Friday, November 28, 2014

Netiquette SIgnature Email Closings A Variety Of Choices - Via Netiquette IQ

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Email signature are one of the five critical parts of email which I have elaborated upon in my book, which is mentioned below. Here is a very nice compendium of them following. Many of these I disagree with and I think the categorization of types would have been nice. Nonetheless, it is a blog worth keeping!
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Susan Adams Forbes.com Staff

1. Best – This is the most ubiquitous. It’s widely accepted. I recommend it highly and so do the experts.
2. My Best
– A little stilted. Etiquette consultant Lett likes it.
3. My best to you
– Lett also likes this one. I think it’s old-fashioned.
4. All Best –
Harmless.
5. All the best
– This works too.
6. Best Wishes
–Seems too much like a greeting card but it’s not bad.
7. Bests
– I know people who like this but I find it fussy. Why do you need the extra “s?”
8. Best Regards
– More formal than the ubiquitous “Best.” I use this occasionally.
9. Regards
– Fine, anodyne, helpfully brief. I use this too.
10. Rgds
– I used to use this but stopped, because it’s trying too hard to be abbreviated. Why not type three more letters? OK if you’re sending it from your phone.
11. Warm Regards
– I like this for a personal email to someone you don’t know very well, or a business email that is meant as a thank-you.
12. Warmest Regards
– As good as Warm Regards, with a touch of added heat.
13. Warmest
– I use this often for personal emails, especially if I’m close to someone but not in regular touch.
14. Warmly
– This is a nice riff on the “warm” theme that can be appropriate for business emails if you know the recipient well.
15. Take care
– In the right instances, especially for personal emails, this works.
16. Thanks
- Lett says this is a no-no. “This is not a closing. It’s a thank-you,” she insists. I disagree. Forbes Leadership Editor Fred Allen uses it regularly and I think it’s an appropriate, warm thing to say. I use it too.
17. Thanks so much
– I also like this and use it, especially when someone—a colleague, a source, someone with whom I have a business relationship—has put time and effort into a task or email.
18. Thanks!
– This rubs me the wrong way because I used to have a boss who ended every email this way. She was usually asking me to perform a task and it made her sign-off seem more like a stern order, with a forced note of appreciation, than a genuine expression of gratitude. But in the right context, it can be fine.
19. Thank you – More formal than “Thanks.” I use this sometimes.
20. Thank you!
– This doesn’t have the same grating quality as “Thanks!” The added “you” softens it.
21. Many thanks
– I use this a lot, when I genuinely appreciate the effort the recipient has undertaken.
22. Thanks for your consideration
– A tad stilted with a note of servility, this can work in the business context, though it’s almost asking for a rejection. Steer clear of this when writing a note related to seeking employment.
23. Thx
– I predict this will gain in popularity as our emails become more like texts. Lett would not approve.
24. Hope this helps
– I like this in an email where you are trying to say something useful to the recipient.
25. Looking forward
– I use this too. I think it’s gracious and warm, and shows you are eager to meet with the recipient.
26. Rushing
– This works when you really are rushing and may have made typos or written abbreviated sentences. It expresses humility and regard for the recipient.
27. In haste
– Also good when you don’t have time to proofread.
28. Be well
– Some people find this grating. Not appropriate for a business email unless you know the recipient well.
29. Peace – Retro, this sign-off wears its politics on its sleeve. It doesn’t bother me but others might recoil.
30. Yours Truly
– I don’t like this. It makes me feel like I’m ten years old and getting a note from a pen pal in Sweden.
31. Yours
– Same problem as above.
32. Very Truly Yours
– Lett likes this for business emails but I find it stilted and it has the pen pal problem.
33. Sincerely
– Lett also likes this but to me, it signals that the writer is stuck in the past. Maybe OK for some formal business correspondence, like from the lawyer handling your dead mother’s estate.
34. Sincerely Yours
– Same problem as “Sincerely,” but hokier. Lett likes this for business correspondence. I don’t.
35. Cheers!
– Though I have never liked this because it seems affected when used by Americans and I get annoyed at the idea that anyone is telling me to cheer me up, several British readers commented that it’s simply a frequently-used informal sign-off in the UK that’s equivalent to “thanks.” On the other hand, one reader wrote, “As a British person, it conjures boozy nights in a pub, and ‘bottoms up’ as a synonym for ‘cheers.’ Grates with me I am afraid.”
