How do you sign your business emails?

[RekhaSridhar Chillibreeze]

This question popped up in one of my newsletters. The business emails I receive is generally signed with 'Thanks', 'Best', 'Regards', 'Cheers', 'Yours Truly'...and so on while I tend to use 'Thanks' and 'Warm Regards' when I sign my emails.

But after reading the post in my newsletter, I am beginning to wonder if 'Warm Regards' sounds unprofessional for business emails. What do you think?

Now, I am curious to know:
1) How do you sign your business email?
2) What kind of signatures put you off?
3) What is the most appropriate signature for business emails according to you?

[Aditi]

I sign off with 'Thanks' for formal business mails and 'Cheers' for informal business mails. Hmm, reading your post makes me wonder if there is a standard set of signatures that can be safely used in business mails.

[Sunitha]

I sign off with "Thanks" for business emails. It used to be "Thanks and Regards". But these days it is considered old fashioned. Some people feel it is redundant. In my opinion, "Thanks" is a short and crisp way to sign off. Informal business emails of course can have "Cheers" or just a "bye" or something like that.

What puts me off is "Yours Truly" , "THanking you" etc.

[veenashankar]

I sign of with "Thanking you"

[lovetowrite]

This discussion may sound trivial, but I realize not many of us have a clue about signatures that are inappropriate for professional mails. I know people who still use "sincerely yours' kind of sign offs.. Thanks for bringing this up, Rekha.

Agree with Swati - Thanks sounds safe.

[satish]

According to Oxford Advanced Learners's Dictionary, there are 3 ways of closing business emails.
"Formal:Best wishes/Best regards/Regards+your full name. Add position and contact details.
Semi-formal:All the best/Best?Yours/Many thanks+your full name.
Informal:Thanks/Cheers?Speak to you soon+your first name."

[natdas]

I sign off business emails with

'Regards', 'Thanks and Regards', 'Best', or 'Many thanks' (Depending on the content of the letter)
My First Name

My Full Name
Designation
Address


For informal mails, it is usually
Cheers
A Short Pet Name that most of my friends call me

Or I may not even bother to add the 'Cheers'. It could be just about anything from 'See Ya' to 'Miss You' to 'Lotsa Love'....It's an informal letter. I write what I am most comfortable with at that moment.

What puts me off in a formal signature are:
'Sincerely Yours'
'Truly Yours'
'Yours Faithfully'
'Most Sincerely'
'Obediently Yours'

[durva]

Since this is a discussion i would like to bring it up here that 'warm regards' is an Indianization. I am not sure though. But I have heard that plain 'Regards' is sufficient and we need not add any adjective like warm before it.
How does one clarify such myths/ theories??

[Swati]

Its generally been "Thanks and regards" for me with my co-ordinates,designation,etc below it.A favourite quote of mine used to come right at the end.

People using superlatives to describe their "regards",like "warm regards" or "kind regards" or "best regards" to probably demonstrate abject gratitude or I dont know what, usually struck me as amusing and unnecessary.

While signing off is more or less along the lines mentioned on this forum,a BIG turn off used to be beginning the mail with "Greetings!Hope this finds you in good health" or something as archaic as that!

[satish]

Some responses here have raised a basic question - Should one prefer convention or individuality? Of course, individuality is manifestation of creativity. So, there could be always a tendency to be creative discarding convention. Then what happens to grammar and meanings as well as spellings given in dictionaries? If we become individualistic, then there would be no need for such discussions as presently going on in another tread on use/misuse of words.A leading national English daily has been using pronoun I as 'i'. Could anyone suggest how to deal with such conflicts?