Concluding Your Email

People often ruin a perfectly good email with an awkward, convoluted stock sentence that shows up in almost every email they send. For example:

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and attention to this matter.

Please feel free to call, email or text me with any comments, questions, suggestions or concerns.

Generally avoid writing things you wouldn’t be comfortable saying. For example, I would never walk up to a client and say, “Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.” I would sound ridiculous. That’s why I don’t write it.

Regarding the second closing sentence above, I don’t refer to “matters” in my email messages. I’m not about to sue the recipient, and fakely official and legalistic-sounding language pushes people away rather than reinforcing connections and community.

Also, thanking people in advance doesn’t really advance your cause. It might annoy them and feel pushy in some cases. You can just thank them, as in “Thank you very much.” And then if they don’t respond to whatever it is you’ve requested of them, you can follow up with them.

Here are sentences I have ended with in recent months:

• Please let me know if you have any questions.
• Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.
• Please let me know if you would like me to make any edits.
• I’d be glad to answer any questions.
• I would welcome your thoughts.
• I would be glad to meet with you to discuss the proposal in more detail.
• Please feel free to call me any time with questions.
• Thank you very much for your time.

You don’t need, and shouldn’t have, a single reusable default concluding sentence. Each time you send an email, simply consider the content of the email and choose something streamlined and appropriate to that moment, something that you could actually say to another human being.

Be yourself. It’s powerful.