-HERE’ with your LinkedIn username and the elements within the -tags with the link where the image is hosted.


Back in the day, LinkedIn had their own LinkedIn badges which could easily be included in your emails but they dropped this option altogether. This means that you have to find your own image (and maybe ask one of the designers on your team to design one for you) in order to use this option. 


When it comes to designing your own signature, pay attention to the following elements


Font size

Make sure your font is the same size as the font in your email body

Font color

Avoid using different font colors aside from the links in your signature

Font family

Use the same font for your email signature as you’re using in your email body

Image size

Limit the image size to around 200x150 pixels



Using email signature tools

There are tools available which you can use to create your own personal email signature. These tools provide an easy to use design to include in all your emails. You can use these tools to create a great and professional-looking email signature that really stands out. They often allow you to add a picture to your email signature, along with some personal details and company info. Also, you can add buttons that link to your social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, but most importantly LinkedIn.


These tools usually aren’t free but can be extremely useful when you want to add extra visibility to your email signature and to the link that redirects to your LinkedIn account. Because they offer several templates, you don’t have to create the email signature from scratch.


Here are some tools you can use to create your own email signature:


Best practices for your LinkedIn email signature

Just like there are many best practices to use on LinkedIn, we also want to share some valuable advice for when you add a link to your signature. When it comes to using your email signature to add visibility to your LinkedIn profile, there are several best practices that you should stick to:

  • If you’re using text instead of an image, make sure the text aligns with the tone of voice your company uses. Don’t make it too playful when wanting to look professional but at the same time don’t make it look too professional when you want to make it look playful

  • When using images in your email signature to link to your LinkedIn profile page, make sure to host these images on your own server. When you use images from other websites, your LinkedIn button might not appear once the owner takes the image down. 

  • Using images that are copyrighted is also not a great idea. Though LinkedIn may not have a problem with you using their logo in your email signature, other people that have created their own images might. Please keep copyright in mind and make sure you never use an image without having the right to use it.

  • You can add a special short link to your email signature that redirects to your LinkedIn profile page to see how many people click the link. Using services such as Bit.ly will give you insights into how often people click the link and where these people are from.

  • Make sure to check your LinkedIn notifications often, to see who has visited your profile. If you have a Premium account on LinkedIn, most profile visitors will be shown. However, if you own a free account on LinkedIn, you will only see a small percentage of the total visitors. 

  • Try to keep the dimensions of the LinkedIn button in your email signature small. You don’t want to include a big image as it will make your email look bad. Pay attention to the dimensions and the quality of the image to ensure a professional appearance.

  • Some email clients do not instantly show images when recipients receive an email from someone outside of their network. When you are using a LinkedIn button, the image might not always show up, especially on desktop email clients. If you believe most of your target audience will have images disabled due to their email clients, it’s usually best to use text instead of images.


Final notes 

With the dozens of emails we send out every single day, an email signature is a great way to improve your visibility. However, as mentioned in this article, you need to design it properly and use the right link to your LinkedIn page in order to turn these email recipients into valuable connections on the platform. It’s smart to test out different designs and to experiment with call-to-action sentences in your email signature, to see which type of email signature and message resonates best with your target audience. This will significantly increase your results in the future, as more people will click the link to your LinkedIn profile when they receive an email. 


Author

Anyleads

San Francisco

We are the leading marketing automation platform serving more than 100,000 businesses daily. We operate in 3 countries, based in San Francisco, New York, Paris & London.

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