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Is it ever OK to send a Thank you Note via Email, Fax or Text/SMS?

"Who sends a half-assed text bulletin in response to a bottle of '82 Ch�teau Mouton Rothschild? How rude."

The mitt written thank yous note versus the e-mail thank yous annotation: both accept their advantages, nevertheless the e-mail give thanks you lot note remains very much the poor relation to the thank you notation received in the mail.

But is this justified? And with email now the main means of written communication for so many of us, is it perhaps time to loosen up the rules a little?

What the 'experts' say: the case for sending thank you notes past postal service/alphabetic character

The case for sending give thanks you notes by mail service/letter

"Thank you notes must ever be hand written and sent in the mail. This declares that you have fabricated an effort, and is therefore the just correct way to properly express gratitude..." And then say the etiquette experts � and in some means they are correct.

Afterwards all, the sending of thank you notes in the mail is a time-honored tradition. It'southward thoughtful, meaningful and personal. Moreover, writing the mailing address � exist it in Michigan, Manchester or Bombay � helps y'all to spend a moment visualizing and establishing a connection with the recipient.

Email, by contrast, lacks the proper weight and respect necessary for thanking someone properly. Email thank you lot notes can be perceived as lazy or even 'cheap' (no need to pay for a stamp). Thus, in these days of electronic advice, it is particularly important to write thank you notes by manus to show that you lot really care.

A sole exception to the rules, according to the gurus of adept manners, is the interview thank you note

, which has gained acceptance due to the need for speedy communication and the general prevalence of email in business.

And then there you lot accept information technology: writing thank you notes the erstwhile fashioned fashion is the right way to say thank you and emphasize how much a souvenir, favor or action meant to yous.

By all means become ahead and hand write your thank you notes, and send them in the mail. Traditional etiquette and expert erstwhile fashioned manners volition have a identify, and will never cause offence.

If, yet, yous are rolling your eyes, read on for another point of view...

The case for sending thank you lot notes by email

The case for sending thank you notes by email

Sandra E. Lamb in her useful book Write the Correct Words suggests that sending a thank yous email to someone who has hosted a party for you is 'boorish... rude... insulting'.

My goodness! Are sincere thanks expressed electronically really so awful? And tin it really exist the instance that in these days of mass e-mail communication, the sole acceptable way to give thanks someone is to suspension out the stationery, pens and stamps, and hand write a notation to put in the mail?

There's no denying, of class, that handwritten thank you lot notes have an important part. Expressing gratitude for a substantial gift or major favor is pretty much e'er best done with a notation in the postal service. Proper wedding ceremony etiquette definitely demands cheers notes sent in the mail. And many older people in detail � fifty-fifty if they do have Internet access � are unlikely to capeesh give thanks you lot received by email. In short, pick the recipients of your email thank you lot notes with intendance and if in dubiousness, stick with pen and newspaper.

Having said that, email has some great advantages. Not only are electronic mail thank yous notes quick and piece of cake to write (no handwriting worries or stationery dilemmas), they are free to send, and much quicker to get in. And � most crucially � email thank you notes are much more likely to actually get both written and sent!

Better an email thank you... than no thank y'all at all!

As we all know, far likewise much appreciation goes unexpressed, and all too many thank yous go unsaid. I would propose that a major reason for this is that people are paralyzed by the demands of 'proficient etiquette' which stipulates that give thanks you notes must be beautifully handwritten on attractive stationery.

My husband is ane of those afflicted past this paralysis. While non brusque on gratitude, he is simply not the sort to write thank you cards, partly due to his condition equally 'severely handwriting-challenged', and partly because the whole process of selecting a menu or jotter, writing the note, buying the stamp, and, finally, remembering to put the notation in the mail service, is just likewise much for him. For him it means too many steps betwixt feeling gratitude and being able to express information technology. Email, on the other manus, is just perfect for him � allowing him to conceive, write and send a note, all within a few minutes.

Some volition protest that email give thanks yous are not as nice to receive. Well, possibly that is true in some cases. But I'm a firm believer that thank you are thanks, and gratitude is gratitude, still (or, indeed, nevertheless imperfectly) information technology is expressed.

Is gratitude expressed past e-mail less existent because it didn't involve the process of ownership a bill of fare and putting information technology in the mail? Email cuts cheers notes back to the nuts � gratitude and the impulse to express it. And surely that is non a bad thing.

The 'green perspective'

Most thank you notes become directly in the bin afterwards they've been read

A thank you note that arrives in the mail, written by hand on creamy card stock, is certainly pleasant to receive. Merely what happens once you have read the three or iv, often formulaic, lines? Do you keep the card? Or do you simply toss information technology in the bin, together with its elegant tissue-lined envelope?

In most cases, I suspect, it's the latter. Not simply is this a miserable waste of resources, just it tin also issue in a sure amount of guilt ('they sent me this note on swish stationery, and hither I am tossing it straight in the trash').

