Author: Stephanie Vozza / Source: Fast Company You undoubtedly spend time drafting the body of your email, but how much thought do you put
You undoubtedly spend time drafting the body of your email, but how much thought do you put into your sign-off? “Sincerely,” “Thanks,” or “Best”–the words you use to close an email can impact your chances of receiving a response, according to a study by email productivity software provider Boomerang.
“It’s the one or two forgotten words at the bottom of the page that seem to have an impact on whether or not we get a response,” says Boomerang data scientist Brendan Greenley.
Analyzing more than 350,000 email threads, Greenley and his team found that emails that included a closing saw a higher rate of response when compared to the average response rate of all emails, which was 47.5%.
The most popular eight email sign-offs appeared over a thousand times each:
- Thanks in advance
- Thanks
- Thank you
- Cheers
- Kind regards
- Regards
- Best regards
- Best
But not all closings are created equal.
An expression of gratitude resulted in a 36% increase in average response rate. “Thanks in advance” scored highest, with a 65.7% response rate. “Thanks” got 63%, and “thank you” received 57.9%.
The higher response rate with “thanks in advance” makes sense, says Greenley. “The email’s recipient is being thanked specifically for a response that has yet to be written, and that…
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