"Looking forward to working with you": what it means, when it is right, and how to write and answer it.

Definition

"Looking forward to working with you" is a closing line for the start of a collaboration. It says that an agreement exists, that you are glad about it, and that you expect the work to go well.

It is one of the warmest closings in professional emails precisely because it can only be said honestly at one moment: after the other side has said yes and before the work begins.

Said at that moment, in a job acceptance, a welcome to a new client, a kickoff email, a note to a new team, it reads as sincere. Said earlier, it reads as presumptuous, and in sales it reads as a closing tactic.

The dictionaries agree on the core meaning. The Cambridge Dictionary defines "look forward to" as feeling pleased and excited about something that is going to happen, and the Oxford Learner's Dictionary as thinking with pleasure about something that is going to happen because you expect to enjoy it.

So the phrase means, literally: I am pleased that we are going to work together, and I expect the work to go well. The positive tone and the enthusiasm are built in; the writer does not need to add "very" or "so" to make them felt.

The phrase belongs to the "look forward to" family, along with looking forward to hearing from you, "looking forward to meeting you" and "looking forward to seeing you."

They share a grammar and differ in what they expect: a reply, a meeting, a visit, or, in this case, a period of working together.

The rest of this page covers the grammar, formal and casual versions, whether the phrase is professional, the moments it fits and the moments it does not, how to use it in an email, a cover letter or a LinkedIn message, synonyms with examples, and how to answer it.

The grammar: working, not work

The correct form is "looking forward to working with you." "Looking forward to work with you" is a frequent error because "to" usually introduces an infinitive: "want to work," "hope to work."

In "look forward to," the "to" is a preposition, part of the phrasal verb, and prepositions take nouns or gerunds: "looking forward to it," "looking forward to the project," "looking forward to working with you."

Cambridge's English Grammar Today states the rule directly: the "to" in look forward to is a preposition, so it is followed by a noun phrase or an -ing verb, and "looking forward to go" is wrong.

The Purdue OWL explains why the -ing form fits: a gerund works as a noun, and one of the places a noun can sit is as the object of a preposition. "Working" is that noun here.

The same Cambridge page adds a detail that matters in team emails. When the second verb has its own subject, use the object pronoun: "We are looking forward to him joining the team," not "to he joining." For names: "looking forward to Dana leading the rollout."

Three versions differ in tone, not correctness. "I look forward to working with you" is the formal one, for offer letters and senior first contacts. "I'm looking forward to working with you" is warmer.

"Looking forward to working with you," with no subject, is the everyday version between people who have already exchanged a few emails.

Formal vs casual: "I look forward to working with you" or "looking forward to working with you"

All five common versions are correct. They differ in register, and the right one depends on who you are writing to and how many emails you have already exchanged. Cambridge notes that the formal closing of letters and emails uses the present simple: "I look forward to," not "I am looking forward to."

When "I look forward to working with you" is the better choice

Use the full sentence with "I" when the reader is senior to you, when you have not met, or when the message is close to a document: an offer acceptance, a letter to a new partner, a contract cover note. The subject makes it sound complete, and the present simple makes it sound settled.

Is "look forward to working with you" without "I" correct?

Yes, in informal writing. Dropping the subject is common in short email closings, as in "Hope you are well." It reads as brisk, so keep it for people who already write to you that way, and use the full "I look forward to working with you" for a first contact.

Is it professional and polite to say "looking forward to working with you"?

Yes. It is polite, positive and accepted in professional emails at every level, from a new hire writing to a manager to a company welcoming a client. Its weakness is not tone but frequency: it is so common that, on its own, it can read as a template rather than a person.

In business communication, a closing does two jobs: it sets the tone of the relationship and it tells the reader what happens next. The phrase does the first job well and the second not at all, which is why it works best with a next step beside it.

It also sounds stiff in two situations: when the rest of the email is casual and the closing suddenly turns formal, and when it is used before anything has been agreed, so the enthusiasm has nothing to attach to.

The fix for every con is the same: keep the phrase, or a synonym, and attach one concrete fact to it. "Looking forward to working with you on the April rollout" is warmer and more professional than the bare sentence, and it could only have been written to this reader.

When "looking forward to working with you" is right

The test is simple: has the other side agreed? If yes, the phrase fits. If not, it is premature. The table below lists the moments that pass the test and the ones that do not.

When it is premature, and what it costs in sales

In sales the phrase does damage in a specific way. Sent before the contract, "looking forward to working with you" tells the buyer that the seller has already decided the outcome. Some buyers read that as confidence.

More read it as pressure, or as a template that did not know where the deal stood, and a buyer who feels pushed at the last step slows down.

The same words after the signature do the opposite: they mark the moment the relationship changed from selling to serving, and they are usually the first line of the email a customer keeps.

The rule for a rep is to hold the phrase until it is true, and to close every earlier email with a question or a next step instead. Our guides on how to write a cold email and the call to action email cover what that last line should ask.

How to use it in an email, a cover letter, a LinkedIn message and on your first day

The phrase changes job depending on the channel. In emails it is a closing line; in a cover letter it is a risk; on LinkedIn it belongs after a conversation, not at the start of one; on a first day at work it is spoken, and shorter versions sound more natural.

In an email

Put the phrase in the closing, after the content. A kickoff email that opens with the next steps and ends with the phrase reads as organized; one that leads with it and buries the steps reads as a greeting card. Our page on how to end an email covers the sign-off that follows it.

If the email introduces you to a new client team or a new colleague, the phrase pairs well with a short introduction of your role. The guide on how to introduce yourself in an email has the structure.

In a cover letter

A cover letter is written before anyone has decided, which is exactly when the phrase is premature. "I look forward to working with you" in the last paragraph assumes the offer, and a closing that sounds presumptuous gives the reader a small reason to hesitate.

