You’re looking for a good, professional closing phrase for your email to a colleague, a client, or even your boss.
But is the term sincerely suitable for business and other work-related emails?
In this article, we’ll provide a list of 9 alternative phrases that you can use to avoid repetition in your work correspondence.
9 Alternative Ways to Say “Sincerely”
Below, you’ll find 9 different ways to say sincerely in an email:
- Regards
- Respectfully
- All the best
- Take care
- Best wishes
- As ever
- Cordially
- Yours truly
- With thanks
1. Regards
Regards is a very common business email closing that you can use to show your respect for the recipient without being overly effusive.
Overall, regards is very tonally neutral. Thus, it’s a safe choice when you don’t know the recipient well or aren’t particularly close to them.
Therefore, you can use this phrase in an email to a colleague from another department or a fellow professional from another company.
Consider the email sample below:
Dear Evelyn,
Please see the transaction details you requested below.
Regards,
Clyde Saban
2. Respectfully
The term respectfully is often considered the most professional way to sign off an email. In fact, it is commonly seen in government correspondence.
Nevertheless, this is a great way to express respect for your recipient.
Therefore, you can use this phrase in an email or letter to a superior at your or another workplace.
You can also use it when speaking to an important client.
In particular, this phrase works well when your email is expressing bad news or, perhaps, rejecting an offer.
Essentially, it reminds the recipient that you still have the greatest respect for them and that the content of your email is simply a matter of business.
To see what we mean, check out the following email example:
Dear Ms. Egiyiawan,
We have enclosed a formal response to your offer below.
Respectfully,
Luke Rhodri
3. All the Best
Also known as the “Oprah hug of signoffs,” all the best is a great choice when you want to strike a good balance between professionalism and charisma in your correspondence.
All the best is a highly popular choice in business and professional emails for the fact that it expresses good wishes without being overly festive or familiar.
Therefore, this is a great choice for an email to a colleague, whatever the nature of your relationship.
Unlike sincerely, this alternative is suited for any business or work email, making it a great option for most work circumstances.
Therefore, let’s see it in a sample email:
Dear Anthony,
I have attached the memorandum you requested below.
All the best,
Kurt
4. Best Wishes
Best wishes works well in both formal and informal emails. Namely, it comes across as pleasant and friendly but still uses professional phrasing.
Therefore, you can use this phrase in an email to a client, particularly when you want to wish them well for the future.
However, it’s worth noting that this phrase comes across as a tad festive.
Therefore, you may want to avoid it if the nature of your email is serious. After all, it would be confusing to blend a serious tone with a closing suited for a greeting card!
Have a look at the following email sample:
Dear Mr. Flanagan,
Many thanks for your response.
I have updated your profile accordingly.
Best wishes,
Noel Tittensor
5. Take Care
You can say take care as a pleasant signoff to a coworker with whom you have developed a friendly relationship.
This phrase is more informal than most of the other alternatives on our list. Therefore, it’s not the best replacement for sincerely in an email to a client or superior.
Nevertheless, if you tend to keep your inter-office emails more casual, this is a great option to go with.
In fact, it works especially well if a colleague has been off work or feeling under the weather recently.
For example:
Dear Julius,
Thank you for forwarding this despite being ill!
I hope you feel better soon.
Take care,
Moira
6. As Ever
The phrase as ever only works if you have maintained an ongoing relationship with the recipient for some time.
After all, it implies that you respect or appreciate the recipient as ever. This means that your fond feelings have persisted throughout your exchanges.
You can use this phrase in an email to a colleague with whom you have a good rapport or another professional with whom you frequently collaborate.
See the example below:
Dear Gavin,
Thank you for your insights on this.
You’ve been a tremendous help once again.
As ever,
Alexis
7. Cordially
Another way to say sincerely in an email closing is cordially.
This synonym is polite and highly formal. Thus, it wouldn’t suit more casual business emails between colleagues.
However, it’s a good choice if you want to maintain a formal tone in your email to a long-term client but also want to have a hint of personality and cheerfulness in your signoff.
Let’s see an email example that includes this phrase:
Dear Mr. MacMillan,
It would be a pleasure to meet with you to discuss how best to expand your business.
Would you be free in the coming week?
Cordially,
Michelle Burnette
8. Yours Truly
As a general rule, you can use yours truly when you don’t know the name of your recipient.
For example, it’s a good signoff if you started your email with “Dear Sir/Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern.”
Thus, this phrase works well in a formal announcement email to your client base.
Alternatively, if you work in a public office of some kind, you can use it in an email or letter to a member of the public.
However, in recent years, we have started to use this phrase even in emails to our known clients and other professionals.
To see it in action, check out the email sample below:
Dear Sirs,
I am writing on behalf of my client, Mr. Peter Bryce, who was recently in contact with your team.
We would like to accept your counteroffer and proceed with the project according to your terms.
Yours truly,
Celeste Carmichael
9. With Thanks
You can close your email with the phrase with thanks when you have made a specific request to the recipient and would like to thank them preemptively.
However, you can also use it as an additional expression of gratitude when your email’s overall point was to thank the other person.
This phrase has a formal and polite tone, making it suitable for an email to a superior or a fellow professional at another company.
Therefore, have a look at how we’ve used this phrase in our final example:
Dear Marcello,
I would request that we meet at your offices to finalize these arrangements.
With thanks,
Lyianah Reese
Is It Correct to Say “Sincerely”?
It is perfectly correct to close an email with the term sincerely.
This term is a popular valediction, and we use it frequently in formal emails and letters to convey our sincerity, honesty, and trust to the recipient.
This makes it a particularly good closing for a cover letter.
Nevertheless, sincerely may come across as a tad too formal for more casual business emails, so it never hurts to change your choice of valediction to better suit these circumstances.
Below, we’ve drafted two email examples illustrating how you can use the term sincerely to end your emails in practice:
Dear Amiyah,
Thank you once again for your tremendous contributions to this year’s gala.
I look forward to working with you again.
Sincerely,
Milly Tennant
Sincerely yours is a more formal variation of this phrase that you can use in particularly formal emails or business letters.
Sincerely, on the other hand, can be used in both business and personal correspondence.
Let’s see the former phrase in an example:
Dear Miss Toussaint,
I hope this email finds you well.
Its purpose is to cordially invite you to this year’s firm gala.
We fondly anticipate your response.
Sincerely yours,
Geryon Collett
Finally, to avoid any embarrassing grammar mistakes in your business emails, we’ll discuss a common error people make when employing the term sincerely:
Mistake: Not including a comma after sincerely
- Incorrect: Sincerely
- Correct: Sincerely,
Email closings should always be followed with a comma. Therefore, failing to add a comma to your valediction would be incorrect.
Although sincerely is perfectly correct, it is somewhat standardized in business and formal emails in particular. Moreover, it can come across as slightly too formal in some situations.
Therefore, you can use our list of synonyms to diversify your email correspondence and keep your informal exchanges less stuffy.
