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Professional Email Sign-offs: Beyond 'Best Regards'

Better closing lines for requests, follow-ups, leadership updates, and client communication.

Who This Guide Helps

You want sign-offs that match intent and improve response behavior.

Most communication failures happen under deadline pressure. A structured workflow reduces risk and improves response quality quickly.

Quick Verdict

Good sign-offs reinforce message intent and relationship tone.

Last validation checkpoint: 2026-02-23

Sign-off by Context

The right email sign-off reinforces your message intent and relationship tone, while the wrong one can undermine an otherwise strong email. Indeed's career communication guides highlight sign-offs as one of the most overlooked elements of professional email. Here are ten sign-offs organized by situation, with guidance on when each one works best. For action requests where you need a response by a deadline: 'Looking forward to your input by [date]' — this is polite but clear that you expect a reply, and the date creates accountability. For collaborative messages where you are working toward a shared goal: 'Let me know how I can help move this forward' — this signals partnership and positions you as a resource.

For status updates to managers or stakeholders: 'Happy to discuss further if helpful' — this shows availability without being pushy. For client emails where you are delivering work: 'Please let me know if anything needs adjustment' — this signals confidence in your work while inviting feedback. For follow-up emails where you are waiting on someone: 'Appreciate your time on this' — this is warmer than 'Thanks in advance' without the passive-aggressive pressure. For internal team messages on routine topics: 'Thanks' or 'Talk soon' — keep it light and efficient when the relationship is established.

For first-time outreach to someone senior: 'I appreciate your time and look forward to connecting' — formal enough for a cold introduction, warm enough to build rapport. For difficult conversations or feedback emails: 'I value our working relationship and am happy to discuss' — this reassures the recipient that the feedback is professional, not personal. For emails where you are declining a request: 'I hope this context is helpful — happy to explore alternatives' — this softens the no while keeping the door open. For celebratory or recognition messages: 'Well deserved — looking forward to seeing what is next' — this closes on a forward-looking note.

The pattern across all of these is matching the emotional register of the sign-off to the purpose of the email. An action email ends with an action cue. A relationship email ends with a relationship cue. A formal email ends with a formal cue.

Closings to Avoid

Certain email sign-offs actively undermine your message, and many professionals use them out of habit without realizing the damage. The Grammarly Blog flags several of these habitual closings as high-risk patterns. Here are specific closings to remove from your rotation and why each one creates problems. 'Thanks in advance' is the most common offender. While it seems efficient, it presumes compliance before the person has agreed. Recipients often read it as 'I expect you to do this whether you want to or not.' It is particularly risky when making requests of peers or people senior to you.

Replace it with 'I appreciate your help with this' after stating the request, which acknowledges effort without assuming agreement. 'Regards' by itself, without 'Best' or 'Kind,' reads as cold or clipped to many recipients — almost like you started typing a warmer closing and gave up halfway through. If you want a short professional sign-off, 'Best' alone works better than bare 'Regards.' 'Cheers' is safe in British and Australian business culture but can confuse or feel overly casual in American corporate settings, particularly in emails to clients or senior leadership. Know your audience before using it. 'Sent from my iPhone' is not technically a sign-off, but leaving it as the only thing below your message signals that you did not consider the email important enough to compose thoughtfully. Remove the auto-signature and add a brief professional closing even on mobile. 'Hope that helps!' sounds dismissive when the recipient is dealing with a serious problem.

If someone emailed about a critical issue and you respond with information followed by 'Hope that helps!' it can feel like you are minimizing their concern. 'Let me know' as a standalone closing is vague and easy to ignore. It does not specify what you need to know, by when, or in what format. Replace it with a specific ask: 'Could you confirm the budget amount by Wednesday?' Finally, avoid ending action emails with no sign-off at all. Abrupt endings — where the last sentence is the request and then nothing — can feel demanding. Even a simple 'Thank you' after an ask softens the landing and improves response rates.

