Most sincerely and lovingly yours, Lisa – How should we sign off on business emails?

As PR experts, we field hundreds of emails a day, at least. Recently, I have become obsessed with how people sign off on their emails and with finding the best way. It seems like there should be some kind of industry standard on how to sign a business email, or maybe a few choices for clients, your boss, your co-workers, your vendors, etc.  But, given the variety I see daily, it’s clear that no one agrees on one best way.

I asked about this topic on Twitter and Facebook recently and the answers were not only varied, but in some cases, the topic got heated, especially when I explained my unadulterated hatred for “Best.”  Who knew people were so passionate about the way they sign off on emails.

Here are some of the responses I received:

• Most sincerely yours
• Thanks
• Best
• All the best
• Best Regards
• Warm Regards
• Regards
• Warmest Regards
• Thank you
• Yours truly
• Sincerely
• Cheers
• Truly
• Very truly
• Warmly
• None

I am really not a fan of any of these, but I don’t really have a better answer either.  I know that “best” or anything describing the warmness of the sender’s regards is like nails on a chalk board to me. I tend to use “thanks” for an informal email and “thank you” for more formal. But my colleague recently hipped me to her favorite, the “~ plus first name” sign off. I love it because it skips the awkwardness of pledging yourself to belonging “truly” to your copy paper vendor, keeps a business tone to the email, but doesn’t look too formal or unfriendly.

I am going to start a petition for “~ plus first name” to become the industry standard for signing business emails.  Who is with me? And who has other sign offs to suggest or ridicule? Please post your thoughts here.

~ Lisa