I was recently asked “what is the most professional way to sign off on an email?” I answered this question with two questions “who are you emailing and for what purpose?”.
If you are new to a leadership role, it’s understandable that you want to ensure all communications to be of a professional standard. As emails have become so mainstream and frequent, they can easily start becoming casual in nature.
When thinking about emails in business, don’t just think about those that you are composing yourself from scratch, think also about emails that may be automatically generated from within your system, such as invoices. I recommend where possible, update the content of these emails to create a professional yet personal touch point, because at the end of this email, a person is opening it,
Email etiquette is something every new manager should be aware of, and emails sign off in particular should be consistent with the tone and objective of the email.
Below is a list of email sign offs I have received over the past 12 months (yes, I audited my received email to create this list). These emails have been grouped according to type and tone of the email.
A comprehensive list of professional email sign offs:
Formal email sign offs:
- Regards
- Kind regards
- Yours sincerely
- Best regards
- Kindest regards
- Warmest regards
- Sincerely
- Warm regards
Friendly email sign offs for business:
- Thanks
- Many thanks
- Thoughts?
- Cheers
- Thank you
- Take care
- Safe travels
- With thanks
- Many thanks and kind regards
- Best
Email sign offs for requests:
- Thank you for your assistance
- Thank you for your continued support
- Thanks so much for your patience
- With gratitude
- Thanks in advance
Emails sign offs that aren’t professionally but are ok between close friends (not business emails):
- Thank you and take care
- Have a great day!
- Cheers and look forward to catching up sometime.
- For now stay safe, and keep washing your hands!
- Thank you – and stay well!
- Thanks 🙂
- Stay safe
- Thanks so much
- Talk soon
- We’re all in this together
- Happy Friday!
- Have a great weekend.
- Thanks heaps!
- All the best
- Please take care of one another – we are in this together
- All the very best
- Ciao
- Enjoy!
- Until next time
- See you soon
- I wish you all the best
- Have a great week
- See you there
- Good luck!
- Always here for you
Email sign offs that are questionable (again, I personally would not use):
- Mindfully yours
- Sincerely yours
- From
- Hope you enjoy and are inspired
Email sign offs relating to marketing exercises:
- Happy dropboxing
- Thank you for choosing zoom
- We look forward to connecting with you.
- Welcome to the tribe
- Your plan matters
- You ready for this?
- To your success
- Shine on
NOTE: I’m not a big fan of these. If you going to use something like this, please be sure that it actually makes sense to your customers.
Business email sign offs to avoid (all together):
- BLANK – no sign off at all
- Just your first initial J
- With SO much love 💖
- Thx
Conclusion
This above list of sign off, is only what i have received over the past 12 months, i’m sure there are plenty more different variations. Our advice, first think about who you are emailing, what you are emailing them about and whether the sign off matches the intent. If in doubt, go with the most professional kind of sign off.
What’s the most unprofessional email sign off you’ve seen?