What is the spacing between the complimentary closing and the writers name and initials?

Once you write the final paragraph of a formal letter, you may feel like you're finished and can move on to proofreading. But just as there are rules about how to address someone in a formal letter, there are also guidelines in place for how to sign off.

Table of Contents Show

Elements of a Business Letter
The Inside Address
The Salutation
The Complimentary Close
The Additional Notation
Citation Information
Copyright Information

When ending a formal letter, it's important to convey the appropriate amount of respect to the person receiving the letter. For example, you would use a different, more conservative complimentary close for an unknown recipient than you would for a business associate you know quite well. Your closing and signature should be as professional as the rest of your letter or email message.

A complimentary close, also known as a complimentary closing, is the term inserted prior to your signature in an email message or a formal letter.

This signoff phrase shows your respect and appreciation for the person who is considering the request in your letter or email.

Although it may seem somewhat old-fashioned, using a complimentary close is still considered important when writing formal business correspondence. When writing or emailing a cover letter for a job or any type of business letter, it's appropriate to use a complimentary close. Make sure to choose one, though, that is professional rather than casual.

The following options are all good ways to close a formal letter:

All the best
Best regards
Best wishes
Best
My best
Regards
Respectfully
Respectfully yours
Sincerely
Sincerely yours
Thank you
Yours respectfully
Yours sincerely
Yours truly
Cordially
Cordially yours
With appreciation
With gratitude
With respect
With sincere appreciation
With sincere thanks

Here are more examples of letter and email closings and signatures:

All of the options listed above are appropriate for use in business correspondence.

Choose which one to use based on how well you know the recipient and the circumstances behind your letter writing.

For instance, limit options that are some form of a thank you (such as "With appreciation" and "With gratitude") to instances where you are requesting a favor or expressing appreciation.

You can think of "Best regards," "Sincerely," “Cordially,” and the variations on these closers as the little black dress of complimentary closes. You can't go wrong choosing one of these options—they're always appropriate.

Keep in mind that if you are writing someone in the armed forces, it is customary in the military to use the complimentary close, “Very Respectfully” or its abbreviation, “V/R.”

You are not emailing with a friend or sending a thank you note to a relative. Do not use casual signoffs like “Love,” “Cheers,” “Later,” “Ciao,” or “Always.” These options do not match the formality of your letter. Keep the professional tone of your correspondence consistent, from the salutation through the content to the signoff.

Always remember to follow up the close with a comma, as in the examples below. Your typed name will go after the complimentary close.

If you are sending a hard copy letter, leave four lines of space between the closing and your typed name. When you print out the letter, this will give you plenty of space in which to sign your name in blue or black ink between your complimentary close and your typed name.

You can write your title below your name, as well as your phone and email address. In emails, you can include an email signature section with contact information.

Sincerely,

Tanisha JohnsonSales Manager, ABC

555-123-1234

Best regards,

(written signature)

FirstName LastName

If you're still unsure about what should be included (or not) in a formal business letter, keep these key tips in mind:

Format Your Business Letter to Make It More Readable: Leave 1-inch margins and a double-space between paragraphs. Choose a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, and a font size of 12.
Be Concise: Avoid large blocks of text and write in short, simple sentences and paragraphs.
Review Sample Business Letters: Check out a few business letter examples before composing your letter, and then be sure to customize your message.
Proofread Your Letter Before Sending: After you finish writing a letter, of course, always proofread it for spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors. In order to make a good impression, your letter needs to be flawlessly constructed.

Be respectful. “Best regards” or “Sincerely” are generally safe choices.
Keep your tone consistent. Don’t be overly familiar or casual in formal business correspondence.
Follow up the close with a comma. Then, follow the comma with your typed or signed name.
Carefully proofread before sending your letter or email. It’s important to make sure your communication is polished before you send it.

Contents

Elements of a Business Letter

When business letters are written on company letterhead stationery, they are generally formatted in a full block style with each part of the letter justified to the left margin.

Letters not on company letterhead stationery are written in a modified block style with the heading, date and complimentary close left justified to the center line and the inside address, salutation and body justified to the left margin.

When a business letter requires more than one page, the secondary pages should have a header that includes the recipient's name, the page number and the date.

