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Kind of an oddly worded question, allow me to explain. Once I am finished running reports, I email my boss to let her know what needs to be changed in the system. My email typically looks something like this:

[Boss's name],

I've finished up with the report and it looks like [this is this, and that is that yada yada].

Thanks,

Jaken Herman

But what I am realizing is that I'm saying "Thanks" at the end of every email even when it doesn't make sense. Everyone else in the office seems to do it as well. Is there something else I could put at the end of my emails that will still allow me to "sign off", but actually make sense?

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    Also see this article entitled "57 Ways to Sign Off On An Email". It might be interesting to program your email client to randomly pick one of these out of the 57. Then your sign off lines would never get old! - forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/09/27/…
    – Brandin
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 20:53
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    Take out the line that has "Thanks" and just sign your name - I don't bother with putting in my signature either. In fact, I write my emails without bothering either with the greeting or the signature section. I am not losing any sleep worrying about what Emily Post thinks of my methods - I am not going to use 21st century technology to write 19th century letters. Especially when I need to communicate at 21st century speeds.
    – Vietnhi Phuvan
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 21:19
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    An email sign-off is a phatic expression and never actually "makes sense". Don't sweat it.
    – AakashM
    Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 9:09
  • "Thanks" is perfectly acceptable, at least in most U.S. business cultures. If it helps, think of it as saying "Thanks for taking the time to read this email".
    – Omegacron
    Commented Jun 10, 2015 at 18:02

4 Answers 4

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There are more than a few:

  1. Best Regards (Which could be shortened to "Regards" or "Best" in some cases.)
  2. Yours Truly
  3. Sincerely

Each can be useful to have as a way of signing off that depending on the situation may make sense. The last couple are less emotional of course.

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    Some people also abbreviate "Best regards" to "Best" but personally it looks a little funny to me. Shortening it to "Regards" seems more appropriate if you want to abbreviate it.
    – Brandin
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 20:50
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I usually do something like this...

Person,

Blah blah blah blah blah.

If you need anything further let me know,

My name

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My email client has a signature option. I don't put anything at the bottom, I just let the signaure handle it. Most of us in our office have something nice and generic like "Regards," for ours.

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I agree that "Thanks" tends to be a generic filler signature that most people use. One of the things that bothers me the most is that it is so overly used that the meaning behind it is basically lost. I even occasionally see people who type "Thanks" when it's already in their signature.

Personally, I've used "Respectfully," since it seems to be more open-ended in what it can follow and I have yet to see anyone else where I work use it. It's far less personal than "Sincerely" and is more fitting, professionally, than something like "Take care."

It may be just me, but it looks good when speaking to someone higher up and adds a equality feel when speaking to someone in a 'lower' position.

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