The Essential Guide On How To End An Email

You can write a flawless email body, but if you use the wrong sign-off, it can all go wrong. While closing your email is just a few words, followed by your signature, it often requires a surprising amount of thought and finesse. With our guide on how to end an email, you will learn how to close off an email with style and finesse.

There are many factors to consider when it comes to ending an email. Do you know who the recipient of the email is? Why is the email being sent? With this email, are you representing the entire company or just my personal brand? It is always recommended to send an email sign-off to coworkers, professors, friends, and family members.

It’s best to consider the context when trying to decide how to end an email. When you are communicating strictly professionally with someone, you have never met before, or a distant acquaintance, what works for a friend won’t work for you. We’ve rounded up some of the essential email send-offs that will end your email on the perfect note.

How To End An Email In A Professional Way

1. As Ever

When you have built an ongoing working relationship with someone, this is a good choice. Your contact feels reassured that things are as good as they have ever been between you.

2. Best

This is a cheerful and pithy way of conveying best wishes. If you receive a lot of emails, you know this sign-off is used by nearly everyone. This familiarity makes it seamless, just as regards is seamless in more formal emails. If you want to deliver a dynamic, attention-getting message, it can be dull and safe.

3. Cheers

In a recent study, cheers, rather than a thank-you, were found to be the most likely sign-off to get an email response. The approach works well if your email is friendly and conversational, but it might appear affected in a more formal setting unless you are British or Australian. Cheers!

4. Best Wishes

The sign-off is a good blend of friendliness and formality, but note that it has a greeting-card vibe, so use it only when it fits well with the tone of your email.

5. Sincerely

Are you preparing a cover letter? Letter of resignation? Signing off in a sincere tone conveys the right tone for formal correspondence. However, it may come across as stuffy in more informal business correspondence.

6. Regards

Despite being stuffy, this style works in professional emails precisely because it’s unassuming and unremarkable.

Essential Things To Include in an Email Closing

These are the things every good email closing should include:

You should use a professional email closing unless you are sending the email to a close friend or colleague. You may want to consider using a semi-professional closing remark in that case. 

If you are emailing a very close friend, use your full name (first and last) instead of just your first name. It might be a good idea to use your full name even then in order to avoid any confusion.

Be sure to include your current title and company, especially if you are contacting someone outside of your company. Your signature should not include your employment information if you’re applying for a job.

Contact information should always be included at the end of an email. If you have a LinkedIn profile URL, you can include it along with your phone number. Even though the recipient will already know your email address, you might consider including it in your message.

How To Format An Email Closing 

In addition to having all the parts in an email closing, it is important that they are formatted correctly as well. The first thing you should do is include a comma after your closing statement. A space should be added after this. Your typed (full) name should appear after the space. Below this, include your title, company, and any contact information you wish to include.

How Not To End An Email

[Nothing]

Currently, people frequently email from mobile devices, so excluding a signature isn’t a problem as an email chain progresses, especially if your recipient does the same. Your outgoing emails appear impersonal if you don’t include anything in your initial email or use only your formal signature.

Sent from my iPhone

There may be no doubt that this is the most popular sign-off. There is no doubt that it has merits. In this way, brevity and typos can be explained away. After all, who’s their best when typing on the phone? But it also shows that you aren’t motivated enough to do away with the default email signature that came installed with your phone’s email app.