Sign off a thank you card with a closing that matches how close you are, a comma, and your name on the line below it, at the bottom right. For family and close friends, "Love," or "With love,". For friends and neighbors, "Warmly," or "Many thanks,". For colleagues, clients and anyone after an interview, "With gratitude," "Thank you again," or "Sincerely,". Then your name.
Below: where each part goes, a closing for every kind of relationship, how to sign for a couple, a family, a team or a business, and the sign-offs to avoid.
How do you sign off a thank you card?
End with one last line of thanks, then a closing, then your name. "Thanks again for the lovely weekend," then "With love," then "Priya." The closing is a short phrase with a comma after it, on its own line. Your name goes under it. That is the whole sign-off, and it should take two lines, not a paragraph.
Hallmark's advice for the note above it is a simple order: the greeting with their name spelled right, "thank you" for the gift or favor, one specific detail, a line looking ahead, a second thanks in different words, and then your regards. Hallmark calls "Sincerely" a safe standby and suggests something warmer for closer relationships (Hallmark).
The closing should never be the only warm thing on the card. If the message says nothing specific, "With love" cannot save it.
Where does the signature go on a thank you card?
Your closing and name go at the bottom right of the panel you wrote on, under the message. In a folded card that is usually the right-hand panel inside. On a flat card or postcard, it is the bottom right of the writing side. Keep the closing and name together, slightly indented, so they read as one sign-off.
A few rules hold for every card:
- Do not sign on the back. The back is for the maker's logo. Nobody turns the card over looking for your name.
- Leave room. If you run out of space, finish the message on the left panel and sign there, at the bottom right.
- Sign by hand, even on a printed card. A typed name at the end of a typed message reads like an invoice.
- Use the name they call you. "Aunt Meera," "Raj," or "Dr Shah": whatever they would say when they pick up the phone.
Which closing fits which relationship?
Match the closing to how you would greet that person in the street. Family and close friends get "Love" or "With love." Friends and neighbors get "Warmly" or "Many thanks." Colleagues get "Thanks again" or "Gratefully." Clients and interviewers get "With gratitude," "Sincerely," or "Thank you again." When in doubt, "With gratitude" fits almost everyone.
Family
- Love,
- With love,
- All my love,
- Love always,
- Hugs, (for children and grandparents)
Dear Nani, thank you for the shawl. I wore it to work on the first cold day and three people asked where it came from. I will bring it when I visit in December. All my love, Anjali
Close friends
- Love,
- Big hugs,
- Yours always,
- Forever grateful,
- See you soon,
Dear Sam, thank you for driving four hours to help us move. The couch only fit because of you. Dinner is on us, any Friday you want. Big hugs, Jo and Mark
Friends, neighbors and acquaintances
- Warmly,
- Many thanks,
- With thanks,
- Warm wishes,
- Cheers, (only if you would say it out loud)
Dear Mrs Lee, thank you for watering the plants while we were away. The basil has never looked better. Warmly, Ravi from No. 14
Colleagues and your boss
- Thanks again,
- Gratefully,
- With appreciation,
- Many thanks,
- Best wishes, (for someone who is leaving)
Dear Tom, thank you for covering my shift on the 12th so I could get to the wedding. I owe you one, and I will remember. Thanks again, Priya
Our guide to employee appreciation notes covers the other direction: a manager thanking the team.
Clients
- With gratitude,
- With thanks,
- Thank you again,
- Gratefully yours,
- Sincerely,
Dear Ms Rivera, thank you for trusting us with your kitchen. Seeing your family around the new table in the photos you sent was the best part of the job. With gratitude, Dan Owens, Owens Builders
Customers, from a business
- With thanks from all of us,
- Thank you for shopping with us,
- With gratitude,
- See you next time,
- Warmly, (for a small shop that knows the customer)
Hi Laura, thank you for your order. I packed the blue mug myself and wrapped it twice, because the last one took a knock in the post. Thank you for shopping with us, Meg, Clayworks
There are thirty more like this in our guide to thanking customers of a small business.
After a job interview
- Thank you again,
- With appreciation,
- Sincerely,
- Best regards,
- Respectfully, (for a very formal employer)
Dear Ms Adeyemi, thank you for the time on Tuesday and for the tour of the lab. Your point about training new staff on the night shift stuck with me. I hope to help with it. Thank you again, Arun Nair
Wedding, shower and gift thanks
- With love,
- With love and thanks,
- With gratitude,
- Love from the new Mr and Mrs Shah, (once, for fun, to close family)
- Fondly,
Dear Uncle Rob and Aunt Sue, thank you for the cast iron pan. We have already made your famous Sunday pancakes in it twice. We were so happy you came all the way from Leeds. With love and thanks, Maya and Leo
If you are a photographer, planner or florist thanking the couple instead, our thank-you notes to wedding clients are written for you.
How do you sign a thank you card from a couple or a family?