High-Use Templates

Building a personal library of tested sign-offs eliminates the decision fatigue of crafting a new closing for every email and ensures consistency in how your messages land. The most effective approach is to create a short list of go-to closings organized by your most common email types, then rotate through them naturally. Start by identifying your five most frequent email scenarios. For most professionals, these are: requests for action, status updates, follow-ups, meeting-related emails, and relationship-building messages.

Assign two to three tested sign-offs to each category and keep them in a note or text expander for quick access. For requests: keep 'Looking forward to your input by [date]' and 'Appreciate your time on this — let me know if you have questions' as your defaults. For status updates: use 'Happy to discuss further' and 'Let me know if any of this needs clarification.' For follow-ups: use 'Appreciate your attention to this' and 'Just want to make sure this stays on track — thanks for your help.' For meeting emails: use 'See you [day]' for confirmations and 'Let me know if the agenda needs any changes' for planning messages. For relationship building: use 'Glad we connected — looking forward to working together' and 'Thanks for sharing your perspective on this.' Beyond the sign-off line itself, consider the full closing paragraph as a unit.

The strongest email closings combine a brief summary of the ask or next step with the sign-off. For example: 'To summarize: I need the updated figures by Thursday and the narrative section by Friday. Let me know if those timelines work. Appreciate your help with this.' This closing does three things — recaps the ask, sets deadlines, and ends warmly.

Over time, you will develop an instinct for which closings produce the best response rates and tone from different audiences. Harvard Business Review suggests tracking response patterns as a lightweight feedback loop for improving your email effectiveness. Pay attention to which sign-offs consistently get fast, positive replies and which ones seem to fall flat, then adjust your library accordingly.

What To Do In The First 5 Minutes

Use this sequence when you are under pressure and need to send a clear message fast.

  1. Find emotionally loaded phrases and replace them with neutral alternatives.
  2. Reduce sentence intensity by removing absolutes.
  3. Convert blame framing into shared-goal framing.
  4. End with a specific next step.

Step-by-Step Workflow

Follow these steps in order. They are designed to reduce rework and avoid avoidable tone mistakes.

  1. Audit phrase-level risk: Most tone failures come from short high-friction phrases, not full paragraphs. Start with phrase substitutions.
  2. Preserve meaning while reducing heat: Keep factual content and deadlines, but rewrite lines that imply accusation, sarcasm, or emotional pressure.
  3. Balance confidence with collaboration: Strong recommendations should be direct, but pair them with rationale and cooperative next steps.
  4. Run a final audience check: Read from the recipient perspective. If the message feels defensive or sharp, soften phrasing without losing clarity.

Sign-off by Intent

Start with this structure, then edit for your company context and recipient seniority.

Decision request: "Please confirm by [time]."
Collaboration: "Happy to adjust if useful."
Follow-up: "Thanks in advance for the update."

Common Mistakes And Fixes

  • Mistake: Over-softening until message becomes vague
    Fix: Soften emotional edges, not the core decision or deadline.
  • Mistake: Using formal wording that sounds cold
    Fix: Use concise plain language with one collaborative sentence.
  • Mistake: Ignoring cultural interpretation
    Fix: Adjust directness by audience and company norms.

Decision Signals

If most of these signals are true, your message is likely ready to send.

  • No phrase sounds accusatory when read aloud.
  • Message remains direct without being blunt.
  • Recipient can act without emotional guesswork.
  • Tone is consistent from opener to close.

Completion Checklist

  • Loaded phrasing replaced with neutral alternatives.
  • Request and timeline remain clear.
  • Closing line supports collaboration.
  • Message reads naturally for workplace context.

Apply This Next

Use this sequence to turn this guide into repeatable behavior at work.

How We Evaluated This

Each guide is reviewed against real workplace drafts and cross-cultural communication scenarios.

  • Test each guide with non-native and native-English sample drafts.
  • Validate tone outcomes on email, Slack, and meeting recap formats.
  • Document edge cases where suggestions sound robotic or culturally off.
  • Re-check Grammarly pricing and offer claims monthly before updates.

FAQ

Is 'Best regards' always safe?

Usually yes, but context-specific sign-offs can improve clarity and response behavior.

Should sign-offs include next steps?

For action emails, yes.