How To End A Professional Email: Best Sign-Offs And Closings

In the contemporary professional landscape, email has become the primary mode of communication, and this has led to some confusion over both how to start and how to end emails. As a job seeker or other professional, adhering to established email etiquette is crucial when composing messages. Every element of your email should be crafted with precision and purpose, leaving a lasting positive impression and increasing the likelihood of a favorable response.

However, beyond constructing a well-structured email, it’s imperative to conclude it with an optimal closing. While it may seem straightforward, choosing the right words can be more challenging than anticipated. A poorly chosen email sign-off can potentially negate the effort you’ve invested in your message. By employing a clear and concise closing, you can ensure that you wrap up your correspondence on a professional note, leaving a strong impression on potential employers.

Below we discuss a few best practices on how to appropriately close an email for maximum effect.

Key Takeaways:

• Most professional emails end with a closing line, your full name, your professional title, and contact information.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of a closing line in an email. It is respectful and helps prevent confusion.

• “Sincerely” and “Regards” are safe choices for formal endings to an email.

• If sending from an iPhone make sure to change the default “Sent from my iPhone” closing.

How to format an email closing

For any email closing, regardless of the profession or industry you’re in, you should include a few key things:

• A closing line. Choose an example email closing line below or make one of your own. Your last line should include a call to action or statement that allows the recipient to know what to do with the email. Sometimes you’ll send an informative email that doesn’t require a response, or there will be times when a response is required. Tailor your closing accordingly.

• Your full name. Use your first and last name rather than an initial or just your first name. This helps to avoid confusion and ensure they know exactly who you are and can find you at a later date.

• Your professional title. Again, depending on the recipient and circumstances, your full title might not be necessary. However, it’s important to indicate what your job entails to give your recipient a little more information about you.

• Contact information. Even though the person might have your email address from the email you’re sending them, it’s good practice to include additional methods of contacting you. This can include LinkedIn profile links or your phone number.

Professional email closing examples

In a more professional setting, you’ll want to be sure you’re maintaining a more formal closing in your emails. There are a few ways to ensure you do this:

Formal and safe email closing options

1. Sincerely. Your bread and butter email closing for cover letters, hiring manager correspondence, and any other formal situation that calls for it. Sincerely is safe and will never convey disrespect, but it’s a bit much for casual emails between coworkers or friends.

2. (Best) regards. Regards is one of the stiffest ways to end an email, but it’s also very safe. Nobody’s ever been offended by “regards.” Best regards implies that you actually know the recipient and regard them well, so be wary about using this with first-time contacts.

Casual email closing options

3. Cheers. This closing is a tried and true closure that works in just about every scenario in a more casual environment. However, this is typically a closure used in British or Australian language, so be aware of how it might come off as an American.

4. Best (wishes). This closure is cheerful and concise. This is one of the most commonly used email sign-offs out there. It exudes familiarity with your contact and doesn’t come off as too formal or too casual. You can also opt for “best wishes” to express a more directly hopeful tone.

Email closings expressing gratitude

5. Thank you. Thank you is another one of those common yet casual sign-offs. It’s thanking the reader for their attention and time to the matter at hand and is a safe way to sign off from the conversation or email thread.

6. With gratitude. This might come across as a bit stuffy, but it also conveys the weight of your thanks. People like to be appreciated for their efforts, so this is a good one to use after someone’s done you a favor.

Additional sample email message closings

There are a wide variety of email closings that are appropriate to choose from when signing off on an email. Below are just a few places to start:

• Best regards

• Wishing you the best

• All the best

• Best

• Warmly

• Warm regards

• Warmest regards

• Cordially

• Thank you

• Thanks

• Many thanks

• Thank you for your consideration

• In appreciation

• With gratitude

• Thank you for your help

• Have a great week

• Hope this is helpful

• Have a great weekend

• Enjoy your weekend

• Cheers

• Be well

How not to end an email

Now that we understand some ways to close your email successfully, let’s take a look at closing to avoid, no matter how casual the email. Beware of these sign-offs and avoid using them in common email exchanges at work:

• Love. This is an inappropriate closing to include in a work email. It’s not appropriate, no matter how close you are to your colleagues. Save this one for your personal emails to friends, family, or your significant other

• Thnx. Avoid using any abbreviations in your closures. This exudes laziness and shows the recipient that you don’t respect their time by not even having enough effort to type out the word in full. This is only appropriate for text message conversations with friends or family.

