You wouldn’t start off an e-mail with “My Dear X”, or “Dearest X”, since that would be too personal for a professional email, so “To X” being more impersonal seems like it would make the letter more professional-sounding, compared to “Dear X”.
You wouldn’t start off an e-mail with “My Dear X”, or “Dearest X”, since that would be too personal for a professional email, so “To X” being more impersonal seems like it would make the letter more professional-sounding, compared to “Dear X”.
Because you’re doing it wrong?
For business correspondence,
It’s all right-aligned:
The post salutation is something bland and generic like “Thank you”, or “with regards” or “kindly,” anything more assumes a relationship that’s not there.
For emails, your contact info usually goes below the signature, and frequently you omit their contact details. You can omit more and get more terse the better you know someone in emails.
The letters used to be laid out like that because usually there would be a mail clerk or assistant that would open them and read them first, in a large company; and that way if the envelope gets lost you don’t have to wonder who it’s for. Emails… well… you already sent it directly there.
Just as long as you’re not missing anything important. Trust me, as long as you’re both complete and concise, they’ll thank you.
For me, the first 4 lines go on the bottom, with the signature.
One of my managers cold-starts his emails with Name,. That’s a little too dry for my style, but obviously Dear is far too mushy. I stick with Hi, Hello, Hey, or Greetings, depending on the context.
Well, emails are less formal, so that’s fine.
Keep in mind…. Things like eviction notices…. Being nice comes off… creepy. “Hello! Get the fuck out! Sincerely,” just… ya know?
Most of my emails people don’t actually read. They just open the attachments and get to what they need right off.
Also… this guide is like… 30+yo typist etiquette. Emails were barely a thing back then.
So you’re saying “Howdy-doodly-doo” is too much?
No wonder I never got that job.
Yeah, I see a fair amount of “{name},” which I think is as good a combination of formal and direct we can offer in email form. I prefer “Hi {name},” most of the time.
I’m in sales and do quite a bit of cold outreach. In those situations I like “good morning {name}” when it’s morning because it helps indicate a real person is sending the message vs some mass automated email where that greeting would be wrong half the time. I don’t think “good afternoon” has the same value because it sounds too formal.
Left aligned.
I know, right? Embarrassing.