Professional Email Sign-Offs: 40+ Examples for Every Situation

A professional email sign-off is the closing phrase placed before your name and email signature at the end of a message. It signals tone, conveys respect, and shapes how your recipient perceives you. The right sign-off reinforces your professionalism and leaves a lasting impression on every email you send.

Professional email sign-off: A short closing phrase like "Best regards" or "Kind regards" placed before your name at the end of an email. It sets the tone of your message, signals your relationship with the recipient, and acts as the bridge between your email body and your email signature.

Most professionals send between 30 and 50 emails per day. That means your sign-off is repeated thousands of times per year, yet few people give it much thought. According to a Boomerang study analyzing over 350,000 email threads, emails that closed with a variation of "thanks" received 62% more responses than those without a sign-off. Separately, HubSpot research found that 46% of professionals consider the sign-off when forming an impression of the sender.

Your sign-off is not decoration. It is a micro-interaction that happens with every message you send, and getting it right matters more than most people realize.

Why Your Email Sign-Off Matters

Your email sign-off does three things at once:

1. Sets the emotional tone of your message. "Cheers" feels different from "Respectfully." The words you choose tell the reader how to interpret everything above them.
2. Signals the relationship dynamic. A first-time email to a CEO calls for a different close than a reply to a teammate you work with daily.
3. Bridges to your email signature. The sign-off is the transition between your message content and your name, title, and contact details. A mismatched sign-off and signature combination looks sloppy.

Think of your sign-off as the handshake at the end of a conversation. Too firm and it feels stiff. Too loose and it feels careless. Matching the sign-off to the situation is a small skill with outsized impact.

Best Professional Email Sign-Offs

Formal Sign-Offs

Use these when writing to executives, new contacts, government officials, legal correspondents, or anyone you have not built a relationship with yet.

1. Best regards - The gold standard. Safe for virtually any professional context.
2. Kind regards - Slightly warmer than "Best regards." Popular in European business communication.
3. Sincerely - Traditional and formal. Best for cover letters, official correspondence, and first-contact emails.
4. Respectfully - Reserved for authority figures, senior executives, or formal institutions.
5. With appreciation - Shows gratitude without being overly casual.
6. Regards - Short, neutral, and professional. Works when you want minimal warmth.
7. Yours sincerely - Common in British English for formal letters and emails.
8. With respect - Strong formality signal. Suitable for sensitive or high-stakes messages.

Semi-Formal Sign-Offs

These work well for ongoing professional relationships, client communication, and team-adjacent contacts.

9. Best - The most popular email sign-off in business. Clean and universally appropriate.
10. Thank you - Simple, genuine, and works in almost any context.
11. Thanks so much - Adds warmth without crossing into casual territory.
12. Looking forward to hearing from you - Shows engagement and invites a response.
13. Warm regards - Friendly but professional. Popular with client-facing roles.
14. Many thanks - Slightly more expressive than "Thank you." Common in UK business culture.
15. All the best - Positive and warm while remaining professional.
16. With gratitude - Ideal when someone has helped you or gone out of their way.
17. Talk soon - Forward-looking and friendly. Best when you have an established rapport.

Casual Sign-Offs

Reserve these for colleagues you know well, internal team communication, and informal professional settings.

18. Cheers - Casual and friendly. Popular in international teams.
19. Thanks! - The exclamation mark adds energy. Use with people who match that tone.
20. Have a great day - Warm and personal without being unprofessional.
21. Enjoy your weekend - Context-specific but effective when timed right.
22. Chat soon - Friendly and conversational. Good for close working relationships.
23. Take care - Genuine warmth. Works well for longer email exchanges.
24. Hope this helps - Natural close when providing information or answering questions.
25. Until next time - Light and forward-looking. Best for recurring collaborations.

Sales and Outreach Sign-Offs

When you are prospecting, following up, or moving a deal forward, your sign-off should encourage action.

26. Looking forward to connecting - Invites engagement without pressure.
27. Let me know if you have any questions - Opens the door for follow-up.
28. Happy to chat further - Low-pressure and helpful.
29. Would love to hear your thoughts - Encourages a response by showing genuine interest.
30. Let me know how I can help - Service-oriented and non-pushy.
31. Excited to explore this with you - Enthusiastic but professional.
32. Here if you need anything - Supportive and available.

