List of Business Letter Salutations
Which Closing Salutation to Use for Professional Letters and E-mails
Jan 17, 2009
Deciding on the right closing salutation for a business letter or professional e-mail can be tricky. A letter writer must find a balance between overly used salutations and the formality of the letter.
Read on for lists of business letter salutations as well as guidelines on how to effectively select a professional letter closing.
Business Letter Salutations for New Contacts and Cover Letters
When writing a business letter to a new business contact, sales prospect, or potential employer it is best to keep the business letter salutation to a level of utmost professionalism. Writing a casual salutation is generally unacceptable.
Ending with a respectful salutation will help the writer exude professionalism. Some business salutations that are polite, courteous, and professional include:
- Sincerely
- Yours sincerely
- Respectfully yours
- Faithfully yours
- Yours truly
Writers can use these salutations for a new sales prospect, mass mailings, and cover letters for job applications.
E-mail and Business Letter Salutations for Familiar Professional Contacts
"Sincerely" ranks as too stuffy for a familiar business contact; however, signing off with “Ciao” or "Cheers" comes across as too casual and disrespectful for business letters.
But in the gray area between salutations that are too formal and salutations that are too casual, writers can end a letter with a closing salutation that strikes the right balance. Here are some suggestions on how to sign off a letter to a friendly business contact without coming across as unprofessional:
- Kind regards
- Best regards
- Warmest regards
- Many thanks
- Kind thanks
- Truly
- With appreciation
E-mail communication offers a little more flexibility in how a writer ends a note to a business contact. Yet it is important to remember that e-mails still require professional salutations fitting for the tone of the message.
End a professional e-mail in the same way as closing a letter with a familiar business contact.
How to Choose the Right Business Letter Salutations
In choosing the right business salutations for letters and e-mails, professionals need to consider a few questions:
- Consider the seniority of and the relationship to the addressee: Is the person a Senior Vice President or a Sales Rep at the company’s office products supplier? Depending on the relationship, both recipients may warrant the most formal letter salutations or simply casual sign offs.
- Consider the tone of the letter: Is the letter a memo regarding new financial policies or a note to congratulate a colleague on a promotion? The more personal the business letter the less formal the salutation needs to be.
- Consider how others end letters: What do you, personally, like to read at the end of a business letter? Review marketing letters from different companies and cover letters to gauge a personal response to various business letter salutations.
For more suggestions on how to end a letter, read List of Letter Closings and E-mail Salutations.
 |
 |
 |