36. Ciao – Pretentious for an English-speaker, though I can see using it in a personal, playful email.
37. -Your name
– Terse but just fine in many circumstances. Probably not a good idea for an initial email.
38. -Initial
– Good if you know the recipient and even fine in a business context if it’s someone with whom you correspond frequently.
39. Love
– This seems too informal, like over-sharing in the business context, but Farhad Manjoo points out that for some people, hugging is common, even in business meetings. For them, this sign-off may work.
40. XOXO
– I’ve heard of this being used in business emails but I don’t think it’s a good idea.
41. Lots of love
– I would only use this in a personal email. The “lots of” makes it even more inappropriately effusive than the simple, clean “Love.”
42. Hugs
– It’s hard to imagine this in a business email but it’s great when you’re writing to your granny.
43. Smiley face
- Emoticons are increasingly accepted, though some people find them grating. I wouldn’t sign off this way unless I were writing to my kid.
44. ;-)
– I’ve gotten emails from colleagues with these symbols and I find they brighten my day.
45. [:-)
– I’m a sucker for variations on the smiley face made with punctuation marks, though I suspect most people don’t like them.
46. High five from down low
– A colleague shared this awful sign-off which is regularly used by a publicist who handles tech clients. An attempt to sound cool, which fails.
47. Take it easy bro
– Author Richie Frieman says he regularly gets this from a web designer in Santa Cruz, CA. Though it might turn some people off, I would be fine receiving an email with this sign-off, knowing the sender lives in an informal milieu.
48. See you around
– Lett would cringe but this seems OK to me when used among friends or from a Santa Cruz web designer.
49. Have a wonderful bountiful lustful day
– Tim Ferguson, editor of Forbes Asia, regularly gets this sign-off from Joan Koh, a travel writer in Southeast Asia. I find it weird and off-putting though one reader claimed he liked it.
50. Sent from my iPhone
– This may be the most ubiquitous sign-off. It used to bother me but I realize that it explains brevity and typos. I’ve erased it from my iPhone signature because I don’t like to freight my emails with extra words, and in many instances I don’t want the recipient to know I’m not at my desk. But maybe I should restore it. The same goes for automated messages on other devices.
51. Typos courtesy of my iPhone
– Slightly clever but it’s gotten old. Better to use the automated message.
52. Sent from a prehistoric stone tablet
– I laughed the first time I read it but then the joke wore thin.
53. Pardon my monkey thumbs
– Same problem here.
54. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
– A preachy relic of the past. Who doesn’t know that printing uses paper? Though one reader suggested that “environment” refers to the people who might have access to the printed document, which could contain sensitive information and thus shouldn’t wind up in the wrong hands. I beg to differ since the “environment” emails I have received include graphics of green trees.
55. vCards
– I think these are a great idea. At least they work well on my Dell desktop when I want to load a contact into Outlook and you’re doing the recipient a favor if you’re initiating a correspondence.
56. This email is off the record unless otherwise indicated
– My colleague Jeff Bercovici, who covers media, told me he gets this email from friends who are inviting him to birthday parties or other engagements and he finds it extremely annoying. I’m wondering what kind of paranoid people put this in their signatures.
57. Lengthy disclaimers
– We’ve all seen these and ignored them, though I understand that many companies require them. Forbes’ former in-house legal counsel, Kai Falkenberg, couldn’t recall any cases  that have relied on legal disclaimers, though she said that a disclaimer might serve as persuasive evidence in a trade secrets case where a party is attempting to keep information confidential.
58. Much appreciated – From a reader who says he likes expressing gratitude to someone who has gone out of her way to be helpful. I agree this is a warm, appropriate sign-off in the right circumstances.
59. Talk soon – Reader Chris Thomas likes this. So do I, especially if you want to strike an informal tone.
60. TTYS – This abbreviation for “talk to you soon” is frequently used in texts. I haven’t yet seen it in email but I think it’s just a matter of time and seems good for informal notes between friends.
61. Thank you for your patronage – This comes from a reader named Thierry Clicot who says it “[w]orks well in a formal business relationship with an older or more proper client,” though he admits that it sounds “stilted.” I’m afraid I don’t like this at all. The word “patronage” strikes me as patronizing.