Write the closing once, then both names under it. Put the person the reader knows best first: if it is your side of the family, your name first. "With love, Maya and Leo." For a family, adults first and children after, or "The Shah family" if the card is from everyone. Write "and" before the last name, not "&", unless it is a printed card.
Small details that help:
- Whoever writes the card can sign for both, as long as both names are written the same way.
- Children can sign their own name, however wobbly. It is the best part of the card for a grandparent.
- A surname only belongs on the card if the reader might not know which Maya you are.
- After a wedding, sign with the names they know you by. A new surname can wait for the return address.
How do you sign a thank you card from a team or a business?
Use one closing for the whole group, then the names. A team card can say "With thanks from all of us in Accounts," followed by each person's first name, or by the names of the people the reader actually worked with. A business card is signed by a person: "With gratitude, Dan Owens, Owens Builders." A logo alone is not a signature.
Three rules for business thank you cards:
- A real person signs. Name first, then the business. "The Owens Builders team" is a sign, not a signature.
- Add a role only if it helps. "Dan, your project manager" tells the customer who to call. "Dan Owens, Regional Operations Lead" does not.
- No sales line under the signature. No discount code, no website, no "P.S. leave us a review." The card says thank you and stops.
Businesses that send many of these will find the details on our For business page.
Should you send a thank you card after an interview?
Yes. Send a short email the same day, and a handwritten card as well if you want to stand out. In a Robert Half (then Accountemps) survey of more than 300 HR managers, 80 per cent said they take thank-you messages into account when deciding who to hire, and 86 per cent called a handwritten note an appropriate way to send one.
The same survey found that only 24 per cent of applicants sent a thank-you at all, down from 51 per cent in 2007, and advised sending it within 24 hours because some employers decide right after the last interview (Robert Half). Email was the most accepted method, at 94 per cent.
A separate survey by the career service TopResume found that 68 per cent of hiring managers and recruiters said a thank-you note matters to their decision, and nearly one in five had dismissed a candidate who did not send one (TopResume). So the email covers speed, and the card is what sits on the desk afterwards. Sign it with your full name, so it is matched to the right application.
When should you send a thank you card?
As soon as you can, while the gift or the favor is fresh. A few days is ideal. For parties and showers, Hallmark's rule of thumb is to send cards within a month of the event (Hallmark). If you are late, send it anyway, and say so in one line: "I have been meaning to tell you..."
Late is much better than never. Thank-you cards are the third most popular everyday card in the US, after birthday and sympathy, according to the Greeting Card Association, which counts about 6.5 billion greeting cards bought by Americans each year (GCA). People expect them, and they notice the ones that never come.
Does a thank you card really make a difference?
Yes, and more than the writer expects. In experiments by Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley, people who wrote letters of thanks underestimated how surprised and how positive the recipients would feel, and overestimated how awkward it would be (University of Chicago News). The fear that a card is "too much" is usually wrong.
Thanks also changes what people do next. In a study by Adam Grant and Francesca Gino, 66 per cent of people who got a short written thank-you helped again when asked, against 32 per cent who got a neutral reply. In a field version, a manager's thanks raised the number of calls university fundraisers made by more than 50 per cent (Harvard Gazette). A thank you is not just good manners. It makes people want to help you again.
What should you not write when you sign off?
Skip anything that sounds like email, like a sales pitch, or like you are in a hurry. "Best," "Regards," "Thx," and "Cheers" alone look rushed on a card. So does a closing with no name under it, a name with no closing, or a sign-off that asks for something. Keep the last two lines warm and plain.
- "Best," on its own: fine in an inbox, flat on a card. "Best wishes," is better.
- "Regards,": a letter to the bank, not a card to your aunt.
- "Love," to a client or your boss: too much. Use "With gratitude."
- "Thanks in advance,": you are thanking them for something done, not asking for more.
- "Let me know if you need anything," after the closing: it belongs in the message, or nowhere.
- A P.S. with a request, such as a review or a referral. It turns the thank-you into a favor.
- Initials only. "R." is how you sign a receipt.
If the card is about a loss rather than a gift, the closings change. "Warmly" and "Many thanks" are wrong there. Our guide on how to sign a sympathy card has closings, name order and 40 short messages for that.
Sources
- Hallmark Ideas, How to Write a Thank You Note: ideas.hallmark.com
- Robert Half (Accountemps survey of more than 300 US HR managers), "Thank-You Notes Can Tip Scale in Job Candidates' Favor, Yet Few Write Them", 2017: press.roberthalf.com
- TopResume, The Importance of the Post-Interview Thank You Follow-Up: topresume.com
- Greeting Card Association, Greeting Cards: Info to Know (2020): greetingcard.org
- Kumar, A. and Epley, N. (2018), "Undervaluing Gratitude", Psychological Science, via University of Chicago News
- Grant, A. M. and Gino, F. (2010), "A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, via the Harvard Gazette
