--- title: Should I Send an Email or Write a Thank You Note? description: The number of emails sent is at an all-time high. But handwritten thank you notes are still a great way to help you make a good impression. canonical: https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/ author: Lucy Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T18:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:39:21.233Z og:title: Should I Send an Email or Write a Thank You Note? og:description: This chart has your answer og:url: https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e17a76dda96d55/6988782b5f570f717ab1f17e/thank-you-card.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5100 og:image:height: 2869 og:image:alt: thank-you-card og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Should I Send an Email or Write a Thank You Note? twitter:description: This chart has your answer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e17a76dda96d55/6988782b5f570f717ab1f17e/thank-you-card.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Tell If You Should Send an Email Thank You or a Handwritten Note by [Lucy Wang](https://time.com/author/lucy-wang/) and [Sarah Turbin](https://time.com/author/sarah-turbin/) Feb 11, 2016 6:00 PM UTC  a woman holding a message card a woman holding a message cardGetty Images by [Lucy Wang](https://time.com/author/lucy-wang/) and [Sarah Turbin](https://time.com/author/sarah-turbin/) Feb 11, 2016 6:00 PM UTC If you’ve seen [_The Tonight Show_‘s “Thank You Notes” segment](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/26/jimmy-fallon-thank-you-notes-tonight-show) or Spike Jonze’s _Her_, you might dismiss handwritten cards as a thing of the past. And if you’re talking pure volume, you’re on to something: The number of emails sent or received worldwide per day is more than 205 billion, [according to](http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Email-Statistics-Report-2015-2019-Executive-Summary.pdf) market research firm The Radicati Group. That’s a figure that would be hard for snail mail to beat. But rare as handwritten thank you notes may be, they’re still a great way to help you make a good impression after you receive a gift, go on a job interview or attend an event. **_Read more:_**[_This is the Secret to Success Most People Never Learn_](http://motto.time.com/4140975/success-advice-millennial/) “Thank you notes are not a dying art,” says Lizzie Post, spokesperson of the Emily Post Institute and co-host of the [Awesome Etiquette podcast](http://www.infiniteguest.org/awesome-etiquette/). “It’s something we’re all concerned with, something we continue to write and find great value in. At the end of the day, we all want to be recognized and we want to tell somebody that they’re appreciated. That’s human nature.” But how can you tell when it’s appropriate to send a handwritten card and when it’s acceptable to shoot off a thank-you email? We suggest you keep this infographic handy:  Sarah Turbin for Motto Sarah Turbin for Motto Also good to keep in mind: The biggest downside of good old-fashioned pen to paper is the time lost in transit. For formal job interviews where timeliness could make or break you, consider a double-whammy. Fire off a thank-you email post-interview, and then mail a tactile note. You can make the email brief and flesh out your ideas in the written note, or vice versa. The key is to capitalize on business-savvy efficiency as well as how personable you are. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/"},"headline":"How to Tell If You Should Send an Email Thank You or a Handwritten Note","datePublished":"2016-02-11T18:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:21.233Z","description":"You'll definitely want to Pin this chart for future reference","url":"https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/","keywords":["motto","Etiquette","gratitude"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e17a76dda96d55/6988782b5f570f717ab1f17e/thank-you-card.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lucy Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lucy-wang/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Turbin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-turbin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e17a76dda96d55/6988782b5f570f717ab1f17e/thank-you-card.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"thank-you-card","caption":"thank-you-card","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4136309/thank-you-notes/","name":"How to Tell If You Should Send an Email Thank You or a Handwritten Note"}}]}] ```