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Thank You Notes

Email Etiquette and Gratitude

The holidays are behind us once again. Phew! I don’t know about you, but this year’s holidays seemed even more commercial than ever. After being sold to for months, at this time of year, I am looking forward to getting back into my regular, predictable “plannable” schedule.

Thank You Note Time

As always, I send handwritten thank you notes to all who were kind enough to remember me and send me a gift. I believe that the effort you put into something shows your sincerity and gratitude in the case of thank-you notes. So the next question becomes, what about email thank you notes?

It all depends on the situation and the relationship you have or plan to have with the person you are thanking.

For example, when someone does something nice for me that is not expected or “above, and beyond” the usual and customary, they get a personally written and addressed thank you note via old-fashioned snail mail.

Yes, I could send my thank you by email – after all, I am in the technology business, and that would make sense. But would that reflect my sincere gratitude as much as taking the time to purchase the card, write my note and address the envelope, pay the postage, and send it off?

Probably not…

If you haven’t already, get some note cards and get those thank yous out!

Special Events and Thank You Cards

What about those special events? Graduation, weddings, showers — are email thank yous adequate? Again, I don’t think so. Email takes very little time/cost to send. But, when it comes to special events where those who care about you take the time to do something nice or buy that thoughtful gift, adequate is simply unacceptable. To some, it may appear you took the lazy way out.

Imagine how folks will feel when they get your handwritten card, addressed in your writing with a nice note of gratitude within? That you are sincerely thankful! And that, my friends, is what thank you notes are about, right?

Sometimes a short email saying “thank you” may be appropriate for those online-only friends, but clearly, there are times when only a handwritten and addressed card will do. You know when that is.

My note of gratitude…

The last time I posted, I put up a quick survey and asked you for your thoughts and comments. The response was overwhelming! I received many good ideas and comments that made all the effort worthwhile. I now have many great ideas to look into and consider implementing in the year ahead.

One of the questions I asked was about starting a private Facebook group to discuss online etiquette, manners, and proper technology use. The response was straightforward- you would like such a venue but not on Facebook.

Which was a relief for me as I’m not a fan of Facebook — at all. But I would have given it a shot if my loyal readers wanted to go there. So instead, I’m considering integrating a discussion forum on NetM@nners. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I used to allow comments many years ago but grew weary of the spammers and troublemakers who had nothing positive to contribute. So over a decade ago, I shut them down.

The moral of the story? Before you comment on any website, be sure to read their comment policy. That helps the website owner continue to want to support a give-and-take between them and their site visitors.

Get the word out...

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