Apologies if this is slightly off topic but I have received a generic email asking for a quote and having trouble deciding how to address the sender.
The email begins to whom it may concern and then inserts her signature which is Rebecca Someone. However the senders email has becky.someone@company.com
So do I reply Hi Becky, Hi Rebecca or Dear Ms Someone? I don't want to appear too formal but on the other hand I don't want to come across too informal. I'm considering Dear Rebecca which to me seems the best option. What do others think?
I would go with Hi Rebecca if thats how she's signed off. In my opinion emails tend to be less formal than letters, so I very rarely (if ever) start with dear.
I'm the opposite, if I get an email from someone that I haven't dealt with before and don't know, I usually start off the email with "Dear Christian name" , then once they have replied, depending on how they reply, I swap to "Hi". I wouldn't put "Dear Mrs. Someone" as think that would be too formal, as Kris said emails are less formal than letters.
Or what about a simple "Good Morning/Afternoon"? Don't have to worry about modes of address if you don't use names. And here the sender didn't use yours, so I don;t think she can complain.
I'm the opposite, if I get an email from someone that I haven't dealt with before and don't know, I usually start off the email with "Dear Christian name" , then once they have replied, depending on how they reply, I swap to "Hi". I wouldn't put "Dear Mrs. Someone" as think that would be too formal, as Kris said emails are less formal than letters.
I think you're right. I went with Kris's advice at the time and she replied Dear John! (Not bad advice Kris, I prefer to be informal wherever possible)
Unfortunately the job was too large for me to quote (needed to be a BACS Bureau) but it was a nice email exchange.
