The third installment in an occasional series where I think out loud about using email effectively. First installment.
I know this is a minor matter, but when it comes to email I’ve been thinking about….
Salutations and endings
We all pretty much know how to write proper letters. If it’s a formal business letter, you start out with “Dear Ms. Lastname,” then you type or print the body of the letter, and you end with “Sincerely,” followed by your signature. If it’s an informal note, you can start with “Dear Firstname,” the body can be printed or handwritten, and you end with “Yours truly, Me.”
None of us really knows how to write proper email messages, because as yet there are no widely accepted standards. I usually begin all my email messages with “Dear So-and-so,” which won’t offend the traditionalists, but which probably seems hopelessly stuffed-shirt to those with easier manners. I usually end my email messages “Cheers, Dan,” which will neither please nor offend the traditionalists, but which probably seems hopelessly boring to many others.
Yet when it comes to church business, in United States Unitarian Universalist circles at least, I do see faint signs of some standards emerging.
For longer email messages:– More often than not, salutations begin with “Dear…” and here in the United States it is usually considered acceptable to address someone by first name even if you don’t know them. When sending email messages to more than one recipient, I most often see “Dear all,” or less often “Dear friends,” (the latter is my preference, at least in church circles). Endings seem to be less formal than salutations. I never see “Sincerely” or “Yours truly.” I do see “All the best,” “Cheers,” and more specialized endings such as “Thanks,” or “My two cents worth.”
For very short email messages, or for routine replies:– For salutations “Hi,” is perfectly adequate, or no salutation at all. No ending is needed; just typing your name seems acceptable. (By “very short email” I mean maybe half a dozen lines or less.)
What are your perceptions of acceptable standards for email salutations and endings? I’m mostly interested in church business, but I’d be curious to know if other subcultures are evolving their own standards.
Next installment: Email [curse | blessing] part four
Dan,
For subject lines, I like to add a descriptive tag-line to the beginning of the email subject line.
For example, if I was asking for the latest sermon titles for updating the web site, I would use the following subject line in an email to the Worship Committee:
REQUEST: Need July 2007 Sermon Titles
This tells the reader at a glance that I have a request for information and if they don’t know the answer, they don’t have to open it.
If I’m sending an email with information, I use the word “INFO” as a tag at the beginning of the subject line. For example, if I’ve added a new calendar feature to the web site, I would send an email to the Communications Committee:
INFO: New Web Site Calendar for All Souls
I’m with Steve on the subject lines 100%. If your email had the formal weight of a proper business letter — say, a job offer — then you should still send the paper. Email is something else.
My own workplace use is to simulate a short business letter the first time only — more telegraph than letter really — and respond to particular lines thereafter.
My default salutation is “Greetings:” and I close “Scott” or “Scott Wells” as appropriate.
The chair of our division ends every note with “Take Care.” Sometimes this is fine; sometimes it’s a little silly.
As in something like this:
“Budget cuts have forced the elimination of work study programs, two faculty lines, and all xeroxing.”
Take care,
LH
Though I don’t have any real opinions to offer here, I thought you’d be interested to know that I met with a book sales rep today, and one of the books I bought from herfor our young adult collection is about how to write emails. I’ll let you know what it’s like once it’s shipped to us.
Steve — These are exactly the kind of conventions we need. Thanks.
Scott — “Greetings” is pretty good. I hadn’t thought of that salutation. Very business-like.
Jean — Ouch.
Church business emails – I ordered John a new Geneva robe (with velvet!) for his ordination, and the order confirmation was signed:
“His servant,”
Needless to say I found that really funny.
The default minister signature seems to be “In faith,” or “Peace,” both of which are… eh. The default academic world signatures, around here anyway, are “All the best,” or “Best,”
My choir director uses “Excelsior!” at the end of his emails. Cracks me up every time.