Ending Emails With Certain Variation Of Thank You Vastly Improves Response Rate, Study Finds (inc.com)

An anonymous reader shares an Inc article: The folks at Boomerang, a plug-in for scheduling emails, did a little study to see how the language people use to close their emails has any effect on the response rate. "We looked at closings in over 350,000 email threads," data scientist Brendan Greenley wrote on the Boomerang blog, "And found that certain email closings deliver higher response rates." But do all emails need a response? Not necessarily. That's why Boomerang ran a variation of the test that looked at threads whose initial email contained a question mark, meaning the initiator of the conversation was likely looking for a reply. The answer? Those that express gratitude. "Emails that closed with a variation of thank you got significantly more responses than emails ending with other popular closings," Greenley writes. Here are the exact numbers: Emails that ended in Thanks in advance had a 65.7% response rate. Of emails that ended in Thanks, 63.0% got responses. The third most effective closing was Thank you with a 57.9% response rate. Boomerang has shared the kind of emails it accessed and how.

Comments

Ending with "thanks" is weird

[AmiMoJo]

I find emails that end with some variation of "thank you" are often badly worded and sound funny, like the person just set "thank you, Jo Bloggs" as their standard template and didn't really mean it when they apologized for not finishing the TPS report on time.

Re:Ending with "thanks" is weird

[hey!]

The strange thing about politeness is that it doesn't have to be sincere, or even perceived as sincere, to be effective. You don't really think that people receiving all those old timey "Your obedient servant," closings thought they were getting tenders of free labor, do you?

I think rituals of politeness have the same kind of "signalling value" that Superbowl ads do. There's no obvious reason that a company buying a Superbowl ad should make anyone want to buy their product, but they work because the investment itself signals a kind of robustness for the brand. Likewise a polite valediction signals to the recipient that you regard him as someone who should be treated with respect -- or at least expects to be treated with respect.

A lot of those rituals of politeness disappeared in the 60s, where it was cool and hip to be informal, and treat everybody like a friend. But I think we lost a kind of dynamic range in our culture, the ability to express degrees of respect or intimacy. It sets my teeth on edge when a vendor makes a cold call and asks to talk to "Matt," as if he was a buddy of mine. I am not your buddy, I am someone whom familiarity with is something you need to earn.

Re:Basic ettiquette pays I guess

[cayenne8]

Actually, this works in a MUCH broader sense.

In just, common, every day interaction with people...saying "Thank You" and the like gets you SO far...and for some reason, basic politeness has gone to hell in the US.

When I'm in a restaurant, I constantly say thank you, when the server brings me something or does something. Amazing how saying thank you and giving a smile seems to get you better service, and often at bars, MUCH better drinks. Tipping helps there too.

But my one complaint is...people these days, rarely seem to respond to a "Thank you" with a "Your Welcome", it seems so much of the time is is the (what I think is lazy sounding or less polite". "No Problem".

I'm not sure when that one took over.

But really, its amazing what doors can open up to you, or what people will do for you..if you just catch their eyes, smile and say "Thank You"....hold a door open for someone....I tell ya, maybe its because basic manners and civility have disappeared so much in popular culture, its amazing how people react positively and light up when you yourself use basic manners, are friendly, civil, and actually thankful when someone does something nice.

Correlation != Causation

[gonz]

It's simpleminded to assume "Thank you" *caused* the result. People who say thank you probably write more politely in general throughout their communications.

Unless the experiment controlled for this (e.g. by asking participants to add/remove "thank you" after having already composed their email), there is no implication that saying "thank you" will give you the same result.

It might be a good idea, but this study doesn't demonstrate that in any scientific way.

Re:Neckbeard Bigly

[Tablizer]

PC appropriateness is relative. For example, if I called a Trump-voting evangelical a "sky-man-fairy-tale-worshiping nutcase" they will have a fit. That's my non-PC way of describing their religion.

Those who dish it out often cannot take it themselves. Rather than have an escalating non-PC mouth fight, it's usually better to attempt PC.

Non-PC is great for venting, lousy for civilized society. Say it in your closet to get it out of your system. So far it appears Trump's non-PC is backfiring on the larger scale. I'll be very surprised if it works in the longer run.

Re:Neckbeard Bigly

[mjwx]

PC appropriateness is relative. For example, if I called a Trump-voting evangelical a "sky-man-fairy-tale-worshiping nutcase" they will have a fit. That's my non-PC way of describing their religion.

No, that'd just be you being an asshole.

Nope, you're just demonstrating that the Anti-PC crowd are a bunch of whiny hypocrites.

It seems you want the capability to complain about things you don't like whilst everyone else has to silently accept what you support... Which is ironically what the Anti-PC crowd complains about. The GP insulted your precious Trump whilst the GGP held up Trumps insults to others as a prime example of being Anti-PC.

Also he was being very polite, my Scottish relatives describe Trump as a "Cheeto-faced buttplug".

Calling someone or something PC has just become a way of saying "I don't like what he said but I cant form a rational argument against it". Ultimately, the Anti-PC crowd are the ones telling me what I'm not permitted to say. If you cant see a difference between PC and Anti-PC these days... you've got a good grasp on the situation.