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semperfionaYet another exciting three hours of Customer Service Training this afternoon. Today's episode: Email and Forums.
I am at odds with one of the big things they kept reiterating, and I'm curious about the views of my Loyal Readership.
Copied from the manual:
It has always been my belief that email requires neither a salutation nor a closing because the names of the addressee and sender are right there in the header; I liken email to verbal conversation. To some degree I do use greetings, especially when the email is a new start to a conversation or I haven't communicated with the recipient in a long time, but only on the first one in a thread, very-rarely-to-never on a reply, and I don't generally sign them unless to add other contact information.
Am I obliviously rude in this regard, or are they being backward and old-fashioned?
I am at odds with one of the big things they kept reiterating, and I'm curious about the views of my Loyal Readership.
Copied from the manual:
Creating an email is much like writing a letter. You need:
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It has always been my belief that email requires neither a salutation nor a closing because the names of the addressee and sender are right there in the header; I liken email to verbal conversation. To some degree I do use greetings, especially when the email is a new start to a conversation or I haven't communicated with the recipient in a long time, but only on the first one in a thread, very-rarely-to-never on a reply, and I don't generally sign them unless to add other contact information.
Am I obliviously rude in this regard, or are they being backward and old-fashioned?
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Date: 2009-04-01 12:03 am (UTC)I think the salutation is particularly important. Business emails often get copied to several people, and/or forwarded on to others. A salutation helps the reader keep straight whether they are being addresses directly or copied. Yes, it's all very clear in the header -- but the header is up there, a whole centimeter above the body of the letter, and easily overlooked by a busy person just scanning through a backlog of emails.
I think a close is necessary in business emails as well, mostly because with all the forwarding that sometimes happens it also helps make it easy to tell who said what.