I always find it interesting how people communicate. Regardless, if it’s in person, snail mail or email communication is an art. “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”- James Humes

I enjoy observing people and it intrigues me how business people interact. It’s interesting that although technology has changed continuously, there are tried and true practices that are relevant in today’s world of communication in business as well.  It’s a mix of old and new it would appear.

Double Check Spelling

I treat my outgoing email the same as a letter. First, I double check and make sure the recipient name is spelled correctly, first and foremost. Although mistakes can happen, receiving an email where your name is spelled wrong or addressed incorrectly, might be perceived as not so good. My name has been misspelled quite often.

Do’s and Don’ts

In the subject line, clear and direct and addressing concerns or information. Short and sweet.

Make sure that your address is professional not personal. They’ll be able to see it’s from you and it’s of business nature, not wonder who sent the email.  

Keep the font, size and color as classic as possible. It’s easier to read and in business, black is a safe color choice for correspondence.

Best Closing? Cheers to you.

Reading emails is a daunting task at times. Would it interest you to know there’s a way that could improve the chance of a response? This interested me. I was reading an article that shared Boomerang had reviewed over 350,000 email threads. They found certain closings delivered higher response rates. Interesting, right? They also ran another test, looking for a question mark, which meant the sender was looking for a reply.

Here’s the fun part. Which of these closings did the data prove to be most effective for replies?

Sincerely         Cheers

Warmly           Thanks

Regards           Best

Take care         Ciao

Talk soon         Your initials

Looking forward to your thoughts

(No closing at all)

Wait for it. The closings that expressed gratitude. Thank you, or any variation of, received more responses than other “popular” endings. Emails that ended in Thanks in advance had a 65.7 response rate. Thanks; 63 percent response rate, Thank you; 57.9 percent response rate.

The article by Inc., shared the worst ways to end emails as well. Interesting, that Regards or Best might not be such a good idea to close with. Best was the worst performer of them all.

One final thought. The Business Insider also mentioned that EVERY electronic message leaves a trail. When writing an email or any other correspondence, think about the tone and the information being sent so there isn’t anything that could be “ruinous to you or harmful to others.” It’s always better to air on the side of caution. It’s that old-school adage, better to be safe than sorry still rings true.

Thanking you in advance,

Tracey