‘Hey’ and ‘all the best’ among the most annoying things you can write in an email

Drawing of someone writing an email on their laptop
Just ban email, already (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Are you guilty of committing some of the most irritating email crimes known to man?

Whether you’re a sneaky CC-er, you pepper your email with exclamation points (to sound upbeat!), or you sign off each missive with ‘warm regards’, prepare to feel personally attacked.

A new study of 1,928 people, by Perkbox Insights, has gathered up the most irritating email habits around, from the cliched phrases to terrible punctuation.

We’re afraid to say that many of the habits that make the list are ones we do all the time. It’s pretty likely you tick off at least one and will thus be cringing at your outbox for the foreseeable future.

The good news is that the study also looks at the most liked greetings and sign-offs to use in emails, so you can learn from your terrible mistakes and move forward without shame.

The worst way to start an email, according to the research, is to offer no greeting at all and dive straight in, followed by ‘to whom it may concern’ – understandable, because that is rather impersonal.

But the greeting ranked the third worst is ‘hey’. Hey. Also known as the way I start pretty much all of my emails. Cool.

The worst email greetings:

  1. No greeting
  2. To whom it may concern
  3. Hey
  4. Happy [insert day]!
  5. Greetings

In terms of sign-offs, the ones to avoid are ‘love’ (too intimate), using no sign off at all, ‘warmly’, ‘cheers’, ‘yours truly’, and ‘yours faithfully’.

Any iteration of ‘best’ won’t be best received, either, with ‘best’ and ‘all the best’ making the top ten most annoying email sign-offs.

The worst email sign-offs:

  1. Love
  2. No sign off
  3. Warmly
  4. Cheers
  5. Yours truly
  6. Yours faithfully
  7. Talk soon
  8. Sincerely
  9. Best
  10. All the best

In terms of general phrases to avoid, they’re mostly those phrases that feel a little insincere, passive-aggressive comments, and cliched, overused buzzwords.

Those surveyed weren’t fans of ‘just looping in’, ‘as per my last email’, ‘any update on this?’, and ‘just checking in’.

Apparently people don’t like being chased to respond or do things. Fair enough.

Weirdly, though, ‘thanks in advance’ and ‘hope you’re well’ also make the list – because apparently people don’t like to be thanked and don’t want well wishes.

The most annoying email cliches:

  1. Just looping in
  2. As per my last email
  3. Any updates on this?
  4. Just checking in
  5. Confirming receipt/confirming that I have received this
  6. Per our conversation
  7. Please advise
  8. Thanks in advance
  9. Hope you’re well

Once you’ve avoided those greetings, signoffs, and phrases, you’ll also want to ensure you don’t commit any of the things listed as the biggest email don’ts, including putting kisses in emails, throwing in too many exclamation marks, and using capital letters for entire words or sentences – PERHAPS IT SOUNDS A BIT SHOUTY.

The biggest email don'ts:

  1. Using capital letters for whole words or sentences
  2. Using kisses or ‘x’
  3. CC-ing people who don’t need to be involved
  4. Using slang and abbrevations
  5. Using too many exclamation marks
  6. Sending an email without proofreading
  7. Sending very long emails
  8. Using emoji
  9. Not having an email signature
  10. Double emailing
  11. Using smiley faces
  12. Using coloured fonts

So that’s what not to do in an email. What should you do instead?

In terms of greeting, the study found people liked ‘hi’, ‘good morning/afternoon’, ‘hello’, and ‘dear’.

‘Happy Friday!’ also makes the list, but as this is ranked among the worst greetings as well, we’d recommend avoiding it. Perhaps the people who hate it are those who work weekends.

The study ranked the best email signoffs as ‘kind regards’, ‘thanks’, ‘regards’, ‘thanks in advance’ (but again, some people hate this), and ‘best wishes’ (which people also hate! You can’t win!).

If this all seems terribly confusing and contradictory, that’s because email is hellish and there’s no right way to do it.

No matter how much you reword or check over your email, if the person on the end has an overflowing inbox or they hate their job, they’re going to find your message especially annoying. You can’t help that.

But you can avoid putting in kisses or signing off with ‘love’. Please don’t do either of those things.

MORE: What’s the right way to sign off an email?

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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/08/hey-best-among-annoying-things-can-write-email-12023810/
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