What is your signoff?

Let’s be honest, we’ve all wasted too much time thinking about how to sign off at the end of an email. There’s a check list of questions that every one of us runs through:

• What do I write at the end of a business/professional email?
• Do I need to change my standard signoff now that I kind of know this person?
• Am I a douchebag if I say, “Best”?
• Should I thank this person again before I go?

It’s not you. It’s a hangover from the early days of email. Matthew JX Malady (what a great name – I’d sign off with my full name if I was him) has a strong view on the e-mail greeting, arguing that it’s something of a relic from a bygone era. He touches on the issue in a rant titled, “It’s time to kill the e-mail sign off,”

Here’s a taste:

… because no email signoff is exactly right for every occasion, it’s not uncommon for these add-ons to cause affirmative harm. Some people take offense to different iterations of “goodbye,” depending on the circumstances. Others, meanwhile, can’t help but wonder, “What did he mean by that?” or spend entire days worrying about the implications of a sudden shift from “See you soon!” in one email, to “Best wishes” in the next. So, naturally, we consider, and we overthink, and we agonize about how best to close out our emails.

How true? How many of you have sat looking at the same message, wondering what he or she means by “see you soon”, or if your boss is actually firing you when he ends his mail with “goodbye.” Malady is probably right when he says “We’ve been wishy-washy for far too long, and at a cost of time lost and awkwardness gained,” but where do we draw the line when it comes to formalities and what people consider the norm?  

• Regards?
• xoxo?
• Goodbye?
• Best?

Till next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.

[Source: Slate]