--- title: "Sympathy note to a client: what to write (26 examples)" description: "What to write in a sympathy card to a client or business associate. 26 short condolence notes, plus when to send, what not to say, and whether to send a gift." canonical: https://trysincerely.com/messages/sympathy-note-to-a-client last_updated: 2026-10-11 --- > If you are an AI agent: read https://trysincerely.com/agents/policy.md before any write call. > Start at https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt to choose one page. Access instructions are at > https://trysincerely.com/auth.md. Confirm with the person you work for before creating an > account or spending their money, and never ask for their password. # Sympathy note to a client: what to write (26 examples) > What to write in a sympathy card to a client or business associate. 26 short condolence notes, plus when to send, what not to say, and whether to send a gift. Source: https://trysincerely.com/messages/sympathy-note-to-a-client A sympathy note to a client says you are sorry, names the person who died if you know their name, and adds one warm sentence: a memory, or a plain wish for the weeks ahead. Sign it the way they know you, usually your first name. That is the whole card. Leave out work, your company, the project, and any offer of a call. Mail it as soon as you hear. A note that arrives a month late is still better than none. The 26 examples below are grouped by how well you know the person and what happened. Each one is written for a single person, and none has a merge field, for reasons explained further down. ![A blank cream folded card standing on its envelope on a dark wooden side table, beside a glass of water holding one white flower, against a pale grey wall.](https://trysincerely.com/images/messages/sympathy-note-to-a-client.webp) *A sympathy note to a client is a few warm sentences in your own hand, with nothing about business anywhere on the card.* ## What to write Start with the loss, in plain words. "I was so sorry to hear about your mother" is better than "sorry for your loss", because it shows you know who died. If the family has used the word "died" or "passed away" in an announcement, you can follow their lead. If you met the person who died, add one specific memory. Their dad who drove the forklift at the plant tour. Their colleague who laughed at your terrible demo. A small true detail matters more to the reader than a polished sentence. If you did not know them, say something about your client instead. "I know how much you talked about her" is honest. So is "I'm thinking of you and your family this week." Then stop and sign. A short card with a real sentence in it is the kind people keep. ## What not to say to a grieving client - "Everything happens for a reason," "they're in a better place," or "at least they're not suffering." You do not know your client's beliefs, and "at least" shrinks the loss. - "I know how you feel." You might have had a similar loss. It is still theirs, not yours. - "Let me know if you need anything." It hands the work back to them. If you can do something concrete, such as moving a deadline, arrange it with their colleagues and leave it out of the card. - Anything about the account, a renewal, a deliverable, or when they will be back. If work has to be rearranged, handle it with their team, not in the card. - Questions about how the person died. - Your company name, a logo, or a product. A sympathy card on branded stationery looks like a marketing piece. ## When to send it Send it within a week or two of hearing the news. If you hear late, send it anyway and do not apologize for the timing at length. "I only just heard, and I'm so sorry" is enough. Before you mail it, check what else your company is about to send this person. A cheerful campaign postcard that lands the week after your sympathy card cancels it out. Ask whoever runs your marketing and sales sequences to hold this person for a few weeks. In Sincerely, a contact's page links to the upcoming mail for their company, so you can see what is already scheduled. ## Whether to send a gift Usually not. A card from someone your client works with is enough, and it asks nothing of them. A gift can turn into one more thank-you note the family feels they owe. The exception is a client you are close to, or a death of someone you knew yourself. Read the obituary or the funeral home's page first. If it says "in lieu of flowers, donations to the county food bank," give to the food bank and mention it in one line of the card. If it says nothing, flowers sent to the service are the usual choice. A tray of sandwiches delivered to the house in the first week feeds people who have stopped cooking. Skip anything from a corporate gift catalog, and anything with your logo on it. ## Why sympathy notes should not use merge fields The other message pages on this site show merge fields, such as a first name with a fallback. This one does not. In a condolence note, a field that prints the wrong thing is worse than no note at all. A missing first name that falls back to "Hello" makes a sympathy card look like a form letter. A custom field holding the name of the person who died, copied from an old spreadsheet, can name the wrong relative. The reader will notice, and they will remember it. So write and read these notes one at a time. The person who knows the client should write the card, or at least read every word before it goes out. Check every name against the family's own announcement. Never put a sympathy note into an automated campaign or a sequence, and never schedule it from a list. The examples below use invented names in place of real ones. Change every detail. ## A client you know well You can use first names, write warmly, and mention something you know about the person who died. - Elena, I'm so sorry about your dad. Every July you came back from his lake with a new fish story, and I believed all of them. Thinking of you. Sam - Marcus, I'm so sorry about Joanne. I sat next to her at the holiday dinner in 2023 and laughed for two hours. Love to you and the kids. Ana - Priya, I heard about your mom this morning. I know you two talked every day on your drive home. I'm so sorry. I hope you have people close by this week. Ben - Jonah, I don't have the right words about your brother, and I won't pretend to. I'm