Urgh. It's about marketing emails.
I stop reading as soon as I see the terms "SEO", "Dear" or "million", and drag it to the spam folder. I never see the sign-off.
Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
101–110 of 150 posts
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#102This is an excellent example of why inferring causation from an observed correlation requires great care. Note that the study did not randomly assign valedictions to emails and observe the causal impact on response rate. Rather, they observed a correlation between the sign-off chosen and the response rate. "Thanks" garners many responses because people use it in emails that make reasonable requests with a good chance…
"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and". As far as I can tell the "&c." version was popularized by the 1944 novel "Anna and the King of Siam". So it literally means "I am, etc.", which I assume only expands to "I am your humble and obedient servant" in a humorous way. Might be taken the wrong way.
&c was widely (exclusively?) used in the 18th century. I happen to have been looking at this newspaper ad most recently: https://i.imgur.com/ALe5XeT.jpg
The inference is that the second book (Airs &c &c) will also be of Airs, Minuets, Gavotts, and Reels (or something similar).
Also, 18th-century letters routinely end with some snowclone of "your most humble and obedient servant", with many writers eliding some or all of it with &c since it was understood.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#103I often get slightly angry when the Mail is in the format of: Hi normal, Do this. Thanks. Greetings, projectmanager This implies to me that the other Party has decided my course of action and my time alocation without any discussion about my availability and if the approach makes sense.
Project Managers regularly seem to conflate 'Managing the Project' and 'Managing the Resource'.
One thing that will definitely irritate me is when a PM tries to directly Minion me without a pre-amble discussion about the work first.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#104This is an excellent example of why inferring causation from an observed correlation requires great care. Note that the study did not randomly assign valedictions to emails and observe the causal impact on response rate. Rather, they observed a correlation between the sign-off chosen and the response rate. "Thanks" garners many responses because people use it in emails that make reasonable requests with a good chance…
Some of my friends sign emails/letters to me with YMHOS. But we all do research on the 18th century, which…ah…is an important factor.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm still pretty formal with new clients. It takes me years to leave out a valediction with some. But on the other hand, my favorite valediction is usually "Cheers," since it seems the most casual and least demanding. Still, I always worry this gives away the fact that I'm an alcoholic. My runner up is "Yours," which I see didn't make the list.
"Cheers" is my favorite too, even though I don't drink alcohol. Some people probably take it the wrong way, but whatever.
I think "cheers" would be a variant of "Cheerio", which just means goodbye - nothing to do with booze.
I never had a sig - not for email, not for Usenet. At one time I just signed off with my name; nowadays I make do with a bare carriage-return. I figure people will be able to work out when they've got to the end.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I still feel very much on the hook when a customer raises a support request. That means we have a bug. If we talk often, that means they are a very good customer but we have a lot of bugs… Therefore I stick to “Best regards” mechanically. Note that I’m French, not native in English, so I’m not mastering colloquialities. Would it be appropriate to be more relaxed?
I think "Best regards" is always acceptable. Inevitably though it comes from either a Brit or a non-native speaker. I really love the French and Spanish sign-offs... Cordialement or the very warm Un abrazo which I get from business associates in Spain. English "regards" seem very cold by comparison.
French sign-off for formal letters:
"Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments les plus agréeables"
(Please be so good as to accept, Sir, the expression of my warmest feelings)
Well, that's what they told me at school - they were trying to teach me how to write business letters. It has always cracked me up.
/me not French.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#107We have someone in QA that says: "thanks anyways", even when people helped her.
Let's just say she's not well liked.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#108The older I get and more professional, the simpler my emails get. I've long done away with email signatures. I have no signature at all. (Metadata is plenty to let people know my full name, and they can just Google me, or use Superhuman / Rapportive to get info on me in context.) These days, most of my emails are signed with "-Kenneth" only. No signoff, no signature. The rest don't have a signature at all and just co…
Don't even think of printing it! Instead, have it engraved on a stone pyramid.
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#109The explanation that comes to mind to me is that "thanks" and especially "thanks in advance" are more likely to come at the end of emails that actually require a response, e.g. "Could you send me that TPS report with the new cover sheet? Thanks, Bill".
Re: Closing email with “thanks” gets the most replies
#110This is an excellent example of why inferring causation from an observed correlation requires great care. Note that the study did not randomly assign valedictions to emails and observe the causal impact on response rate. Rather, they observed a correlation between the sign-off chosen and the response rate. "Thanks" garners many responses because people use it in emails that make reasonable requests with a good chance…
"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and". As far as I can tell the "&c." version was popularized by the 1944 novel "Anna and the King of Siam". So it literally means "I am, etc.", which I assume only expands to "I am your humble and obedient servant" in a humorous way. Might be taken the wrong way.
Amusingly "ampersand" is derived from the time when it was the 27th letter of the alphabet just known as "and", one would recite the alphabet as "..., x, y, z, and, per se, and", contracted to ampersand.