• Take care. This might seem innocent at first, but the meaning is actually a warning in disguise. Take care means that you’re warning your recipient of potential dangers, which isn’t what you’re aiming to do in an email closing.

• Yours truly. This is similar to a “love” signoff. You are implying that you belong to the recipient, and it’s a strange closure to include in an email. In work settings, this comes off as insincere and awkward.

• Respectfully. This is a closing that is entirely too formal for any interaction unless you’re drafting an email to someone like the Queen of England or the Pope. In a regular work setting, it’s too stiff and too formal.

• Nothing. Don’t miss your chance to offer a closing in your email. Even if you are responding to something from your smartphone, excluding a signature is a mistake. Missing a closure shows that you aren’t paying attention to the details, and you might not care about the people in the thread at all.

• Have a blessed day. Anything religious should be kept out of work emails. Although the intention behind the closure is admirable, it’s just not appropriate for a work environment. However, if you’re emailing with your church volunteer group, this type of closure is appropriate.

• Sent from my iPhone. This is one of the worst ones to sign off with. The iPhone’s template greeting is a sure sign of not being detailed oriented or caring about how you appear to other professionals in your field. Be sure to change this in your settings, especially if you send emails from your phone frequently.

Example emails with sign offs

No two situations are identical, but we’ve laid out ways to approach sign-offs for five common email scenarios. If the email you’re writing doesn’t fit precisely with one of the below categories, consider what level of formality would be the equivalent.

An email to a colleague you write to every day doesn’t need to include a link to your LinkedIn profile and your job title. It may not even require a sign-off at all, beyond your name. But an email to a client or hiring manager needs this information to seem professional and complete.

Notice how the tone and word choice varies depending on the recipient:

1. After a Phone Screening Interview

   Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me today. Please let me know if you need any more information from me.

   Sincerely,

   Martha Ham
   Customer Success Manager
   (555)-555-5555

2. After an In-Person Job Interview

   It was great learning more about the position and ABC Inc.’s five-year plan for carbon neutrality. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

   Best regards,

   Mika Joesa
   Lead Editor
   (888)-888-8888
   www.linkedin.com/in/mikajoesa

3. Responding to an Coworker Request

   I’ll send you over a draft by Tuesday — please let me know if the client makes any other requests before then.

   Thanks,
   Khalid

4. Reaching Out to a Client

   I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss this exciting new project with you at your earliest convenience.

   All the best,

   James Tilda
   Account Manager
   (444)-333-3333

5. Welcoming a New Employee/Coworker

   Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you settle into your new role.

   Warm wishes,

   Margot Billier
   Office Manager
   (222)-222-2222 (ext. 22)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do you end a professional email?

To end a professional email you must be professional. That is you need to make sure both your tone and information are appropriate. When in doubt, especially if you do not know the person, ere on the side of formality. Present a closing line, a formal sign off, your full name, and contact information.

2. How do you end an email after asking a question?

To end an email after asking a question, either thank the person in advance or else acknowledge that you want to hear back from them. Some examples in this situation include: “Thank you for your time”, “I look forward to hearing from you soon”, “Please let me know if you have any questions”.

3. How do you end a casual email?

Ending a casual email all depends on your relationship to the recipient. If you are very close friends, not much is needed. However, if you are only casual friends or acquaintances, then it helps to have a closing line and your first name.

Author

Caitlin Mazur

Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research. Caitlin holds a degree in English from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.