Ever found yourself trapped in an endless email thread? Discover the art of gracefully exiting an email exchange without appearing rude or unprofessional. Let's delve into the etiquette of digital communication and learn when it's appropriate to hit 'end'.
Resist the urge to feel like you always need to have the last word in email exchanges
It can be hard to know when to cease an email back-and-forth
- In face-to-face communications, you ask a question and the person you are communicating with responds with an answer
- When communicating by email, you do not have the thanks, nod, grunt, or thumbs up that you do in person
- Rules of thumb to help avoid seeming rude or unresponsive
Beware of the “reply all-pocalypse”
Unless everyone in the group needs to know your response, don’t reply all.
- If you’re the original sender, make use of the read receipts function to make sure the entire group sees your email, but use it sparingly.
Make sure the communication circle is closed
You can stop responding if the person doesn’t need to be thanked, or if you don’t need to let the recipient know you got the email
- Say you email a professor to ask a question about an upcoming exam, and she responds with an answer to your question.
- In this case, it is polite to reply with a quick “thank you” to acknowledge that you received the information and show your gratitude for their time. Beyond that point, no further messages are needed.
Consider the specifics of the exchange
When someone emails about moving a meeting or brunch from one time to another, they need confirmation that you know the time has changed or they might worry the message wasn’t received
- Other factors can affect the way you close the communication circle including cultural differences and power differences
