As you finish up an email, you may not give much thought to your closing. After all, the hard part is done, right? Message complete. Now you just need an appropriate sign-off. No big deal.
But, maybe it is.
According to a study by productivity software manufacturer Boomerang, certain email closings deliver significantly higher response rates than others. And what matters more when you’re waiting to hear about a job opportunity, a lead, or an interview?
Gratitude Wins Out …
The Boomerang study looked at closings in more than 350,000 email threads, using messages from mailing list archives of 20-plus online communities. While the most popular closings – those that appeared more than a thousand times each – are not particularly surprising, their correlation with response rates will make you stop and think the next time you prepare to hit “send.”
The most popular email closings, according to the study, are:
- Thanks
- Regards
- Cheers
- Best regards
- Thanks in advance
- Thank you
- Best
- Kind regards
Regardless of your regard for “regards” – even if they’re “kind” or even “best” – emails that closed with some variation of “thank you” scored much higher when it came to better response rates.
- Emails with some form of thankful closing saw a response rate of 62 percent, compared to a rate of 46 percent for those without one.
- Closing with an expression of gratitude thus correlated with an impressive 36 percent relative increase in average response rate, versus signing off an email another way.
Additional research also supports these findings. In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it was found that recipients were more than twice as likely to offer assistance when they received an email that included a “thank you.”
… And “Best” is Actually Worst!
You probably want to steer clear of generic email endings: Sign-offs like “regards” had lower response rates. But the worst rates of all came from those emails that ended with “best.”
- On the high end of the scale, the best response rates of all came from emails ending with “thanks in advance.” But no matter exactly how you express your gratitude, it appears to be the best way to go.
Here’s a breakdown of the most effective email closings found in the Boomerang study:
- Thanks in advance – 38.3 percent increase in response rate
- Thanks – 32.6 percent increase
- Thank you – 21.9 percent increase
- Cheers – 14.5 percent increase
- Kind regards – 13.5 percent increase
- Regards – 12.6 percent increase
- Best regards – 11.4 percent increase
- Best – 7.8 percent increase
Closing your emails may seem like a minor detail in your job search – but small doesn’t mean unimportant. Every step counts when you’re vying for your dream position. Working with an experienced PrideStaff Northern Kentucky career coach can make all the difference needed to get each and every step right. Contact us today to learn more.
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