It is a simple written indication, confirming the person you are emailing<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
Brian,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Why<\/h3>\n
When you use a salutation you convey a couple things:<\/p>\n
\n
- You can communicate in a professional way and therefore, you are a professional<\/li>\n
- You can take the time to formally acknowledge the person you are emailing, or in other words, you are paying them respect, whether they are a superior, a peer or a subordinate<\/li>\n
- If you are writing an email to multiple recipients, you are clarifying\/confirming who the main recipient is, if there is a main recipient. Yes, you may put this in the TO and others in the CC, but this simple gesture serves to make this clear<\/li>\n
- It serves to introduce the communication to avoid the appearance of being rude. For example, would you just walk up to someone on the street and immediately ask them directions? Or would you say, \u201cExcuse me, Sir\u201d or \u201cSorry to bother you\u201d etc<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
When<\/h3>\n
A simple rule is\u00a0always<\/strong>\u00a0to include a salutation, in the first email in a thread<\/p>\n
\n
- You should always include a salutation in your email<\/li>\n
- When you email a stranger, prospect, customer, potential employee etc for the first time<\/li>\n
- When you email anyone the second, third, \u2026 nth time<\/li>\n
- When you email your boss, a co-worker, a peer<\/li>\n
- When you communicate via social media. Just because it isn\u2019t an email is no excuse to not communicate professionally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
After the first email, in a particular thread, you are no longer obligated to repeat the salutation, although it can still be used, and I will often to continue to do this.<\/p>\n
I have a simple method of dealing with emails without a salutation. If it from outside the company, and not a customer (or someone else I\u2019m obligated to communicate with), I ignore it. If it is from inside the company, I reach out to the person and remind them how to communicate via email.<\/p>\n
For my perspective, finding an email from me without a salutation would be very rare. I\u2019ve sent 10\u2019s, if not 100\u2019s of thousands of emails and my guess is that 99.9% included a salutation. Of those, some of the emails were intended to convey a lack of respect, so the lack of salutation was purposeful.<\/p>\n
How<\/h3>\n
Simple rule: First is best<\/p>\n
In the US, using the subject\u2019s first name, e.g. Brian, without \u201cDear\u201d is preferred.<\/p>\n
I would not recommend using \u201cMr\u201d or \u201cMs\u201d and the last name. In information technology such salutations are anachronistic.<\/p>\n
The joke is \u201cMr. [name]\u201d is my dad\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Also, I don\u2019t even know what the proper way to address a woman is because it depends on whether she is married. Is it \u201cMiss\u201d, \u201cMs\u201d? Hell, if I know. You can avoid this problem with just using a first name<\/p>\n
Is using a first name to informal? It isn\u2019t for me, and I was in the military and I\u2019m a stickler for respectful correspondence.<\/p>\n
Note: Nobody uses \u201cSir\u201d anymore in the US. I\u2019m sorry. If you are referring to someone as Sir, you might fit in in 19th century England but here and now it is overly formal. I will immediately correct people in business who refer to me as \u201cSir\u201d that they don\u2019t have to do that (and that I would prefer if they didn\u2019t). The old Army joke is \u201cDon\u2019t call me Sir. I work for a living\u201d. I do understand that there are some cases, like customer service, on the phone, where this may be helpful and appropriate.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
Valediction<\/h2>\n
What<\/h3>\n
A simple farewell message i.e. Best, Sincerely, Warm regards etc at the end of your email<\/p>\n
Why<\/h3>\n
Would you just hang up a phone, without saying \u201cGood bye\u201d to someone? No, of course not. So leaving out a valediction can come across as abrupt, rude<\/p>\n
When<\/h3>\n
Always on the first email of a thread. I would leave it out on subsequent emails unless you have a sense that it will be the last in a thread<\/p>\n
How<\/h3>\n
\n
- Sincerely<\/li>\n
- Best<\/li>\n
- Regards<\/li>\n
- Best regards<\/li>\n
- Kind regards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
My favorite valediction is \u201cThanks\u201d. You can\u2019t really go wrong with that, in most cases<\/p>\n
Tom,<\/p>\n
Could you update me on the status of the meeting?<\/p>\n
Thanks,<\/p>\n
Brian<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Note: Having an email signature is NOT a valediction, nor is it an excuse to not include one. But \u2026 if you are crafty and smart, you may build one into your signature, if it matches the font of your email perfectly, looking like you types it. I\u2019ve seen many people try to do this and fail, so if you are going to do it, do it right or just type it out every time.<\/em><\/p>\n
Objections<\/h2>\n
I hear objections from some people that this is unnecessary and inferred. I disagree. I notice any missing salutation and I take it as a sign of disrespect. If you want to risk eliciting that kind of reaction from the recipient of your communication, go ahead and roll the dice. But for the cost of a fraction of a second (see next) it is well worth it.<\/p>\n
Another objection I hear is that it takes too long to type. My standard answer to that is to learn to type faster. In the age of the knowledge worker, not being able to type *extremely* fast is simply not an option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Salutation What It is a simple written indication, confirming the person you are emailing For example: Brian, Why When you use a salutation you convey a couple things: You can communicate in a professional way and therefore, you are a professional You can take the time to formally acknowledge the person you are emailing, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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