Follow-Up Sign-Offs

For second, third, or fourth touches where you want to stay polite without sounding desperate.

33. Just circling back - Acknowledges the follow-up directly.
34. Checking in on this - Neutral and non-aggressive.
35. Any updates on your end? - Direct question that prompts a reply.
36. Thanks for your time on this - Shows appreciation for their attention.
37. Appreciate your consideration - Gracious and patient.

Thank-You Sign-Offs

When gratitude is the primary purpose of your email, lean into it with your close.

38. Thanks again - Reinforces appreciation mentioned earlier in the email.
39. Truly grateful - Personal and sincere for meaningful gestures.
40. I really appreciate it - Conversational warmth with genuine thanks.
41. Your help means a lot - Adds emotional weight when someone went above and beyond.
42. Thank you for everything - Broad appreciation, best used sparingly for real impact.

Email Sign-Offs to Avoid

Not all sign-offs are created equal. Some actively hurt your credibility. Here are the ones to drop from your rotation:

"Sent from my iPhone" - This is not a sign-off. It is a default setting that tells recipients you did not care enough to personalize your email. Remove it or replace it with a proper close.

"Thx" - Abbreviations signal laziness. If you have time to write the email, you have time to write "Thanks."

"Best wishes" - While not terrible, it reads more like a greeting card than a business email. It can feel passive.

"Yours truly" - Overly intimate for professional contexts. Save this for personal letters.

"Love" - Unless you are emailing a close friend or family member, this is a hard no in professional settings.

"XOXO" - Never appropriate in business communication. Full stop.

"Stay blessed" - Religious references can make recipients uncomfortable regardless of your intent.

"Have a blessed day" - Same issue. Keep professional communication secular.

"Ciao" - Unless you are writing in Italian, this comes across as affected or pretentious in English-language business emails.

No sign-off at all - Ending abruptly without a closing phrase feels cold and dismissive. Even a simple "Thanks" is better than nothing.

How to Choose the Right Sign-Off

Choosing the right sign-off is not about memorizing a list. It is about asking yourself three quick questions before you hit send:

1. Who is receiving this email?

Recipient	Recommended Tone	Example Sign-Offs
CEO or executive you have never met	Formal	Best regards, Sincerely
Client you work with regularly	Semi-formal	Best, Warm regards
Teammate on your own team	Casual	Cheers, Thanks!
Prospect on a cold outreach	Professional but warm	Looking forward to connecting
Government or legal contact	Formal	Respectfully, Regards

2. What is the purpose of this email?

• Requesting something: Close with gratitude. "Thank you" or "Appreciate your time."
• Providing information: Close with helpfulness. "Hope this helps" or "Let me know if you have questions."
• Following up: Close with patience. "Checking in" or "Appreciate your consideration."
• Building a relationship: Close with warmth. "Looking forward to connecting" or "Talk soon."

3. What is the current relationship temperature?

Think of your professional relationships on a warmth scale:

• Cold (first contact, no prior relationship): Stick with formal. "Best regards" or "Sincerely."
• Warm (you have exchanged a few emails): Move to semi-formal. "Best" or "Thanks so much."
• Hot (you work together regularly): Casual is fine. "Cheers" or "Talk soon."

A good rule of thumb: mirror the other person's sign-off. If they write "Cheers," you can write "Cheers" back. If they write "Best regards," stay at that level of formality.

Sign-Off + Email Signature Best Practices

Your sign-off and your email signature work as a pair. A polished sign-off followed by a messy signature undermines the impression you just set. Here is how to make them work together:

Keep spacing consistent

Your sign-off should sit one line above your name. Your name should connect directly to your title and company. Avoid extra blank lines that create visual disconnects.

Good:

Best regards,
Sarah Chen
Head of Partnerships | Acme Corp
sarah@acme.com | +1 555 0123

Bad:

Best regards,



Sarah Chen


Head of Partnerships

Acme Corp

Match the tone

If your sign-off is casual ("Cheers"), your signature should not include a three-paragraph legal disclaimer. If your sign-off is formal ("Respectfully"), your signature should not have emoji or animated GIFs.

Standardize across your team

When every person on your team uses a different sign-off and a different signature format, your company looks disorganized. Inconsistency signals a lack of attention to detail.

