Thank-You Emails | Ontario Training Network

Mary’s question: “Is it always appropriate to send a ‘thank you’ email as a response to any email providing information? I am receiving more and more of these. It seems to me that email senders could set up automatic receipt notices if they wanted to be sure that their emails were received.”

BizWritingTip response: I did a survey just over a year ago regarding people’s pet peeves when it comes to emails. I was surprised so many people complained about thank-you emails. It seems when people are having a busy day, they don’t want to waste their time opening non-essential messages.

However, if you don’t send a thank you how will the senders know you received the information? I don’t recommend receipt notices. When I conduct an email-writing workshop, most participants claim they dislike the receipt request. They feel the senders are checking up on them; many receivers hit the “no” button (don’t tell the sender I have read this) just out of irritation.

I recommend a practice used by many organizations in both the public and private sectors: Insert the words “thank you” in the subject line in front of the original wording. Then place one of the following abbreviations at the end of the subject, END, EOM (end of message) or NT (no text).

Example (subject lines)
Your original email: Required: Logistic Requirements for Writing Workshop
Receiver’s response: RE: Logistic Requirements for Writing Workshop
Your return email: Thank you – Logistic Requirements for Writing Workshop – END

There is no need for you to add anything else to the body of the email. The receiver can read your thank you in the subject line and then quickly delete or file the message.

Some of you may be wondering what would happen if the reader does not understand END, EOM, or NT. Well they might go ahead and open the message. But they will know the next time.

Note: I am not saying every provision of information requires a thank you. This is just an effective way to do it, if you wish to thank the receiver but have nothing else to add to the message.

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