How to finish an email to get an answer to it

Many people think that the focus on how to start and end emails is not worth the attention that it attracts. As long as you do not write anything silly or insulting, there will be no difference. It turns out that this is not so. So how is it better to finish the letter?

Research on the topic of e-mails

According to a detailed analysis of a large sample of emails, how you end your letter leads to a different result of getting answers to it. And what should you write at the end to get an answer with a higher probability? It turns out that you must express gratitude. In particular, the results showed that the phrase "Thankful in advance" works best. For the study, more than 350,000 e-mails were analyzed. Among these letters, eight most used endings were chosen. These letters were then analyzed to find out the number of responses received on them, and thereby determine which completion of the e-mail is most effective.

• "Thankful in advance" - 65.7% of the answers.
• "Thank you" - 63%.
• "Thank you" - 57.9%.
• "Good luck" - 54.4%.
• "With best wishes" - 53.9%.
• "Sincerely" - 53.5%.
• "I wish you all the best" - 52.9%.
• "All the best" - 51.2%.

Also in this study there are references to another study conducted in 2010, in which students sent a cover letter to their resume. As it turned out, if it includes the phrase "Thank you very much! I'm very grateful ", then the probability that they will receive an answer doubled.

Expert opinion

An interesting fact is that three independent etiquette experts told that "All the Best" is the best way to finish an email. And one expert said that "Thanks" and other gratitudes are an unacceptable technique, if they represent a kind of order disguised as premature gratitude.