Each email you send makes an impression on your company’s brand. This is especially important when sending emails to important customers, partners, and stakeholders. Make sure the email greeting, body, and closing are all positive and professional. The closing is just as important as the subject line. Avoid generic phrases like “K, thanks” and take the time to write a thought-out closing.
The best email sign off usually includes a beautifully branded email signature and call-to-action banner! Sigstr can help with this valuable piece of digital real estate, but we’ll use this resource to focus on the few lines of text usually located just above the email signature. With that being said, if you’re curious about the significance of email signature marketing, feel free to browse around the Sigstr website (and especially the Sigstr Resource Hub). Just like the email sign off, the email signature can make or break an email.
There are many things to consider when ending an email. Who is the recipient of the email? What is the purpose of the email? Am I representing my entire company or just my personal brand with this email? Knowing who your audience is, along with other context, will help influence what is appropriate or inappropriate to say. In this resource, we’ll first provide options on how to end an email professionally in a business setting. This includes emails to coworkers, subordinates, bosses, partners, customers, and even CEOs. Then we’ll list out guidelines to follow when emailing a professor or teacher in different situations. Finally, we’ll touch on emails to friends and how to properly end a thank you email.
How to End an Email Professionally
Each email you send in a business setting creates an impression of you as a person and reflects on your company’s brand. Here are a few words to avoid with professional email closings:
- Talk to you later
- Later (just by itself)
- Aloha
- Peace! (or Deuces!)
Some of the phrases in the text above may sound ridiculous, but they have all been used in emails at the wrong time. Even though we thought we’d mention them as a little comic relief, we still wanted to let you know.
When ending an email professionally, use similar phrases to those you would use to end a formal letter. Since email has largely replaced written letters, the same etiquette and guidelines can be applied. If you’re unsure how to end a professional letter, keep things formal yet friendly. There are many phrases that can be used in the closing sentence of a business letter. Here are a few examples.
- Sincerely
- Take care
- Thank you for the opportunity
- Thank you for your time
- Regards (or warm regards)
- Let me know how else I can help
- Let me know if you have any questions
If you’re not sure how to end a formal email or how to end an email to a company, you can use examples from old business letters. Be aware that some of the terminology, phrases, and words have changed over the years, so use what sounds natural. Try to be friendly and personable in every email interaction.
As mentioned earlier, a professional email signature that is used by everyone in a company also affects email etiquette in a business setting. If you include the appropriate sign-off, but then have an unprofessional looking email signature below it, the email recipient will still have a bad impression of your company or you as a business professional. So make sure both parts of the email are up to today’s standards.
Whether it’s a regular letter, an email to the entire company, or a meeting with a client, the goal is always the same: to make a positive impression on your personal brand and the brand of the company. Good communication can make or break a deal, win over new customers, and build stronger relationships with key stakeholders.
How to close an email – and why it’s important that you do
When you’re finished with a phone call, Zoom, or face-to-face conversation, you don’t just disappear. You should end your email the same way, to leave a good impression. Email conclusions follow the same format, with email closure remarks followed by a sign-off, the sender’s name, and signature. An email ending should consist of four parts.
1. Email closing line
Email endings are commonly used to signify the end of the correspondence. “Thank you in advance” and similar phrases help the sender deliver the message the way they intended.
2. Email sign-off
A sign-off is a word or phrase, such as “Regards,” that signals that your email has come to its end. The best email sign-off depends on the context. Also, don’t forget to place a comma after it.
3. Your name
If you are familiar with the person you are sending the email to, you can omit your last name. Otherwise, it is best to include your full name to prevent any misunderstanding.
4. Email Signature
In most email exchanges, people do not include their signature with their contact information. A signature typically includes a person’s job title, organization, and contact information, such as a phone number, website, and address.
Your email signature helps the recipient understand who you are and why you are emailing them. However, the details of your email signature are important. The closing of your email message will be the last thing that the recipient reads, so it can significantly impact the response you receive. It is important to write the conclusion of your email with intention to get the best results. Below are examples of different phrases to close an email in various situations.
