Guide · Marketing
What should a real estate agent's email signature include?
What a real estate agent's email signature should include, what California, Florida and Texas rules ask for, why it should be text rather than a picture, and how a brokerage gives every agent a matching one.
What should an agent's email signature include?
Who you are, who you're with, and how to reach you, in that order. Everything else is optional. Here's a complete one, the example from our free signature generator, with what each part is for:
Many inboxes hide pictures until the reader allows them. Turn them off to see what's left.
What to leave out matters as much: inspirational quotes, a list of every designation, three phone numbers, a banner advertising last month's open house. A signature is read in a second. If it takes longer, the phone number gets lost.
What do state rules require?
More than most agents think. Many states count email that markets your services as advertising, and their advertising rules say what has to be in it. Your signature is the easiest place to meet them, since it's on every email you send. Three examples:
First-point-of-contact materials, which the rule says include advertising in electronic media, email among them.
Read 10 CCR § 2773All real estate advertising. Online, it also says where the brokerage's name goes.
Read Rule 61J2-10.025Any communication meant to attract the public to your services, which TREC says includes email.
Read TREC advertising rulesThe pattern is the same nearly everywhere: the brokerage's name has to be there, clearly, and nothing should make an agent look like the broker. Whether you also need your license number depends on the state. Your broker knows what yours asks for, and a good brokerage puts it in every agent's signature for them.
Should your signature be a picture or text?
Text, with a picture or two in it. Many inboxes hide pictures until the reader allows them, so a signature that's one big image arrives as a blank box: no name, no phone, no brokerage. Turn the pictures off in the example above and everything that matters is still there, because it's written out.
Text is better on a phone too. A phone number written out is one tap to call. The same number inside a picture can't be tapped, copied or found when someone searches their inbox for you.
So keep the pictures to a small photo, a logo and the social icons, and put your name, brokerage, phone, email, website and license in text.
How does a brokerage give every agent a matching signature?
Set the brokerage's part once, and let agents fill in only their own. The brokerage's name, logo, colour, website, address, any disclaimer and the Equal Housing mark are the same for everyone. The agent's name, title, phone, email, license and photo are theirs.
That's how our free generator's team links work: a broker sets the brand, sends one link, and every agent who opens it gets the brokerage's part already in place, so the only thing they can change is their own details. Every signature matches, and every one has what your state asks for.
How do you add it to Gmail, Outlook or Apple Mail?
Copy it from the generator, then paste it into your email app's signature settings:
- 1Open Gmail on your computer, click the gear icon, then See all settings.
- 2On the General tab, scroll to Signature and click Create new. Give it a name.
- 3Click inside the signature box and paste (Ctrl+V on Windows, Cmd+V on a Mac).
- 4Under Signature defaults, choose it for new emails and for replies and forwards.
- 5Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.
- 1In Outlook on the web or the new Outlook for Windows and Mac, click the gear icon, then Mail, then Compose and reply.
- 2Under Email signature, click New signature and give it a name.
- 3Click inside the editor and paste.
- 4Under Select default signatures, choose it for new messages and for replies and forwards, then click Save.
In classic Outlook for Windows, it's File, Options, Mail, Signatures. Classic Outlook pastes most reliably from Chrome or Edge.
- 1Open Mail, then from the menu bar choose Mail, Settings, Signatures.
- 2Select your email account on the left and click the + button.
- 3Delete the placeholder text on the right and paste.
- 4Untick “Always match my default message font” so the signature keeps its own fonts, then close the window.
Images can show as a broken icon in this window and still work in sent mail. Send yourself a test email to check.
- 1On a computer, paste the signature into a new email and send it to yourself.
- 2On your iPhone, open that email, press and hold on the signature, then Select All and Copy.
- 3Open Settings, then Mail (or Apps, then Mail), then Signature.
- 4Clear the box and paste. If the formatting disappears, shake your phone and tap Undo to bring it back.
The iPhone's Mail app only keeps images when you paste from an email you've received, which is why the first step sends it to you.
Then send yourself an email, and open it on your phone, to check it looks the way you meant.
Is your signature ready?
Open your last sent email and tick what your signature has:
Where does Capped fit?
The signature generator is free, with no account. Use it for yourself, or set your brokerage's brand once and send every agent the link.
For brokerages that want more, Capped's virtual office keeps matching signatures with the rest of what agents need, from joining to listing templates in the brokerage's look, in one office in your brand. It's one flat monthly fee, with every agent included. More in what a brokerage virtual office is.
Questions brokers ask
Do I need my license number in my email signature?
It depends on your state. California requires your license number on first-contact materials, email included. Texas says a license number isn't required in advertising. Ask your broker what yours requires, and when in doubt, include it.
Does my brokerage's name have to be in my signature?
In many states, yes, whenever your email markets your services. Florida asks for the brokerage's licensed name next to your contact details online, Texas for your broker's name, and California for the responsible broker's name.
Should I put REALTOR® in my signature?
Only if you're a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, since the word is its mark for members. In Texas, TREC says REALTOR or agent on its own isn't enough to show you're not the broker, and suggests sales agent.
Should my email signature have a photo?
One small one is a good idea, so people can put a face to your name. Keep everything that matters, like your phone and brokerage, in text, since many inboxes hide pictures until the reader allows them.
Can a brokerage give every agent the same signature?
Yes. With our free generator, a broker sets the brokerage's name, logo, colour and disclaimer once and sends one link. Each agent adds only their own details.
Is the signature generator free?
Yes. It's free, with no account and nothing to download, and it pastes into Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail.
Sources
- California DRE: 10 CCR § 2773, disclosure of license identification number (amended March 2019)
- Florida Administrative Code 61J2-10.025, advertising (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
- Texas Real Estate Commission: what must be in advertisements, including email
Numbers without a source are our own, from running recruiting for our brokerages and our clients', and the text says whose.
