Worst ways to end professional emails?
Samuli Pehkonen
18 replies
Lately I've spent a lot of time studying the best practices, etiquette and manners related to effective email communication in order to figure out how to help people write better emails with Flowrite.
One of the topics that seems to divide opinions is sign-offs. Some email sign-offs are obviously not very professional, while others carry more nuanced risk of email faux pas. Some people take them very seriously while it seems that others don't pay attention to them at all.
These are the most common sign-offs or practices that seems to get cited as unprofessional or risky while doing business:
Have a blessed day
Love, kisses or similar
Thanks in advance
No sign-off at all
Take care
Sent from my iPhone
Later
Rgrds, thx or similar
Br
Looking forward to hearing from you
Do you recall some other sign-offs or practices that have made you feel negatively about the sender? 🤔 Would love to update my list of closings we should steer clear of.
Replies
Rashmi Gupta@rashjbp
Troopr
Why do you think "Ragards" is less professional, asking out of curiosity as I use this one
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Flowrite
Hi @rashjbp! Are you referring to "Rgrds" as listed? Using abbreviations or slang can come off as very unprofessional. Regular "Regards" is definitely professional. It's especially good when you are not yet quite sure how close you are with the recipient but don't want to appear overly formal; it kinda strikes a happy medium.
Troopr
@samulipehkonen Thank you, this is reassuring :)
"Best Regards" and similar formal generic ones
Flowrite
@robinkunz I hate to say it but, it depends. Wrote a blog post about it a recently: https://www.flowrite.com/blog/ho...
Flowrite
@dkaravias Interesting take! "Best regards" is often cited as one of the go-to ways to end a business email exactly due it's semiformal nature – it's typically perceived as a safe option for e.g. messaging people you've not been in contact before. To be honest, I prefer just "Best" and see it in use much more than the formal version.
@samulipehkonen I used to use it but someone pointed out that by being safe, it's not personal. I guess there's a balance to be found, based on the general tone of the message.
Flowrite
@dkaravias I'm 100% with you – it's probably one of the most impersonal greetings, and it's all about the overall tone that your message conveys through various of choices. Actually we've created a feature called tone selector to help people to find that balance. Deliver the message the way they mean it, so to say.
@dkaravias @samulipehkonen What do you propose in return? What are good ways to end an email :)?
Sent from my iPhone - is soo true xDDDDDD
"Yours sincerely" is an example that is a bit too love letter -like to my taste. I think the best ones are casual and which you could use anyway in a real life situation. I tend to use "Cheers" for the most part :)
Flowrite
@sarkka_timo Haven't actually seen "Yours sincerely" in action probably ever, but the less formal version "Sincerely" seems to be often recommended for cover letters. "Cheers" is something I see often, but based on my research it really divides opinions... One expert said that it sounds pretentious, unless you're actually British. To me it doesn't.
Vmaker for Windows
I recently read this sign-off, and I almost squirmed after reading it — “Awaiting positive response from your side.” Maybe it's just me, but categorizing the reply as positive only kind of handicaps the conversation.
Flowrite
Troopr
I think it very much depends on the person receiving the email, usually I put "Kind Regards" and never had a complaint.
However once by mistake I ended an email with a client "Love you", after hitting send and realising what I did with worry I followed up and apologised, which they followed back jokingly how I hurt their feelings taking it back.
Yet the next day I started an email with Hi [First Name] and I got an long worded email saying it was unprofessional using Hi and their first name.