An electronic mail, on the other hand, tin carry exactly the aforementioned message, while being easy to read... and simple to delete. At that place's no guilt. And there are no wasted resources.

So it'south no wonder that many people nowadays actually prefer to receive thank you emails. In fact, I wouldn't consider sending a thank you annotation carte to many of my more 'techie' or dark-green-minded friends � the sometime would exist astounded and wonder why I had bothered when an electronic mail would have been so much quicker and easier; the latter would chastise me � mentally at least � for the waste of paper and stamp. The fact that an e-mail is not as 'personal' in feel equally a handwritten give thanks you note would matter not one fleck to virtually of my friends (certainly the ones under, say, forty), who are completely at home conducting their lives online.

Revitalizing the cheers note

Maligned though email thanks notes currently are, not only practise I think that they are sure to become increasingly common in the future, but I also suspect that they may really hold the key to revitalizing the art of sending thanks notes.

As already discussed, email thanks notes are easy, quick, and tin can exist sent almost instantly whenever gratitude strikes. Moreover, they are appropriate when a paper thank you card would exist 'too much'. For example, my friend recently gave me a hardback book past one of my favorite authors. It had been given to her husband on his birthday, but was not something he was interested in reading, so she passed it on to me: a lovely thought, and much appreciated, simply not, I felt, an appropriate fourth dimension for a formal thank y'all note. Afterwards all, it had been my friend'southward idea to requite me the book (her hubby � who I hardly know � had simply decided to discard it), and I had already thanked her in person. The perfect time for a thanks electronic mail � an informal fashion to thank my friend'due south hubby without making a large deal out of it.

With this, and countless other cheers notes sent by email every day, perchance the ofttimes quoted 'dying fine art' of writing notes will exist revived and brought back to health.

What about fax or text bulletin/SMS cheers notes?

Faxing a thank you notation is much the same as sending it by email, in that information technology is more convenient, only less personal, than sending a annotation in the mail service. Faxes, of grade, can be hand-written or typed, with the advantage that a typed note can be printed out and signed before sending. You lot can also add together a kid's drawing, hearts and kisses... fifty-fifty a decorative edge, should you wish.

Sending a thanks note by text message/SMS

As for text messages, proceed with caution! Whereas they are fine for an initial squeal of delight, say upon receiving a surprise bouquet of flowers, they do need to be followed upward by a 'proper' note of appreciation, exist information technology handwritten or emailed.

Just only as the rules are rules for a reason, the rules be to be broken. If you lot feel that a fax or text message thank you note is appropriate, then go for it. It'south your phone call, and it's always going to be preferable to not saying thank you at all.

Guidelines for writing email (and fax) cheers notes

i. Exercise consider the occasion before opting to ship an email thank you notation. Emails are widely accepted � and even expected � in the case of interview thanks, and also in appreciation for small gifts and pocket-size favors. However, weddings remain very much the domain of the 'proper' formal thank y'all note, manus-written on formal stationery and mailed to the recipient. So unless you lot move in especially techie circles, wedding thank you emails are unlikely to be well received.

2. DO consider the recipient before opting to ship an email give thanks you note. Email thank you can be groovy, just pick and choose who yous send them to. Granny and other elderly relatives are likely to appreciate a thank you note in the mail, and if someone has spent a particularly big amount of money/time/try on you so a 'proper' thank you annotation is besides in gild to best express your appreciation.

3. DO make a fiddling more effort with an email to make up for the perception that electronic communication is less personal. No demand to limit your words to fit nicely on the paper, so exist creative and make your cheers email a fleck longer and more than interesting � perhaps an chestnut nigh the kids, or some news from work. Why not adhere a contempo photo?

iv. DON'T allow the wording of your notation descend into clich�s, slang or � worst of all � txt spk! Aim to retain some of the formality of a mitt-written thanks notation, rather than fall into the 'the gift is then cool!' conversational style. Avoid abbreviations, and always start your notation with a greeting ('Dear Heather...') and cease with a closing greeting ('Thanks once again, and wishing y'all all the best.'). Don't forget to sign your name!

5. DO re-read your note several times before yous click 'transport'. Electronic mail is notorious for 'mis-communication', so check your working carefully for anything that the recipient might take the wrong fashion or misconstrue.

Remember to spell-check your message

vi. DON'T forget to put your message through a spell-checker, and ensure that you have the recipient'south name correct. Information technology is SO like shooting fish in a barrel to make a typing error that you spot � as well tardily � j-u-s-t as you click the send button!

half-dozen. DON'T simply ship a standard email � be creative! Experiment with unlike fonts and font colors, or send an e-card.

8. Practice asking a 'read receipt' (an optional setting when you send the e-mail). Many people receive hundreds or even thousands of emails every twenty-four hours, so there's a real take chances that your carefully crafted thanks annotation could be lost in the deluge.

See also:

• Dos and Don'ts for Writing Thank You Notes, Cards and Messages
• Should I type or hand write thank you notes?

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Source: https://www.thankyoudiva.com/thank-you-emails.html

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