63. You’re the best – Reader GabrielH suggests this while acknowledging that it sounds like the final scene from “The Karate Kid.” I don’t disagree but I can also imagine using it when replying to a source or contact who has gone the extra mile.
64. Enthusiastically – “I am a very upbeat person and I find it helps my e-mail echo what my intent is,” writes Christopher Tong. I find this one heavy-handed and would recommend confining your enthusiasm to your email text.
65. To your success – I’ve never seen this one. I guess it’s OK if you’re writing an email congratulating someone on a promotion or a new job. Otherwise it sounds an odd note.
66. Until/Till next time/week/tomorrow – Fine in the right circumstances.
67. Have a blessed day – For those who use this regularly in conversation, it can be appropriate.
68. God bless – ditto.
69. Blessings – ditto
70. Your servant in Christ – One reader said her pastor uses this as his sign-off. For anyone outside the clergy, this seems too freighted. Obviously not appropriate when writing to someone who isn’t Christian.
71. Peace dude – I haven’t seen this one, but I imagine if I got it, I’d smile. Don’t use it for most business correspondence unless you’re a 20-something communing with others your age in a business like a start-up where the tone is decidedly informal.
72. Peace and love – This strikes me as a throwback akin to the simple “peace.” Appropriate if you’re in your 50s or 60s emailing someone in the same age bracket.
73. At your service – In some contexts this could be fine. If a corporate publicist were responding with this sign-off to a request I’d made, I’d welcome it.
74. Now go do that voodoo that you do so well! – Reader Shardul Pandya says he occasionally uses this line from the Mel Brooks movie “Blazing Saddles” when letting his employees know they should proceed with a task. The line actually originated with the George Gershwin song, “You Do Something to Me.”
75. -Nickname – If you’re very familiar with the recipient, you could sign off with a shortened version of your first name. Brian could end with “Bri.”
76. TTFN – I had no clue what this meant until three readers told me it stands for “Tata for now.”
77. Waiting to hear your reply, with best regards – This is too pushy and too wordy. Stick with “best regards.”
78. SMILE! — it exercises the maximum facial muscles – This is from the same reader, Rajeev Joshi, who sent No. 77. I recoil when people tell me to smile.
79. A smiling face is miles more attractive than just a pretty one. – Joshi uses this too but it turns me off and seems vaguely sexist. Would he write this to a man?
80. The purpose of education is not knowledge but right action. – Another Joshi sign-off. He claims he is trying to get his recipients to think, but I think they are just annoying. I’ll spare you the three others he sent.
81. Snuggles – This is another one that’s new to me. Obviously for personal use only.
82. Stay gold – An allusion to the 1967 S.E. Hinton novel The Outsiders. Too obscure!
83. Respectfully – This sounds OK but it only seems appropriate in certain circumstances, like a student writing to a professor.
84. Make it a great day! – Again I am repelled by directives that tell me how to live my life.
85. Thanking you in anticipation – I don’t like this at all. It’s an order wrapped in a nicety.
86. Signed – A reader suggested that this could be a good way to end en email because it’s generic and “it doesn’t imply any sort of emotion or promise.” But I’ve never seen anyone use it in email, and thus it calls needless attention to itself and sounds overly stiff and literal.  I would never use this. If you want to sound generic, stick with “Best.”
87. With appreciation – Though I’ve never seen this, it strikes me as warm and appropriate.
88. V/R – Reader Andee Howard Cui explains that this stands for “Very respectfully.” The phrase has a nice sentiment and it’s rendered less formal by the abbreviation, but I think it’s too obscure.
89. Sent from my smartphone – Reader Ieva Screbele believes that those who use the “Sent from my iPhone” sign-off seem like a they are showing that they can afford an iPhone and/or offering an advertisement for Apple. She suggests the more generic “smartphone” ending.

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I wanted to add one more to make it 90!

90. Try a mix of the above - What can really help you stand out is a "personal hybrid" of two from the above list, e.g. "With gratitude and appreciation". This is professional and shows a thoughtful personalization. 
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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:
 www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
 If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio  and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and  Yahoo I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and  PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.

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