James is an experienced product specialist with a strong background in the IT and SaaS industry. As Senior Product Marketing Manager at Exclaimer, he plays a key role in showcasing the value of centralized email signature solutions and transforming them into a powerful communication tool for organizations.
How to manage email signatures after a merger with Exclaimer
TL;DR
Move every email signature to one platform before go-live, so one change reaches all users and nobody has to maintain their own.
Sync names and titles from each company's directory, then assign email signatures with Signature Rules.
Deploy server-side, so the branding and legal text you set go out on email from any device.
Bloomerang used to email every employee a new email signature template whenever the company needed an update, with no system to make sure it was applied properly. The problem got more urgent when Bloomerang acquired Qgiv. With Exclaimer, the update that used to take weeks now takes 15 minutes.
"A client notices an old logo and wonders whether the transition is actually under control. A prospect receives two emails from the same company that look like they come from two different organizations. That kind of doubt is really hard to measure and hard to recover from."
Source: Rebranding and M&A: Managing brand identity through change
Eight steps move email signatures from two companies to one platform
Step 1: Review the email signatures and platforms you inherit
List what each company sends today before you build anything.
Compare the email signature formats and legal text from both companies.
Confirm which platforms each company runs: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or both. A company on both needs a separate Exclaimer subscription for each.
Check whether employees apply their own email signatures or a tool applies them.
Step 2: Build the templates in the drag-and-drop editor
Build one template for each brand in Exclaimer's drag-and-drop editor. No HTML is needed.
Set the layout and branding once for each brand.
Add user fields like name and job title.
Add the legal disclaimers each entity requires.
Choose which details employees can edit in the User Details Editor. Layout, branding, and disclaimers stay locked.
Your legal team writes the disclaimer wording. Exclaimer applies the wording by rule and doesn't give legal advice.
Step 3: Sync directory data from each company
Turn on directory sync so names and titles fill in from each company's directory. Microsoft 365 organizations sync Microsoft Entra ID attributes, and Google Workspace organizations sync Google Workspace Directory attributes.
Directory sync is only as accurate as the directory, so fix stale job titles there first. And once the directory is right, a new title reaches the email signature on the next sync.
Step 4: Assign email signatures with Signature Rules
Use Signature Rules to give each person the right email signature based on directory details like job title, department, country, or company.
Give internal and external emails different email signatures.
Use a different email signature on replies and forwards.
Run several brands or domains in one setup.
Aprio, a professional services firm that acquires companies every year, runs co-branded email signatures, which show both companies' branding, for acquired teams while they integrate. Aprio's customer story puts the integration period at six to 12 months and the total at 3,964 centralized email signatures.
Step 5: Deploy server-side so email signatures apply on every device
Set up server-side deployment, and Exclaimer applies the email signature as each email is sent. Employees get the same email signature on every device. This works for Microsoft 365 and for Google Workspace.
Step 6: Give marketing and IT their own access
Use role-based access control, which gives each team permissions based on its role, to split ownership between them.
Team | Suggested ownership in Exclaimer |
|---|---|
Marketing or Communications | Template design and campaign banners |
IT | Signature Rules and deployment, plus who can edit what |
Role-based access control can also delegate content rights to HR, Legal, or Compliance, each with defined permissions.
"Ownership is genuinely cross-functional. Brand strategy sits with marketing, legal implications sit with the legal team, and technical rollout sits with IT. The mistake is assuming that one of those owns it entirely."
Source: Rebranding and M&A: Managing brand identity through change
Step 7: Test with a pilot group before go-live
Send test emails from a pilot group in Outlook for Microsoft 365 and in Gmail for Google Workspace, and check that user details and disclaimers are right. The Outlook Add-in also shows people their assigned email signature while they write.
Step 8: Update centrally as the integration moves on
Change a template once, and the update reaches every user on that template. For a phased rollout, schedule changes ahead of time and adjust Signature Rules as teams and structures change. Exclaimer runs different templates and Signature Rules side by side while the integration is in progress.
Customers report hours for a global rollout and minutes for an update
Kersia International deployed uniform email signatures across all its entities and countries in a few hours. Denholm Good Logistics, formed by a merger in January 2024, reports that email signature management dropped from 45 to 50 IT hours a month to a few. Timing depends on how templates and Signature Rules are configured.
Customer | Situation | Published result |
|---|---|---|
| Bloomerang | Acquired Qgiv | Updates that took weeks now take 15 minutes, according to its VP of Customer Marketing, Jessica Cronk Brandt. The story reports a 98% reduction in update time. |
| Kersia International | 3,165 employees across 30+ locations | Uniform email signatures deployed across all entities and countries in a few hours |
| Denholm Good Logistics | Formed in January 2024 by merging Denholm Global Logistics and Good Logistics | Email signature management dropped from 45 to 50 IT hours a month to a few, saving 40+ hours monthly |
Common challenges when managing email signatures during a merger
Exclaimer manages email signatures for several brands from one platform, even when each company sits in its own Microsoft 365 tenant (a separate organization with its own users and domains).
Meritus Gas Partners, an industrial gases distributor built through acquisitions, manages 20+ Microsoft 365 tenants from one platform without merging them into a single environment. Each acquisition brought a new tenant, and Meritus's Microsoft Entra ID sync runs twice a day.
F.I.L.A. S.p.A., a manufacturer whose subsidiary brands include Dixon, Canson, and Lyra, manages 1,400 users from one platform. F.I.L.A. keeps a dedicated template folder for each brand and lets each subsidiary keep its own look. About 200 users from newly acquired companies have joined the platform.
Brand Kits, launched in January 2026, store approved logos, fonts, colors, banners, and disclaimers in one place. A change to a kit reaches every linked template. Each kit holds one brand, so keep a separate Brand Kit for each brand. Starter plans include one Brand Kit, Standard plans up to three, and Pro plans an unlimited number, according to Exclaimer's support documentation.
For more on running several brands, see the guide to managing email signatures for multiple brands. If the integration includes a full rebrand, email signatures after a rebrand has the steps for that part.
Left to employees, email signatures drift apart in five ways after a merger
Email signatures drift apart after a merger because nothing aligns the two companies' formats and legal text. Exclaimer's State of Business Email 2025 report (Censuswide, April 4 to 16, 2025) found that 80% of 4,009 IT professionals in the UK, US, Germany, and Australia still rely on manual methods to update email signatures.
Problem | What it looks like | How Exclaimer handles it |
|---|---|---|
Mixed branding | Recipients see different company names and logos depending on who sends the email. | Templates set one design for each brand, and employees can only edit the details IT opens up. |
Old company details | Emails carry outdated job titles or phone numbers. | Directory sync copies job titles and phone numbers from Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace Directory into each email signature. |
Uneven disclaimers | Disclaimer wording differs between the legal entities, or is missing. | Disclaimers apply by rule for each user, region, brand, or audience, and employees can't edit or remove them. |
Separate platforms | Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are separate environments, so IT configures email signatures in each one on its own. | Exclaimer supports both, with a separate subscription for each platform. |
Manual updates | Employees are emailed a new template, and the update depends on each of them applying it. | Server-side deployment applies the email signature on the server as each email is sent, with no action from users. |
Test your merger rollout with a free trial of Exclaimer
Exclaimer's 14-day free trial runs in your own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace environment. Build a template and connect your directory, then test with a pilot group before you commit to a go-live date.
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