business letter

The Best Ways to End a Letter

When it comes to ending letters, most of us already know about using “Yours Sincerely” and “Yours Faithfully.” When I was at school, we were told to sign off friendly letters with the former, and business letters with the latter, but nowadays, opinions seem to have changed. Many people say “Yours Sincerely” is too formal, even for business purposes, and since email seems to have its own etiquette, everyone is a bit confused as to the best way to sign off a letter or email.

Most people seem to feel not offering any salutation at the end of a message is a trifle too abrupt. Personally, I don’t mind, but I have come across people who are offended when I fail to use a closing phrase, so I’m a little more cautious these days.

With a little help from experience and Uncle Google, I’ve tracked down a whole bunch of tips on how to close a letter. As I suspected, it’s all about context.

Formal Business Letters

I still like “Yours Faithfully” in this context, especially when you’re writing a formal letter. However, it does seem a little stilted for email sign-offs, even formal ones.

After doing a bit of reading, I found most people don’t mind “Regards” or “Best Regards.” I can’t sincerely offer “best” regards to absolutely everyone. Surely some people have to get second-best regards, so I settle for “Regards” and hope for the best.

There are forms of the “Regards” sign-off that irritate me, but not everyone else, so presumably it’s acceptable. “Warmest Regards” or “Warm Regards” strikes me as slightly patronizing and insincere, especially when it comes from someone who can’t possibly have any feelings, warm or otherwise, about me. As for “Kind Regards,” I may not be in need of kindness, and there are better ways to show it if I am. I certainly wouldn’t use any of these for a job application letter, even in email format. Thanking the reader for considering my application seems courteous, and I’d follow it with the traditional “Yours Faithfully,” because it’s a safe bet.

Informal and Semi-Formal Business Emails

Intra and inter-office email is the norm these days. Your boss will email you an instruction, a colleague will ask you for help via email, or you may have received something that’s helpful to you. Sometimes you deal with emails from suppliers’ reps with whom you have a friendly business relationship, or you may be dealing with regular clients in a relatively friendly and informal context.

You can be a lot more relaxed now, but not too relaxed. Apparently, “Cheers” is becoming quite popular, and some use “Warmly,” “Best” or “Very Best.” I will be unashamedly biased here. None of these is particularly appropriate. “Cheers” is plain silly, and sounds like you’re about to hit the bar rather than the boardroom, “Warmly” just sounds wrong, and the last two could at least have been followed by a “Regards.” It just looks lazy.

“Thank You,” “Thanks” and “Thanks Again” proved to be surprisingly controversial. Although most people agreed they were fine if you were thanking someone for something they’d already done, many said thanking someone after asking them for something was patronizing.

I disagree. I used to have a colleague who used to sign off “Thanking You in Advance,” and I used to think it terribly clever, if stuffy. I still think if you know someone is going to work because of what you asked them to do, it’s polite to thank them. It’s your call.

You can be reasonably creative with informal business mails. There’s nothing wrong with “Congratulations on clinching that deal!” or “Wishing you every success in your new venture.” If relationships are friendly enough, and the occasion is appropriate, a heartfelt “You’re an angel, thanks a million,” may be appropriate. That’s the key. Keep it appropriate. “xxoooxx” is NOT appropriate for a business letter.

Friendly Letters

Now that we’ve discussed the idea of sign-offs being appropriate, you’ll understand what I mean when I say these need to be appropriate too. You wouldn’t sign a letter to your Aunty June “xxxoooxxx,” if you’ve only met her twice in your life and she’s finally sent you a birthday present for the first time. “Yours Sincerely” is perfect for this distant contact.

Your letter is presumably not all about you, so personalizing your greeting shows you care. What are you wishing this person? “Hope you have a great European holiday,” “Happy to hear you’re settled. Enjoy it!”, “Thinking of you,” and “Wishing you luck with the exams!” are only a sampling of your options. Perhaps you have something to thank them for. “Thanks for everything,” may be unoriginal, but at least it shows appreciation. Your mom, on the other hand, may settle for nothing less than “Lots of love,” “Tons of love,” or other greetings conveying enormous amounts of love.

