Business correspondence etiquette

Random

This really annoys me.

I write an email to a business and at the bottom I sign it as "Thanks, John".

The response that I get starts with "Dear Mr Doe".

Why is this? Why are business's so locked in their ways? Am I the only one who judges a business as not taking into account my needs or wants when they respond like this? Am I the only one who feels they haven't really read my email properly and are just using templated answers without actually taking the time to regard the contents?

Cabaal

If I deal with customers depending on if its written or e-mail I;l be more formal.

For example letters for me would always be Dear such and such and Kind Regards but e-mails would be Hi such and such and ending with Thanks, my name.

I wouldn';t let Dear such and such put me off a business, all I care about is if they deal with my query

Random

In my experience those you reply with Dear Mr Doe give the impression that you are but a customer number and generally the query has to be asked again to get a satisfactory rather than templated answer.

tricky D

Emails are more like memos than letters so don't require the same level of etiquette. That's most of the time. Some people are just conservative in that way and you need to adjust sometimes especially if they are paying the piper. Then there's also the matter of assuming a better education and social class, correctly or otherwise.

Random

My general feeling I guess is to respond in the same manner as you are addressed?

If you work for a business and someone emails you with "Hi" and "Thanks, John" then you should reply with "Hi" and "Thanks, Paddy".

If they email you with "Dear Sir" and "Yours sincerly" then you should reply with "Dear Sir" and "yours sincerly".

tallaghtoutlaws

Random wrote: »

My general feeling I guess is to respond in the same manner as you are addressed?

If you work for a business and someone emails you with "Hi" and "Thanks, John" then you should reply with "Hi" and "Thanks, Paddy".

If they email you with "Dear Sir" and "Yours sincerly" then you should reply with "Dear Sir" and "yours sincerly".

Personally this is how I feel about it also. It shows you are paying attention to their email from top to both and you are in some way relating to the person who sent it.

But having worked in Customer service and other sales and office type situation some companies are set in their ways and wont go off a ceratin model for emails and letters.

That email should have been Hi John or Dear John back to you rather than Dear Mr Doe.

dudara

To me, and this is a personal opinion, e-mail is written communication, and therefore should obey the same rules of etiquette as formal letter writing.

I actually dislike it when someone I don't know responds to an email in an informal manner. Just because it is e-mail does not make it less formal. If I don't personally know the correspondant, then I don't want "Hi Jane" - I want "Dear XX".

We tend to treat emails as casual correspondance, but in reality, they carry the same weight as a written letter and therefore should be accorded the same formality.

Random

If you sign off your email "Thanks John" you really want them to respond to you as "Mr Doe" ?

Here's where it annoys me more. My email account has the name "John Doe" as the name that shows up. I don't mention Doe in any of my emails. I sign them off Doe. Yet they still respond as "Mr Doe".

calex71

The email replies i used to get from indian team always made me chuckle.

They always started, Dear Smith, Hello Smith, Hi Smith, Thanks for your query Smith. Server will be back up in 5 Smith

I would have spoken to these lads and a daily basis over the phone and they still never got my name right, point being no matter how many emails they got from me signed John, all they where looking at was the name in the inbox as to who it was from not how it was signed at the bottom of the mail.

I got a good chuckle from that in that case. If i get called Mr. Smith on the phone in general , i usually say "Mr. Smith is my dad, my name is John"

matrim

For me the most annoying is that my last name can also be a first name (mainly in the US), and people responding with "Hi Surname" even though I sign off my emails with my first name.

parsi

Many moons ago when I was sending out "Dear John" letters in respect of unsuccessful tenders I was asked by my Boss "Do you know these people ?"

I didn't.

So my letters went from " Dear Napoleon" to "Dear Mr. Bonaparte".

It made sense.

gerrycollins

While I agree witht the point in general you must remember these people replying to your mail dont know you and as such proper etiquette should be followed regardless of the layout or tone of the original letter.