Elements of a Business Letter

The elements of a business letter are:

the heading
the date
the inside address
the salutation
the body
and the complimentary close
an additional notation section often follows the close

Heading

The heading is also the return address to which the recipient will refer when sending a response.

The writer's name is not included in the heading, as it is appears in the complimentary close at the end of the letter. It should include only the street, city, state and zip code of the letter writer. Identifying words such as Avenue, Circle, Court, Drive, and Street should be spelled out rather than abbreviated. Doing so reduces the chances of a response being sent to an incorrect address.

The state name can be either spelled out or abbreviated in upper case letters according to U.S. Postal Service guidelines.

The date a letter is written should be placed below the writer's return address information. It is the final component in the heading of a business letter.

The Inside Address

The inside address contains the mailing information belonging to the recipient and should be justified to the left margin of the letter and placed two spaces below the date (for very short letters four spaces is acceptable).

As in the heading, the inside address includes the street, city, state and zip code of the recipient, all of which should be placed below the name of the business or organization to whom the letter is being written. Identifying words such as Avenue, Circle, Court, Drive, and Street should be spelled out rather than abbreviated.

When the recipient' name, title and position are known, they should be included as the first two lines in the inside address and placed directly above the name of the business or organization.

The Salutation

The salutation is a greeting. Its placement belongs two spaces below the inside address and always justified to the left margin of the letter. It should include the title and full name of the recipient, followed by a colon.

Customarily the salutation begins with Dear, followed by a title such as Mr., Ms., Mrs., however, when the writer is on a first name basis with the recipient, that formality can be dropped in favor of a first name.

The titles Mr., Ms., Mrs., and Dr. are always abbreviated. Other titles, such as Professor and Senator are never abbreviated. Regardless of marital status women should always be addressed as Ms.-the only exception being when the recipient has personally expressed a desire to be addressed otherwise (Miss or Mrs.).

Avoid gender-based salutations when it is not known if the recipient is a man or a woman. Dear Student: Dear Customer: Dear Resident: etc. are perfectly acceptable options for gender-neutral correspondence.

An impersonal device may be preferable when addressing a letter to a large organization where the recipient's name is not likely to be known. For example, Attention: Accounts Receivable or Subject: Billing Error may replace more familiar forms of greeting.

The salutation, To Whom It May Concern: is very out of date-very 20th Century.

The Body

Begin the body of a business letter two spaces below the salutation or attention-getting device. Each paragraph should be single-spaced and justified to the left margin of the page with a double space separating each paragraph.

It is acceptable to double space the text of a letter when the body is very short. This is done purely for cosmetic reasons, giving the letter a more visually balanced appearance on the page. In such instances it is appropriate to indent the first line of each paragraph.

The Complimentary Close

The complimentary close is placed two spaces below the last line of a letter's body.

Customary expressions used to close a formal business letter include Thank you, Sincerely, Sincerely yours, and Yours truly. Less formal expressions such as Regards, Best regards, and Best wishes should be used only when the writer is addressing a business associate that is also a friend.

When the expression contains two words, such as Thank you, only the first word receives an initial upper case letter

A comma follows all forms of a complimentary close.

Allow four spaces between the complimentary close and the typed version of the writer's full name. The space between is reserved for a handwritten signature. The writer's job position or title should appear directly below his or her name.

The writer's signature should be identical to the printed version except in those situations where the recipient is also a friend, in which case a first name only is fine.

The Additional Notation

A number of situations call for a business letter to be marked with notations signifying those situations. These notations should be placed two spaces below the position or title line following the writer's printed signature.

When a letter references one or more documents that are enclosed by the writer for the recipient, the enclosure is noted in one of the following ways:

Enclosure: Wholesale Pricing Packet
Enclosures (5)
Enc. (Encs.)

When a letter has been dictated to an assistant it should be initialed. Both writer and assistant are acknowledged with their personal initials. The writer's will appear in uppercase letters and the assistant's will appear in lowercase letters in one of the following ways:

When copies of a letter are sent to named business associates or other interested parties, the copy recipients are acknowledged with their full name as in the following example.

cc: Ms. Annie Getz
cc: Mr. Glenn Widget, Ms. Ida Mae Knott

Citation Information

Peter Connor. (1994-2022). Business Letters: Format. The WAC Clearinghouse. Colorado State University. Available at https://wac.colostate.edu/resources/writing/guides/.