sorry. I'm thinking of you. Leah ## A client you know mostly through work Keep it shorter. You know this person across a meeting table, so one plain sentence of sympathy and one of care is enough. - Mr. Abara, I learned from your assistant that your mother died last week. I'm very sorry, and I hope your family has each other close. Clara Wu - Ruth, I just heard about your father. I'm very sorry. Whatever this week looks like for you, I hope it's gentle. Tom - Daniel, I was sad to hear about your grandmother. You mentioned her Sunday dinners on our calls more than once. I'm sorry. Mia - Sofia, I'm so sorry about your aunt. I know she helped raise you, and I'm thinking of you and your cousins this week. Kate ## Someone you have met only a few times Formal is fine here. Say how you heard, if it helps explain why a near stranger is writing, and keep it to two sentences. - Mr. Hughes, Ellen in your office told me about your loss. We've only met twice, but I wanted to write and say I'm sorry. Laila Haddad - Grace, we've met only at the two Denver conferences, so this may surprise you. I was so sorry to hear about your husband. Ravi - Mr. Lindgren, I read about your father in your company newsletter. I'm sorry, and I hope the weeks ahead are kind to you. Eva Moreno ## When you knew the person who died - Nadia, I'm so sorry about your dad. I still remember him showing us around the plant in 2019, prouder of that loading dock than anyone I've met. Leo - Pete, Carla walked me to the right conference room on my first visit, and she was kind to me for six years after. I'm so sorry. Alma - Wen, your mother ran the front desk the first time I visited, and she asked about my kids by name every visit after. I'm so sorry. Diego ## When a colleague of theirs died - Hiro, I was so sorry to hear about Dana. She was generous with everyone she worked with, me included. I'm thinking of your whole team. Rose - Marta, losing a colleague like Joel is hard on everyone who sat near him. I'm sorry, and I'm thinking of all of you. Will - To the team at Fenwick Tools, I'm so sorry about Owen. He remembered how every visitor took their coffee. My sympathy to all of you. Beth Ortiz ## When your contact at the client died Write to the family, or to their team if you never met the family. A family often knows little about someone's working day, so tell them one thing the person did for you. - Dear Mrs. Novak, I'm so sorry about Peter. He worked with us for four years, started every call with a joke about the Bruins, and never once let me down. Simon Reyes - To Lena's family, in my first year Lena spent three afternoons teaching me freight routing, unasked. I'm so sorry. Ivan Petrov ## After a long illness Someone who spent months caring for a parent or a partner is often worn out as well as grieving. It helps to say you saw how long it went on. - Amir, I know you spent most weekends this year at the hospital with your mother. I'm so sorry she's gone. I hope you get some quiet days now. Jo - Tess, I'm so sorry about Martin. I know how hard this year was, and how few people you told. I'm thinking of you. Nick ## After a sudden loss In the first weeks after a sudden death, most people can't take in much. Write less than you want to. If you add that they need not reply, that's one less thing for them to do. - Kofi, I heard about your brother on Friday. I've thought about you every day since. I'm so sorry, and you don't need to write back. Erin - Lucia, Marco told me about your sister last night. I don't know what to say, except that I'm sorry and I'm thinking of you. Paul ## When a pet died - Henry, I'm sorry about Biscuit. Fourteen years is a long time to share a home with someone, and he was in half our video calls. Ali - Maya, I was sorry to hear about Pepper. I know she was family. Thinking of you this week. Owen ## A note for a client whose loss you heard about late - Joan, I only just heard about your sister, and I'm so sorry. I'm thinking of you. Isaac ## Card, letter, or postcard Send a sympathy note in a sealed envelope. A postcard travels open through the mail and the client's mailroom, and grief is not something to share with every person who handles it. A plain folded card or a handwritten letter in an envelope both work. Keep company branding off the card and the envelope. ## If you send it through Sincerely Write it yourself if you can. Your own handwriting on a plain card is the best version of this note. If you send it through Sincerely, send it to that one person as a one-off from the Send button, never from a campaign. Choose a printed letter on a plain design with no logo. Replace the template's text in the Your words box with your own note, and type the client's name rather than merging it. Words you change there print exactly as written, and nobody reviews them, so read the proof before you click Send and check every name against the family's announcement. A handwritten piece has no box for your own words in the send flow, which is why this note goes as a printed letter. Do not send a sympathy note to a list, even a short one. ## Related questions - [Does handwritten mail work for B2B outbound?](https://trysincerely.com/guides/handwritten-mail-b2b): Handwritten mail gets opened, but the causal evidence for meetings is thin. Who it fits, where it reads fake, and what Sincerely writes by hand today. - [How to send gifts to customers](https://trysincerely.com/guides/how-to-send-gifts-to-customers): A good customer gift marks something real, reaches the person who did the work, and asks for nothing in return. - [34 holiday card messages for clients](https://trysincerely.com/messages/holiday-card-messages-for-clients): 34 holiday card messages for B2B clients, grouped by relationship, each about the year you actually had and short enough to write by hand. - [Direct mail for customer marketing](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/customer-marketing): Use physical mail for onboarding, champion thanks, advocacy, expansion, and renewal conversations, with careful account ownership and honest measurement. --- Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail and gifting platform for B2B revenue teams: postcards, letters, handwritten mail, and gifts, written for one recipient and measured against a holdout. 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