A safer close names the next step instead: "I would welcome the chance to discuss how I could contribute to the team" or "Thank you for considering my application; I look forward to hearing from you." After an interview, the same logic applies to the follow-up email after an interview.

In a LinkedIn message

On LinkedIn the phrase fits only after something is agreed in the thread: a project, a hire, an intro that both sides said yes to. In that case the short version fits the channel: "Great, see you Tuesday. Looking forward to working with you."

In a cold message or a connection note, it is the same mistake as in a cold email. The LinkedIn thank you message page covers the closings that do fit after a call or a referral.

On your first day at work

Spoken, the phrase is often too long. On a first day, shorter lines carry the same enthusiasm: "Great to meet you all," "Happy to be on the team," "Looking forward to working together." In a written introduction to the team, the full version with "you all" is natural.

Alternatives to "looking forward to working with you," by tone and scenario

Lists of alternatives run to thirty items; most are the same sentence with a different adjective, and "excited" does a lot of the work. The useful alternatives change the tone or add the specific thing you are looking forward to, which is what makes a closing sound like a person rather than a template.

Looking forward to working with you synonyms: 25 other ways to say it, with examples

Each alternative below comes with an explanation of the tone, the scenario it fits and an example sentence. The examples were written for this page.

The formal ones work in offer letters and client emails, the professional ones in most kickoffs, the warm ones in teams that write casually, and the specific ones name a date or a project, which is usually the strongest choice.

The replies at the end are for when someone sends the phrase to you.

Pick a synonym by what you want the line to show

Synonym lists group the same phrases in different ways. The grouping that helps most when you are writing is by goal: what the closing should tell the reader about you and the work ahead.

What the good alternatives share is that each one says something the original does not: who is collaborating, when the work starts, what you are ready for, or why you are excited.

A positive closing that adds one fact reads as a person; a positive closing that adds nothing reads as a template, however professional the words.

That is also why the best of these are the specific ones, and why "looking forward to working with you" itself improves the moment a date or a project name is attached to it.

The words these closings use, and what each one shows

Read enough examples and the same handful of words appear in every alternative: excited, collaborate, teamwork, great, ready, achieve. Each one shows something slightly different.

"Excited" and "thrilled" show energy, and they belong to teams that write casually; in a formal offer letter they read as too much.

"Collaborate" and "collaboration" show that the work is joint, which is why they fit partners and client teams better than a new hire writing to a manager.

"Teamwork" and "together" show that you see the other side as peers. "Great" is filler in most examples and earns its place only when it predicts something specific, as in "it will be great to have your data on the first call."

"Ready" and "can't wait" show that the delay is on the other side, which is useful when it is true and pushy when it is not. "Achieve" and "results" belong to the company voice, where the collaboration has a stated goal.

The table below sorts the words that appear most often in synonyms for the phrase by what they signal and where they fit. The example lines were written for this page.

The practical rule is to pick one of these words, not three. "Excited to collaborate on a great project together" stacks four of them and says nothing; "Excited to get started on the Q4 launch" picks one and adds a fact.

Every example in the list above follows that rule, and it is the reason they read as a person rather than a template.

How to respond to "looking forward to working with you" in emails

When someone sends the phrase to you, the reply has two parts: return the warmth, and add the first concrete step. "Likewise" alone is polite and a little flat. "Likewise. I will send the onboarding schedule on Monday" returns the warmth and moves the work forward.

Other workable replies: "Same here, and thanks for the quick turnaround on the paperwork," "Glad to have you on the project; the first sync is Tuesday at ten," "The feeling is mutual. Let me know if there is anything you need before the kickoff."

In the company voice: "We are glad to have you as a client; your onboarding contact is Dana and she will be in touch today."

If the phrase arrives at the end of a sales cycle, the reply is also the start of the sales handoff: name who the client will work with from now on, so the warmth lands on the right person.

On LinkedIn, the same two parts fit in one line: "Same here, see you at Tuesday's kickoff." A reply that adds nothing, such as a thumbs-up reaction alone, is fine between colleagues and a little thin with a new client.

Six closings in context

The closings below were written for this page. Four use the phrase where it is true; the last two show what replaces it before a yes.

Common mistakes

The mistakes below are the ones that make a great closing land badly.

• "To work" instead of "to working."
• Using the phrase before anything is agreed.
• Using it in a cold email, where it is both premature and a template tell.
• Using it in a cover letter, where the offer has not been made.
• Switching to a stiff "I anticipate a productive collaboration" at the end of a casual thread.
• Stacking it with "looking forward to hearing from you" in the same closing, which expects two different things at once.
• Replying with nothing but "Likewise" when a next step would help.
• Treating it as the whole closing when a date, a name or a first step would make it specific: "Looking forward to working with you" is fine; "Looking forward to working with you from Monday" is better.

In a sequence

No touch in the 10-day cadence ends with "looking forward to working with you," because none of them comes after a yes. The phrase belongs to the email that follows the cadence: the kickoff after the contract is signed. Earlier touches close with a question; see the sales follow-up email template for those.

That email is below, with the next steps first, one request, and the phrase where it is finally true.

Subject: Kickoff for {{company}}, next steps

Hi {{firstName}},

Thanks for getting the agreement back so quickly. Here is what happens next: onboarding call on {{date}}, the cadence templates loaded into your sequences by the end of that week, and the first review thirty days in.

One thing I need from you before the call: the names of the two reps who will run the first sequence, so their accounts are ready.

Looking forward to working with you and the team.

{{senderName}}

Frequently asked questions

Cite this definition

Jeluvi, "Looking forward to working with you", B2B sales glossary, https://jeluvi.com/glossary/looking-forward-to-working-with-you/, last checked Oct 1, 2026.