These Are the Wildest Ways to Start or End a Letter.

How do you start your work emails? You go with a simple “Hey?” Or do you like formal greetings like “Good afternoon?” or “Hello, right, faithful and beloved friend?” Or are you one of those absolute animals who are just getting started – no foreplay at all? How about closing? Are you one of those annoying people who say “thanks in advance”? Or are you more like ” Bye ?”

In pre-computer times, this would not have been an issue. There were strict rules for business correspondence: you started your letter with “Dear Mr. Jenkins” and ended with “Yours truly.” Anything else would mark you as a communist or a beatnik.

Then email entered the scene. At first, it was widely used for informal business communication – serious business cases were still recorded on paper. But now no one writes letters for work, and for us there are even more informal ways of communication. Email is in the gray area. Everyday work words are sent via text messages or Slack, and email is reserved for more “serious” matters, but it’s still not quite formal and there aren’t any generally accepted rules. This gives everyone the freedom to start and end emails however they want. But we still judge each other for the choices we make.

According to a study by online tutoring company Preply.com, 46% of people surveyed report that they can tell a colleague’s mood from their greetings and gestures, but only a third of those people think about how they start and end their own. emails. You must be one of those who thinks about it, at least enough to understand how you break away from your colleagues.

How most people start their work emails

According to the survey, “Hi, [NAME]” is the most common opening for work emails, with 67% of respondents saying they’ve used it. It makes sense. “Hey Gary” sounds reassuring in the context of work. It’s neither overly familiar nor overly formal, and it briefly acknowledges the recipient’s humanity before engaging in any mundane routine that prompted the conversation. “Hi, Gary,” he says, “we’re all in this together.”

A greeting like “Good afternoon Gary” (second most used at 19%) sends a different message. It grabs your attention, but in an unsettling way. It reads as if it was written by one of the authorities, and something serious will follow. “Hi Gary” will most likely be followed by something along the lines of “What is the status of the TPS reports? They were due on Tuesday. Thank you in advance.”

“Hello” without a name is the least used greeting in email, and for good reason. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it’s so different from “Hi” – it means the same thing and sounds almost the same – but “Hi” sounds dismissive and casual. This is what you say to someone you don’t like. You have to start your email somewhere , so you start with a shy “Hi” instead of just skipping the greeting.

How most people end their work emails

More than three-quarters of respondents consider opening an email more important than closing. I’m sure a lot of people just skip the “Thank you” at the end, but it’s still the last impression you leave on the reader. Most people seem to want this experience to be as innocuous as possible: 80% used a simple “Thank you.” This is probably the correct ending for most emails – for example, starting with “Hi Gary” is a brief acknowledgment of general humanity with no further consequences.

“Respectfully” is at the bottom of the list, with only 16% of people using it. Sounds formal, old-fashioned and oddly personal. This is annoying in the context of a work email.

41% of respondents report that work emails end with “thanks in advance.” This may seem passive-aggressive, like an order framed as a courtesy. This is how email readers see it as well. According to the poll, “thank you in advance” is ranked as the third “most brutal” ending.

The wildest email opening and closing: nothing

The wildest opening and closing is the same: nothing. Not the slightest greeting or sign; just running it without warning and ending it when the message is over. I understand why people find this annoying in some cases – it’s the subtle inability to recognize the person receiving the email as a person – but for me it depends on who is sending the message. Some colleagues are minimalistic and ready to get down to business. For them, greetings and endings are a waste of time. A name followed by a colon sounds more “wild”, even though it’s only third on the list (after “hiya”). A name with a colon always sends a message, no matter who writes it. An email that starts with “Gary:” won’t end with “We’re giving you a raise.”

Emoticons and exclamation marks

A shockingly high percentage of people — 58% — think emojis are appropriate in work emails. As with any form of communication, “correct” depends on the audience, but emojis seem too informal to work with. They are great in text messages and/or Google Teams, but in work emails they seem childish. I know norms are changing, but in 2023 no one will probably look down on you for not using emoji when some people, especially the elderly, might think you are childish and not serious for adding this little poop. In addition, the meaning of emojis can vary by age and culture, so you won’t know for sure if your message will be received as intended.

Oddly enough, people are more likely to approve emojis in work emails than exclamation points. Forty-eight percent of respondents report that they reread emails and remove exclamation points. But 25% add exclamation marks. Are you an adder or a subtractor? I am a viper and I hate it. I rarely use exclamation points in everything I write, but sometimes I feel compelled to “soften up” formal-sounding sentences in work emails. It seems friendlier to write, “I really enjoyed Gary’s retirement party!” Instead of “I really enjoyed Gary’s retirement party.” But while I’m doing this, I’m thinking, “That’s not how exclamation marks work .”

One thing I think we can all agree on is that closing an email with “Sent from my iPhone” or something like that is not good. Slightly more than half of the respondents want people to stop it completely, and 65% object to: “Sent from my phone, sorry for the typos.”