Email closings: Tips for Creating Professional or Casual Email Closings
– Email Closings –
Email closings: Email closings are the last thing your audience reads after finishing your message and can be the motivating factor in how quickly they respond—or whether they respond at all. This article explains how to create a professional and casual email ending.
Tips for creating a Professional Email Closings
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you compose your email closings:
- Use your full name. Always include your first and last name in your closing—especially in the first few correspondences. This way, your recipient is clear on your identity and is less likely to confuse you with other contacts who have the same first name.
- Be professional. Use context clues to determine the appropriate tone to use in your closing. If you are emailing someone you’ve never met, keep a professional tone by avoiding casual sign-offs like “Chat soon!” If you have exchanged several emails and feel that a more laid-back closing would be more appropriate, feel free to mirror your audience’s tone. If you’re unsure, it’s always a good idea to err on the side of a professional.
- Decide whether a closing is appropriate. If you’ve exchanged several emails with someone, it can be tempting to skip the closing. In this case, it is good to be thoughtful about including closing in your email. While your conversations might have become more casual, an email closing still exhibits attention to detail and professionalism. Additionally, the recipient may forward your email to others within the organization who may not have communicated with you previously. A thoughtful closing will leave a favorable impression on them and makes the communications clear and easy to follow.
What to Include in your Email Closings
There are a few elements you should consider when writing your email closing. Here’s what you’ll need to include:
1. A closing line
The last line of your email should not only share gratitude with the recipient for reading your message but also include a call-to-action or statement that will either motivate the recipient to respond or shows you anticipate a response. For example, a closing line might look like this:
Thank you for taking the time to review my resume and professional references. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Sincerely,
Beth McKnight
2. Your full name
Use first and last names in your email sign-off to avoid confusion and help ensure they remember you. By using your full name in your email signature, resume, cover letter and any other documents you share, your chances of getting a response should be increased.
3. Your professional title
You don’t necessarily need to use your current job title (i.e., Account Manager at ABC Company), but it can be helpful to include a title that illustrates what you do. For example,
Joe Jefferson
Sales Manager
4. Contact information
Even though the person receiving your message already has your email address, it’s important to include additional methods of communication, such as your direct phone number.
Phrases to use and avoid in Professional Email Closings
While some more casual closing phrases might be fine once you’re already working at a company and exchanging communications with colleagues, you’ll want to make sure the phrases you use during the hiring process are more professional.
Classic Email Sign-Offs
- [Your name or initials] (ideally followed by a digital signature and contact information)
- Sincerely
- Thanks
- Thanks again
- Best
- Love
- Cheers
- Warmly
- Looking forward to your reply
- Regards
- Take Care
Formal Email Closings
- Fond regards
- Sincerely yours
- Cordially
- Kind regards
- Respectfully yours
- Yours sincerely
- Yours respectfully
- Cordially yours
- With sincere gratitude and appreciation
- Very respectfully
- Best regards
How to End a Business Email Professionally
- Best regards
- Thanks for your consideration
- Kindest regards
- I await your reply with interest
- With anticipation
- Many thanks
- Cheers
- Respectfully
- Keep in touch
- I’ll circle back
- Good luck
- Hope to hear from you soon
- Stay tuned
- Emphatically
- Keep me posted
- Looking forward to it
- Good work
- Solid work
- Great working with you
- Keep up the good work
- Feel free to give me a call
- Hoping you can work me in
- Hope this helps
- Let me know if you have any questions
- Let me know what you think
- Let me know soon
- I’ll let you know soon
- Xx [Your name] (e.g. Xx Sam Mendoran)
Informal Ways to End an Email to a Colleague
- Wish you were here
- See you soon
- Be well
- Ciao
- Can’t wait to hear from you
- Hope all is well
- Talk soon
- Very truly yours
- Yours
- Your friend
- Your pal
- Your [relation to recipient]
- All the best
- Best wishes
- Take care
- Fond regards
- Hugs
- Aloha
- Hasta La Vista
- See you around
- Peace and love
- Take it easy
- Peace be with you
- Blessings
- Our thoughts are with you
- Hoping for your continued blessings
- Until next time
- Safe travels
- Rock on
- Talk to you later (ttyl)
- Tata for now (ttfn)
- You’re the best
- Later
How to Close a Thank You Email
- Thank you
- Thanks for your help
- Thanks very much
- Thanks for your time
- Thanks for pointing me in the right direction
- Thanks in advance
- Thanks for your consideration
- Can’t thank you enough
- It was a pleasure doing business with you
- Thanks a million
- I appreciate your time
- With appreciation
- Much appreciated
- Happy to help
- Let me know if you need anything
- Let me know what else I can do
- Let me know what looks good
- Let me know what looks interesting
- Stay Awesome
- You rock
- Rock and roll
- At your service
- You’re the best
- Good job
- With gratitude
- Undying gratitude
- Everlasting gratitude
Casual and Funny Email Sign-Offs
Only use these if you and the person you’re emailing have a close and friendly relationship. These should not be used for formal emails to clients.
