Email Etiquette

[El Cid 220]

How should we write emails?

I usually start with 'Hi', when the email is to a company or organisation should you respond with a 'thanks'.

I dont usually, because if a person deals with 1000s emails per day, they wont appreceate being thanked a 1,000 times.

Maybe you use faithfully and sincerely, like we were taught with letters?

[butlers 261]

I think " thanks" is fine  if you are happy to start mail with Hi.

If it was serious enough to start off with Dear Sir/Madam, then yours sincerely feels more appropriate.

 

[whiteowl 54]

If I know the persons name I'm sending to I usually start the email with "Hi xxx". Most of my emails end with "Regards" or "Kind Regards"

[ECCOnoob 1,050]

I pretty much treat them exactly the same as I would a letter or note.

 

To a company it would be ...Dear (name) or ...Dear sirs ending with either ...Yours faithfully or maybe ...Kind Regards.

 

If it's to a colleague, friend or family it would usually begin ...Hi and ending with whatever I felt like, pleasant or otherwise.

 

I'm sure I must be very old fashioned but I really get annoyed in my professional world when people use email as the excuse to be all casual in their wording with poor grammar.

 

In my eyes its still a written business communication and should be treated with a certain level of standard.  Having said that I do work in a world that in 2020 is still dictating correspondence and documents to secretaries to type up - so there is no hope of me deviating too far from tradition. 

Edited September 16, 2020 by ECCOnoob

[catmiss 12]

3 hours ago, ECCOnoob said:

I pretty much treat them exactly the same as I would a letter or note.

 

To a company it would be ...Dear (name) or ...Dear sirs ending with either ...Yours faithfully or maybe ...Kind Regards.

 

If it's to a colleague, friend or family it would usually begin ...Hi and ending with whatever I felt like, pleasant or otherwise.

 

I'm sure I must be very old fashioned but I really get annoyed in my professional world when people use email as the excuse to be all casual in their wording with poor grammar.

 

In my eyes its still a written business communication and should be treated with a certain level of standard.  Having said that I do work in a world that in 2020 is still dictating correspondence and documents to secretaries to type up - so there is no hope of me deviating too far from tradition. 

I agree but hate ‘Hi’ and always use ‘hello’, the worst for me is the group email starting ‘hi you guys’. I got pulled at work for not responding but explained I thought it was only meant for the men

[Jim Hardie 527]

15 hours ago, catmiss said:

I agree but hate ‘Hi’ and always use ‘hello’, the worst for me is the group email starting ‘hi you guys’. I got pulled at work for not responding but explained I thought it was only meant for the men

You mean you don't like to think you live in Coolsville, USA?

[L00b 441]

23 hours ago, El Cid said:

How should we write emails?

(...)

You should write emails according to the context of each communication, who you are in that context, who you are writing to, and how you want to come across.

 

Your solicitor hardly sends you "Hi guys" emails, does he/she?

 

But they may well send "Hi guys" emails to their pub friends.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Why start with any pre-set formula? E-mails are informal.

Unless you're sending a letter either as an attachment or in the body of the e-mail, just start with what you wish to say and no formal wording.

[Waldo 96]

3 hours ago, Jeffrey Shaw said:

Why start with any pre-set formula? E-mails are informal.

Unless you're sending a letter either as an attachment or in the body of the e-mail, just start with what you wish to say and no formal wording.

I agree Jeffrey.

 

I feel content is more important than formality. Though, I guess in a professional context there is good reason for formality, to keep things impersonal, concise, professional etc.

[max 13]

Another important aspect which is often overlooked is leaving all the addressing information in the body of a reply. Plus, unless strictly necessary, I generally delete the content of the original email. A simple, unburdened email will get your message across in a far more readable form.

 

Don't start me on people who send emails to a long list of recipients without using BCC. If I wanted all those people to know my contact details I would let them know.

 

/rant

[saywhatnow 33]

On 22/09/2020 at 09:34, max said:

 

Don't start me on people who send emails to a long list of recipients without using BCC. If I wanted all those people to know my contact details I would let them know.

 

/rant

If they're emails from businesses or organisations I'm pretty sure that is against GDPR regulations so could be taken up with the company as a breach.