The days of signing off friendly letters to people you know well with “Yours Sincerely” have been left behind together with chalk boards and other educational antiquities. Be creative! Be sincere! Give your friend, family member or romantic interest your very best wishes for whatever situation they’re in or express how you feel about them. Do you want to give your friend a virtual hug? “Hugs” is a lovely sign-off, at least I think so…

(Photo courtesy of Martin)

Is It Better to Write or Type a Letter?

As you may have noticed, I love “it depends” questions because then we can look at a question from every possible angle. Quite a lot of what’s about to follow is personal opinion, so feel free to join the debate if you don’t agree. After all, it just makes it all the more interesting for everyone. The choice between writing a letter and typing a letter is influenced by the reason for writing, so we’ll look at business letters and friendly letters and argue the pros and cons of writing or typing under these categories.

Write or Type Business Letters

If you want to be taken seriously in this day and age, you would certainly choose to type rather than write when sending a business letter. The only part of a business letter you should write by hand is the signature. Here are some of the reasons it’s appropriate to type rather than write a business letter.

Your handwriting may not be all that easy to read.
You can’t as easily make changes to a handwritten business letter, so even if you draft it several times, you may not express yourself as well when you write by hand.
A typed letter looks neater and more professional, no matter how neat your handwriting is.
If your keyboard skills are up to scratch, typing is a lot faster than writing.
Spell check can save you from embarrassment. Yes! I spelled “embarrassment” correctly the first time! Can you?

In the business world, handwritten letters are extremely rare, but there is one place other than the signature where I feel handwriting offers a special touch. If you’re thanking someone with a brief note, the kind that gets written on ‘compliments slips’ or greeting cards, then I think writing by hand is more personal.

Write or Type Personal Letters

There’s still something lovely about getting a letter via “snail mail.” Should you write it or type it? I doubt whether anyone would be offended by a typed letter, and it has the advantages of being easier to write, easier to edit, and easier to read.

Still, a handwritten letter is a labor of love and provided it’s legible and well thought out. I think most people would acknowledge that you went to extra effort on their behalf with a handwritten personal letter. What’s more, any errors that sneak in will be forgiven because you’re presumably writing to someone who is close to you. They like you, even love you, and it’s probably not for your skill at spelling.

Before you decide to give a personal letter a special touch by writing it with old-fashioned pen and paper, know what you’re letting yourself in for.

You need to plan ahead by creating a rough framework so that your thoughts flow logically.
You’ll have to write at least two versions and possibly more.
You need to be able to write neatly so that it’s easily readable.
You need the right equipment.

Choose attractive note paper, and if you struggle to keep your lines straight on paper without lines, choose paper with ruled lines. Another option is to use slightly transparent paper that will let you see a sheet with ruled lines when you place it beneath the page you are working with. Choose a pen with ink that won’t easily smudge, and pick a dark colored ink. Gold may look pretty, but it isn’t easy to read a full letter written in gold pen. Black ink is best.

Additional Advantages of Typed Personal Letters

One thing you should remember about handwritten letters is that you’ll get less text on each page. If you have a lot to say in your letter, typing is probably a better solution. You don’t want to end up trying to cram a ten-page missive into an envelope.

If you’re planning to write to several people, you can “cheat” just a little bit. It’s easy to adapt the introductory and closing paragraphs with personal messages for each recipient while the body text remains the same, or nearly the same, for all the letters you’re going to send.

Last but not least, if your letter gets lost in the post, you’ll have a copy saved on your computer and won’t have to rewrite your letter from scratch.

When’s the Last Time You Sent a Handwritten Letter?

Handwritten letters are quite rare these days. I think that their rarity makes them rather special. If I were to write a love letter, I believe I would choose a handwritten letter. What would you do?

(Photo courtesy of Annie Pilon)