- May the Force be with you
- Live long and prosper
- Only you can prevent forest fires
- These aren’t the droids you’re looking for
- Constant vigilance!
- Do, or do not
- Just my two cents
- Don’t let the bedbugs bite
- From the mind of a genius
- Peace out
- I’ll be back
- See ya later
- Later alligator
- Winter is coming
- Watch your back
- Remember the Alamo
- Stay hydrated
- To infinity and beyond
- Hakuna matata
- Keep on keepin’ on
- Stay strong
- Signing off for now
- That’s all for now
- Cheerio
- Eat your veggies
- Carpe Diem
- Onward and upward
- Take Care, Comb your hair
- May I always live to serve you and your crown
- Power to the people
- Stopping, Dropping, and Rolling
- “No trees were killed to send this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.” (h/t Neil deGrasse Tyson)
Email Closings for Business Events or Professional Occasions
- Happy holidays
- Hope you can make it
- Happy New Year
- Merry Christmas
- Joy and happiness
- Laughing all the way
- Enjoy your holiday
- Enjoy your vacation
- Enjoy your weekend
- Enjoy your [day of the week]
- Have a good one
- Have a good time
- Have a good day
- Have a great day
- Stay safe
- Hope you feel better soon
- Get well soon
- Sending you good vibes
- Glad you had a good time
- Please give them my best
- Say “Hi” to them for me
- Congratulations again
Read Also: How to Write & Format a Professional Business Letter.
Nine Email Sign-offs to Avoid
Love
I have a friend who once accidentally signed an office email to his entire department with love. He never lived it down. Save this one for family, close friends, and your significant other. The same applies to hugs or XOXO.
Thx or Rgrds
You’re not thirteen, and this isn’t a conversation happening in a messaging app. Use your words.
Take care
On the surface, taking care sounds pleasant, but on closer examination, it seems to imply that the recipient should be wary of potential dangers. Use this only if bears lurk by the Dumpster outside the recipient’s office. (We’re only half kidding!)
Looking forward to hearing from you
This one also sounds nice at first, but it’s ultimately passive-aggressive. Your recipient is likely to hear an implied “You’d better write back.”
Yours truly
Do you really, truly belong to the recipient? Nope. This sounds insincere and hokey . . . unless you’re writing a letter home to your parents from summer camp.
Respectfully / Respectfully yours
This one’s okay if you’re sending a formal missive to the POTUS, but it’s too formal for anything else. In fact, according to Business Insider, respectfully yours is the standard close for addressing government officials and clergy.
[Nothing at all]
We live in a world where people frequently email from mobile devices, so excluding a signature certainly isn’t a no-no as an email chain progresses, particularly if your recipient also drops the more formal sign-off.
But not signing an initial email or using only the formal signature you’ve created to append to your outgoing emails appears impersonal.
(Bloomberg disagrees, stating that email has become more like instant messaging than true correspondence these days, but we’re sticking to our convictions.)
-[Name] or -[Initial]
While this sort of sign-off may work for very brief, informal emails, it’s too cold and detached for most, particularly when you’re connecting with the recipient for the first time.
Have a blessed day
It’s best to keep anything with religious overtones out of your professional correspondence, although this one’s fine if you’re emailing an acquaintance about what you’re bringing to the church potluck.
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