What features should an email signature management platform have?

A robust email signature management platform should offer more than just design flexibility - enterprises need centralized control, frictionless deployment, and built-in security.

At a minimum, every platform should include:

• an approach to creating specifically crafted brand-compliant HTML signature templates
• a user-friendly interface for employees to input their information (e.g., name, title, phone)
• an automated deployment method that ensures those signatures are consistently applied in Outlook and other email clients

Beyond those essentials, leading solutions like Dynasend provide advanced capabilities such as Azure AD sync, organizational template version control, multi-platform support, dynamic marketing banner campaigns, and stringent security mechanisms. This ensures not only brand cohesion and compliance but also streamlined updates and zero IT overhead.

The features contained in an email signature management platform can be broken down into four categories:

• Required (minimum feature set)
• Optional IT / deployment features
• Optional marketing features
• Security features

Required Features: These features comprise the core of an email signature management platform, and are required for the efficient setup, deployment, and ongoing management. They are:

• an HTML template builder to create the base template for the company’s signature
• a user interface allowing for the input of signature information (name, title, phone number, etc.)
• an automated method of deploying the signatures into the user’s email client

Utilizing these three features, one person can create a standardized template for the company, then each employee can populate the template with their own contact information, creating their finished signature HTML file. Finally, using the deployment methodology, this HTML signature file can be set as the default signature in each user’s email client.

Optional IT / Deployment Features: There are additional features that can enhance the performance and efficiency of an email signature management platform, specifically from an IT and end user perspective. These are:

• Sync to Active Directory (Azure / Entra ID) to auto-populate the email signature data for each user (ensuring accuracy while minimizing user effort)
• Centralized signature deployment via the O365 or Google Workspace administrative dashboard
• Cross-platform compatibility, supporting signatures on desktop apps (Windows and Mac), web apps, and mobile apps (iOS and Android)
• Centralized template management, enabling updates to be pushed out to users as needed
• Single Sign On (SSO) support for users and managers when signing-in to the platform

From an IT / user support perspective, these features form the basis of a comprehensive platform. In combination, they automate the onboarding of new employees, minimize support / helpdesk tickets, and create efficiencies in ongoing program maintenance.

Optional Marketing Features: The implementation of an enterprise email signature management platform is often a marketing-driven initiative. Therefore, the marketing features can be of paramount importance. These are:

• integrated campaign management capabilities, enabling the centralized management of role-based banner campaigns
• customization of the signature’s visual appearance and layout (fonts, colors, sizes, etc.)
• flexibility to add user options to the signature content (photo, links to the user’s calendar, closing salutation, upcoming out of office notices, etc.)
• integrated click tracking, or the ability to leverage third-party click tracking such as Google Analytics
• integrated surveys or polls

When executed in an efficient and easy-to-use manner, these features elevate the email signature platform to a real-time marketing tool of significant value. Furthermore, by placing these features directly in the hands of the marketing team, the burden of frequent change requests from marketing to IT is virtually eliminated.

Security Features: Although the information in email signatures does not rise to a level of PII, and is, by design, created to be publicly disseminated, security is nonetheless of paramount importance. Key security features are:

• authentication, ensuring that no unauthorized person can gain access to the platform at any level
• no public endpoints - online signature views, when needed, should be via encrypted URL’s
• no access to your email – the vendor of the email signature platform should have absolutely zero access to your company’s email messages
• add-in security – modern approaches that ensure that there is no code physically installed on the user’s device or email client should be utilized
• server security – the vendor should utilize servers that are secured using industry best practices

Ensuring that these security measures are in place is an important aspect when selecting an enterprise level email signature management platform.

Learn more about the best email signature software for Microsoft O365.

Learn more about how enterprises can manage Outlook email signatures.