By: Olivia Williams

It is commonly said that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” 

This concept, along with the permanence of digital communication, can make a virtual first interaction daunting.  Many of us have re-read and rewritten emails hoping to create a perfect impression.  Yet, a recent study suggests that factors we try to control, such as wording and method of sending, have less to do with conveying an image of professionalism than broader factors, such as gender, over which we have less control.

Shannon Marlow, an assistant professor of management at The University of Texas at San Antonio, worked with colleagues to conduct a study on how professional emails sent from different devices, different genders and with different closing salutations affected first impressions of the sender.

To test this, Marlow’s team created an email that included a consistent opening and body message but changed the gender, method of sending, and ending remarks.  They asked 288 college students to rate the emails on professionalism, competence, and positive and negative affect to determine their overall first impression.

They found that when the email was sent via a desktop computer as opposed to when the tag “sent from my iPhone” was attached to the bottom of the email, there was no significant difference in any of the rated categories. 

Thus, gone are the days that you have to scramble to make sure you deleted the automatic indication that the email was sent from a mobile device.  This finding implies that in the United States, working around-the-clock is not only acceptable but also, in ways, admired, and no one minds if an email is sent from a smartphone rather than a traditional work setting. 

Additionally, Marlow and her colleagues found that in almost all of the emails, both men and women participants rated males significantly lower than females in terms of professionalism.  The only time that this did not occur was when there was an email from a woman sender that used “Thanks!” as the closing salutation.

This key finding may ultimately reveal an even bigger picture of gender-specific stereotypes and how those relate to first impressions– even through something as simple as an email.

Although the study did not measure the meaning behind the ratings, it is likely that females who used “Thanks!” were viewed as less professional because of the exclamation point.  Even though this punctuation elicited more positive emotions in the recipient, when sent by a woman in a business setting, it may come across as less professional due to long-held stereotypes that women are more dramatic and emotional, and long-held beliefs that such enthusiasm and expression do not belong in the workplace.

Likewise, there are existing stereotypes regarding men as well, with many believing that they should know how to handle business and jobs, which may possibly cause them to be held to a higher standard for professionalism than the women, and in turn, may have caused the lower rating.

So, the question is: how much can we control how we are perceived through email?

Well, without more research and replication to be done, it is hard to fully say.  But, factors which we are not attempting to manipulate, such as gender, may play much more of a role in others’ impressions of us rather than other factors that we try to intentionally use to our advantage.

Skip over deleting any indication that your email was sent from a mobile device — no one is looking down upon you for working outside normal hours.  Don’t waste your time on this.

Instead, think about your intention of the email and how you want to best present yourself.  A business email may be a business email, but what you want out of it differs from situation-to-situation. 

Do you want to create positive feelings in the recipient?  Use a salutation with an exclamation point or other enthusiastic remarks.

Do you want to appear more professional to the recipient?  Use more formal closing regards with neutral punctuation.

Lastly, try to be mindful of stereotypes that you might be engaging in when forming your initial opinion about someone, especially through technology.

You may only get one chance at a first impression, but don’t spend too much time worrying about it — you may have less control over it than you think.