How to finish my emails..

Sincerely, SlyGuy

[SlyGuy]

As with many here at WebmasterWorld, I find 30% of my day consists of writing and responding to emails.

I slip into a routine of using the same finishing line in all my business related email correspondences..

Sincerely,
Whoever

..recently though, I've been wondering what others use. My clients use everything from "thanks", "best regards", "cheers" to complex concoctions like "thanks and best wishes"

How do you finish an email to a client/business associate?

[edit_g]

If I don't know them well: regards or best regards.

If I know them well: cheers (which is pretty common down under) :)

[Rosalind]

I use "Regards" and "Kind regards" for most emails. Sincerely is okay, but it smacks of the snail mail convention, and nobody begins emails with "Dear Sir," do they?

[vkaryl]

I tend to not "salutate" at all, to someone I've already had correspondence with, business or otherwise; and depending on the TYPE of correspondence with them, I sometimes don't "sign" the mail at all - I simply use my first initial, with no qualifier such as "sincerely" etc.

Serious business in this area of the US doesn't DO business by email much, and when it does use email, it DOES salutate "To Whom It May Concern", "Gentlemen" (*sigh* as patriarchally antiquated as THAT might be), or "Dear Sir"/"Dear Madam". The signature is generally headed by "Sincerely" or "Cordially" or "With Regards" etc. Just depends on where your physical "business" is (if you have one), and what your "black hole of the universe" email correspondents seem to expect....

I try to err on the side of formality until it becomes obvious that the guy on the other end of the email thinks I have a poker up my whatever....

[Mr Bo Jangles]

I disagree with the previous poster on this matter.
IMO, e-mails can more often than not be mis-interpreted in tone, and it is *way* too easy for the recipient to think it was 'abrupt' - I think we all need to extend ourselves even more so with e-mails and try and make them sound 'friendlier' - and I'm talking all e-mails here, business and personal.

[vkaryl]

Okay. But I'm an "abrupt" person, personally as well as in business. In business, I'm businesslike. I'm not "personal". Personal doesn't have much if any place in business. Personal belongs somewhere else.... and I haven't necessarily found it yet. I don't LIKE people as a rule, and I don't WANT to be "personal" with anyone....

F'rinstance, it would NEVER occur to me that I should go out drinking with business contacts, or golfing, or whatever. How SILLY. How "good ol' boy"....

All my business associates expect of me is that I DO business - theirs, which of course translates to mine.... Thankfully. The rest of you play those '80s games if you want.... There again, it's what EACH person is comfortable with for herself.

[Oh. One other point, MrBJ - the REASON I do what I do as regards emails is YOUR statement about how their tone might be "misinterpreted".... jeez....]

[plumsauce]

being polite has never hurt anyone's reception.

[sem4u]

I usually go for "Kind Regards" or "Many Thank's" depending on the content of the e-mail.

[MatthewHSE]

Personal doesn't have much if any place in business. Personal belongs somewhere else.... and I haven't necessarily found it yet. I don't LIKE people as a rule, and I don't WANT to be "personal" with anyone....

Depends on what business you're in and how you relate to your customers, associates and other contacts. In many businesses, a personal relationship is necessary, desirable, and expected. In my business, I DO like most or all of the people I work with. E-mails on business topics will often also include one or two lines about personal matters:

- How did your vacation go?
- Have you gotten your flowers planted yet?
- Just spent yesterday fixing the laWebmasterWorlder; hope yours doesn't give you as much trouble as we have with ours!

I don't think it hurts anything, and it maintains a nice relationship with the people one is working with. Of course it depends on the industry. If I were working with another group of people, little bits of personal chit-chat could be annoying, distracting or inappropriate.

I think the bottom line is, act with your business contacts in whatever way is most comfortable for all parties concerned. If you're working with a chatty group of people, then be chatty and fit in. If you're working with a no-nonsense professional group of people, be no-nonsense professional. Whatever helps you fit in with and relate to your contacts is the attitude to take.

It is interesting to note that salesmen are noted for trying to have personal relationships with their prospects. Take that guy who found out his potential yacht-buyer was interested in old cars. He had a specially-made chocolate model of an old car made and sent it to this prospect. The man kept it for years, and finally about five or ten years later he wound up buying his new yacht from the salesman, saying that he still had the chocolate car and it was one of his prized possessions. The salesman would never have found that out and might not have made the sale if he hadn't had some kind of personal relationship with the customer.

But this has kind of gotten off-topic from "How to finish my emails." I have a standard signature that is automatically inserted. It has a standard closing, which I sometimes alter somewhat depending on who I'm contacting. I find e-mails without a closing to be too short and terse for my liking; I don't normally read the closing but I at least see it's there and it makes me feel like the person at least cares about whatever we're corresponding about.

[Chndru]

Thanks much
Chndru

[john_k]

I don't LIKE people as a rule,...

wow - Glad I'm not one.

I've found that it never, never (repeat never) hurts to be courteous when you have the option. If for no other reason than that most people will usually return the favor and your day will turn out just a little bit nicer. And life after all, is nothing more than several days in a row.

Personal belongs in business because there is no reason to make your work day more dreary than it needs to be.

Cheers!

[Marcia]

Best regards mostly, sometimes a slight variation.

[Shane]

Mainly Regards,

Sometimes "Chow Dude" if I know them and am trying to be flippant.

Chow Dudes,
Shane

[HelenDev]

I don't LIKE people as a rule

You're obviously not hanging with the right crowd ;)

I will admit that I'm not a great fan of telephones and prefer emails to most other forms of communication

re emails I usually am as formal as I would be with a letter when applying for jobs via email, but if it's with business associates who I have chatted with before I get a bit less formal, maybe greet them with Hi and sign off with Best wishes.

[bill]

I like to end my mail with a good old-fashioned legal disclaimer. ;)

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Chow Dudes,
Shane

Please don't be flippant Shane, this is serious! *_*

[Faith]

I wouldn't do business with someone that sounded curt in their emails. We've stopped using suppliers because of that very reason. It takes seconds to read emails (whereas if you get some creepy sales person telephoning asking about your day/weekend or popping in for a 2 hour cup of coffee etc its just plain annoying). It takes even less time to have a one line polite word in your signature file, whether that's cheers, regards, kind regards, thanks again, etc. Nothing hacks me off more than abrupt sounding email.