Formal email endings – 10 formal email closing examples
Formal emails are important emails you send to professors, officials, and representatives of other businesses. These emails are characterized by accurate grammar, punctuation, and spelling and adhere to proper email etiquette.Ending a formal email with the right phrase is important. Many of us don’t need to send formal emails daily, but it’s important to get formal email closing lines just right when we do. Examples of the situations when you need to use formal email ending lines include choosing the closing line for a job application email or closing line for an email to a professor. Below we have put together a list of formal email closing examples that provide formal email ending sentences for various formal email exchanges.
- Thank you once more for your help in this matter
- Any assistance you could give me in this matter would be greatly appreciated
- Please accept this as my formal apology for…
- I would like to express my deep regrets for…
- We would like to apologize in advance for any inconvenience caused
- I am looking forward to hearing from you soon
- I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter
- If I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me
- Thank you for your cooperation on this matter
- Once again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused
Are you still having trouble choosing the right closing sentence for formal emails? It can be tricky to decide on the best closing sentence for a formal email since there is often a lot riding on this type of communication. In addition to these formal email closing lines, you should also be aware of the proper sign-offs to pair with the closing sentence. Your options are as follows.
- Sincerely
- Respectfully
- Yours faithfully
- Kind regards
The article provides 10 examples of formal email closing lines that can be used to end a formal email. If the reader is still unsure which phrase to use to end a formal email, the article provides tips on how to write a formal email.
How to End an Email Asking for Help
It’s important to be mindful of email etiquette not just in the business world, but also in college. If you’re wondering how to email your teacher on Gmail or any other service, the most important rule is to be polite.
This section explains how to write an email to a professor asking for help. The process is covered from how to start the email to how to end the email asking for help when you are in school.
You are probably wondering how to start an email to a professor or how to start an email to a teacher. In both cases, you should put the course and the main reason for your email in the subject line. For example, you may want to say “Chemistry 101 — Deadline Extension Request” if you need more time for your chemistry assignment.
The next step in how to email a teacher about an assignment is including a formal introduction. You can open with the professor or teacher’s title and last name. For example, you could write “Professor Price” or “Mrs. Brown”. You can also include “dear” for an extra bit of formality.
If you are unsure of how to end an email to a professor, you should include your name, degree program, and student ID. For emails to teachers, include the class you are referencing. These same essential rules apply.
So, now you just need to know how to end a letter to a teacher or how to sign off an email to a professor. Here is a how to end an email to a professor example:
Dear Accounting Program, Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it. Student Smith, Accounting Program Student ID: 12345
If you have not been in touch with your professor for a while, you may want to look for a sample email to send to them. In this case, remind the professor who you are and which course you took from them. When looking for tips on how to email your professor, make sure to include all details and do not be too casual. An opening like “Hey, girl, hey” is not appropriate for this setting. When the teacher replies, they may be wondering how to end an email to a student. You can follow their lead in terms of tone and formality.
Cool Sign-Off Phrases
This section looks at some different ways of how to end an email. Check out these email closing lines thank you:
- Kind regards
- Thank you for reading
- Looking forward to meeting you
- Please contact me for additional help
- Best
- Sincerely
- Regards
- Cheers
- Have a great weekend
- Can’t wait for your reply
- Warm wishes
- With gratitude
- Thanks in advance
- Respectfully
- Best wishes
- My best to you and yours
- Lots of love
- Warmly
- Stay tuned…
- Enthusiastically
As you can see, there are different closings for different situations. For example, you can use “love” to close an email to a friend or family member, but not to a work colleague. Warm wishes and best wishes can work for both formal and casual emails. Phrases such as my best or respectfully are best for professional emails or for personal emails where you want to maintain a more professional tone.
If you want to interest the person you are emailing in your sales pitch, try using a closing like “stay tuned”. This sounds positive and excited, without being too familiar. Another option is to use the word “cheers”, which is friendly and casual, but still appropriate for business.
When wondering how to close an email, take note of how others do it. This will give you a good idea of the right direction to go. You might also want to save a few different email signatures in your email settings so you can choose the right signature for different scenarios.