Learn · email signature glossary
TL;DR
A professional email closing is the sign-off line that ends the body of a message, the "Best regards," "Kind regards," "Thanks," or "Sincerely" that sits between your last sentence and your name. It is distinct from the signature block below it: the closing is a per-message social gesture you type (or your client inserts), while the signature is the fixed block of contact details underneath. Formality is the main variable, running from "Sincerely" in formal correspondence down to "Cheers" or "Thanks" between colleagues.
Re: In practice
The closing is a small social calibration that readers register even when they could not say why. "Sincerely" on a two-line reply to a teammate reads stiff; "Cheers" on a first message to a prospective client's legal team reads careless. The safe middle for most business email is "Best regards" or plain "Best," with "Thanks" earning its place whenever the message actually asks for something. The mechanical detail that trips people up is duplication: if the closing is baked into your signature block, you will eventually type it manually as well and sign off twice. Keep the closing out of the stored signature, or standardize on one that is always there and train yourself to stop typing it.
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