What Is A Good Email Closing?

by Hanifa on May 30, 2011 in Language

One of the questions posted today on my Google Language Group is about closing an email.

Can anyone suggest a good closing for e-mails. I’ve been using “Thanks”, which is kind of lame since I don’t always have any reason to be thanking.

It seems that most people use “regards” and I find it quite pleasant when I receive it, but I doesn’t fit my personality for some reason. It may just be the fact that everyone else is doing it.

Can anyone suggest some less common?

I guess the trend is away from any salutation or closing. But there are many occasions where something is needed.

Thanks (here I’m thanking in advance for all the help I will be receiving.)

Paul

To which I responded:

When I was in school, I was taught to write letters. The same
principle of closing my letters is now being applied to my emails. I
use the followings:

For business
Yours faithfully

For personal
Yours truly

General
Yours sincerely

I use ‘Thanks and best regards’ all the time at the end of my letters
or emails, unless it is one of those to the government department in
which I have to make a formal complaint about a noise pollution in my
neighbourhood.

Best regards

Yours sincerely
Hanifa K. Cook

I actually do not think ”Best regards”, “Thanks and best regards” or “Regards” to be email closing statements. But I recently discovered myself using it in a recent email.

Can anyone suggest some less common email closing statements?

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6 Responses to “What Is A Good Email Closing?”

Ann Hawkins May 30, 2011 at 9:55 am #

I almost always use “Best wishes”
Ann Hawkins´s last [type] ..Hope and Optimism
Hanifa May 30, 2011 at 10:32 am #

Ha, I can sure use some of your friendly and chirpy closing. For non-native English speakers, it is not always easy to understand what tone these closing presents. “Best wishes” is most popular.
Stowe Boyd May 31, 2011 at 11:52 am #

I — and many others — close with ‘Best’ as in best wishes, best regards, etc.
Hanifa May 31, 2011 at 11:10 pm #

That’s really easy to remember. It does remind me so much of the kind of straightforward lingo which many languages tend to approve of. “Best” , unfortunately, is not accepted in an English language paper.
Kristian Hansen June 1, 2011 at 9:35 pm #

- Best Wishes (easy and clean)
– Ride Safe (to my cyclist friends)
– Rock On! (if I am writing a letter to someone I admire or who is innovative)
- Regards (businessey)
– Keep it Real ( to younger types – like me at 28)

I found these in my last weeks’ worth of emails, but my most common email closings were “Thanks” or ” Regards” or “Best”

-Kristian
Hanifa June 4, 2011 at 3:11 am #

Yes Ann. I think that is best for many reasons. It as Kristian says, very clean.