With Signkit, you can deploy consistent email signatures across your entire organization while letting individuals choose from a set of approved sign-off options. Your brand stays cohesive and every email ends professionally. Explore our templates to see how unified signatures look in practice.

Consider mobile rendering

Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Your sign-off and signature need to look clean on small screens. Avoid signatures wider than 600 pixels, and make sure phone numbers and links are tappable. Read more in our email signature etiquette guide.

Do not repeat information

If your sign-off says "Thank you, John Smith" and your signature also displays "John Smith," you have doubled up. Let your sign-off carry the warmth and let your signature carry the details.

Regional Considerations

Email sign-off conventions vary by geography and culture. What works in New York might feel odd in London or Tokyo.

• US and Canada: "Best" and "Thanks" dominate professional email. Short and efficient is valued.
• UK and Ireland: "Kind regards" and "Many thanks" are standard. "Cheers" is common even in semi-formal contexts.
• Germany and Austria: "Mit freundlichen Grussen" (with kind regards) is the norm. Direct translations to English often use "Best regards."
• France: "Cordialement" is the standard professional close. In English correspondence, French professionals often use "Kind regards."
• Japan: Formal closings are the default. When writing in English, Japanese professionals typically use "Best regards" or "Sincerely."
• Australia: "Cheers" is widely used across all levels of formality. It carries less casual connotation than it does in the US.

When in doubt with international contacts, "Best regards" is the safest universal choice.

Sign-Off Mistakes That Hurt Response Rates

Beyond choosing the wrong words, there are structural mistakes that reduce how often people reply to your emails:

Inconsistent sign-offs within an email thread. Switching from "Sincerely" to "Cheers" mid-thread signals a lack of intentionality. Pick a sign-off and stay with it through the conversation.

Overly long closings. "Thank you so much for your time and consideration, I really appreciate you taking a moment to read this and look forward to hearing your thoughts at your earliest convenience" is not a sign-off. It is a paragraph. Keep it to three words or fewer.

Mismatched formality. If your email body is casual and conversational but you close with "Most respectfully yours," the tonal shift creates awkwardness. Your close should match your content.

Forgetting the comma. "Best regards" without a comma before your name looks rushed. The comma is standard and expected.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best professional email sign-off?

"Best regards" is widely considered the safest and most versatile professional email sign-off. It works across industries, cultures, and levels of formality. If you only want to remember one sign-off, this is the one. For slightly warmer contexts, "Best" alone is equally effective and has become the most common sign-off in modern business email.

Is "Best" too informal for professional emails?

No. "Best" has become one of the most widely used sign-offs in professional email globally. It is appropriate for clients, colleagues, executives, and partners. The only contexts where you might want something more formal are legal correspondence, government communication, or first-time emails to very senior contacts where "Best regards" or "Sincerely" would be a better fit.

Should I use a different sign-off for every email?

Not necessarily. Consistency is more important than variety. Choose two or three sign-offs that match your professional style and rotate based on context. Use one for formal situations, one for everyday communication, and one for warmer interactions. Switching your sign-off constantly can come across as indecisive or inconsistent.

What is the difference between a sign-off and an email signature?

A sign-off is the closing phrase of your email, like "Best regards" or "Thank you." An email signature is the block of contact information, branding, and links that appears below your name. The sign-off sets the tone; the signature provides practical details. Together, they form the complete ending of your email. Tools like Signkit help you manage both consistently across your team.

Do email sign-offs affect response rates?

Yes. Research from Boomerang found that emails closing with a thankful sign-off like "Thanks in advance" or "Thank you" saw significantly higher response rates than emails with no sign-off or with neutral closings. The sign-off signals that you value the recipient's time and attention, which encourages them to engage. Pairing the right sign-off with a clean, professional email signature reinforces credibility even further.

Key Takeaways

• Choose your sign-off based on recipient, purpose, and relationship warmth rather than defaulting to the same phrase for every email.
• "Best regards" is the safest universal choice for professional email, working across cultures, industries, and formality levels.
• Thankful sign-offs boost response rates by up to 62%, according to Boomerang's analysis of 350,000+ email threads.
• Your sign-off and email signature work as a pair and should match in tone, spacing, and formality. Use a tool like Signkit to keep them consistent across your organization.
• Avoid abbreviations, religious phrases, overly intimate closings, and no sign-off at all because each of these undermines the professional impression you have built in the body of your email.