YOU'RE ENDING YOUR EMAILS WRONG
It's time to stop using “best.“ The most
succinct of e-mail signoffs, it seems harmless enough, appropriate for anyone
with whom you might communicate. Best is safe, inoffensive. It's also become
completely and unnecessarily ubiquitous. That development is relatively recent:
A University of Pennsylvania study from 2003 found that, out of hundreds of
emailers, only 5% opted to close with best. It came in behind “thank you“ and
“regards“. But a quick search through your work account will quickly clear up
two things: 1) No one says regards anymore; 2) everyone says best.
When e-mail first entered the office in the
'90s, most users wanted to abandon the formalities of letter writing. “There
was no salutation and no closing,“ says Barbara Pachter, a business etiquette
coach. “It was like memo.“ But as emails started to function (and look) more
like letters, people reverted to formal, familiar behaviour. Now, “there
is a whole hierarchy of closings,“ Pachter says. So how do you choose? “Yours“
sounds too Hallmark. “Warmest regards“ is too
effusive.“Thanks“ is fine, but it's often used when there's no gratitude
necessary. “Sincerely“ is just fake -how sincere do you really feel about
sending along those attached files?
“Cheers“ is elitist. The problem with best is that it doesn't signal anything at all.
“Cheers“ is elitist. The problem with best is that it doesn't signal anything at all.
“Best is benign,“ says Judith Kallos, an e
mail etiquette consultant. “It works when you apparently don' t know what
else to use.“ Others have called it charmless, impernal, or abrupt. “ A few
years ago, best seemed kind of uncaring -like turning your shoulder to the
person without thinking,“ says Liz Danzico, creative director, who occasionally
blogs about e-mail communication.“Now, it's like a virus.“ So it's mutated:
“All my best,“ “all best,“ “very best,“ and so on.
So if not best, then what? Nothing. Don't sign
off at all. With the rise of office chatting software, email has begun
functioning more like instant messaging anyway.“Texting has made e-mail even
more informal than it is,“ Pachter says. In conversations with people we know,
complimentary closings have started to disappear. Tacking a best onto the end
of an e-mail can read as archaic, like a mom-style voice mail. Signoffs
interrupt the flow of a conversation, anyway , and that's what e-mail is. “When
you put the closing, it feels disingenuous or self-conscious each time,“
Danzico argues. “It's not reflective of the normal way we have conversation.“
She ends all her e-mails, including professional ones, with the period on the
last sentence -no signoff, no name, just a blank white screen.
Rebecca Greenfield
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BLOOMBERG
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