This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 333.
When should you drop the greeting in your email chains?
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Hello, Michelle. What's shaking?
Hey, Lindsay. Not too much.
How are you? Really good.
Hey, Michelle. Do you have a lot of email chains going on at the current moment?
Oh, that's a funny question.
Actually, yes, I do.
I have one. I'm for my husband's job.
I'm communicating with somebody about a certain topic.
And I am like there are a lot of different topics that we are dealing with.
And so we kind of have a different chain for every different topic.
It can get a little bit confusing.
What about you? Yeah, of course I do.
I have a lot of chains going on.
And I found that it's really a pro tip to have a separate chain for every topic.
And have that in a subject line.
Like when I was sort of first started the company, my original co -founder remembers she used to get so mad at me because I would put all these different topics in the same email.
And she said, just start a new email for a new topic.
And it does make sense, you know, because then you can actually keep each topic separate and keep it clear.
Right. Right. And the subject line.
And I want to do actually a follow up where I had this idea to do something about how to write a good subject line in an email.
So we'll talk about it another time.
But I mean, Lindsay, so we're talking about email chains.
I'm not sure, guys, if that's clear what that means, let's see what is an email chain.
Yeah, it's really just a series of reply emails and replies, replies, reply, reply, reply.
Right. And they can go.
And I think at some point, Gmail changed the way they organize your the chains.
And I got really confused or a little hard to follow in terms of the dates of what came first unless you look at the exact date of each one.
So you've got to be careful.
But yeah, it's basically just a series of going back and forth about it.
Yeah, right. I mean, think of it as an actual linking chain, right?
They're all connected to each other.
So, yeah, we're going to be talking about this today.
We have a listener question.
So my guys, before we get into it, a reminder, wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast, hit the follow button.
Now, make sure our episodes come straight to you.
You don't have to look for them and you'll get things like, you know, when not when we plan the episode about subject lines and you'll just know when it gets humming.
You got it. So this question comes from Silky and Silky says, I'd like to ask a follow up question.
What would you say?
Is it possible to drop the salutation of the person you're writing to like hello or hi after a few emails, or would you consider that rude?
What if emails are used like in a chat where it goes back and forth immediately and she's saying like a chain, right?
Right, right. Yeah, exactly.
It's a great question.
It is a good question.
And I don't know that there's one right answer, but we're going to talk about our opinions and get into it really today.
So the Silky is asking about a couple of different contexts.
Number one, if it's a new email on a new topic, even if you've emailed many times.
So let's say we're starting as far as I understand from the question.
And I apologize, Silky, if I misunderstood something.
Let's say you and I have one chain going and then we want to email about something else and we start a new chain.
So we already are emailing about one thing.
OK, what do you think?
Are you going to greet me if you start a new email?
I would say yes, because it's a fresh topic.
Even if yeah, because I think it's weird when you when you initiate a first email of what's probably going to be a series by just going into the content, that's weird.
Don't you think? Yes, I know I do.
I think there are some kind of cutesy things you could say to acknowledge that there's another chain, but it really depends on your relationship.
How is it? Is it just boom, boom, boom?
You're writing back and forth and starting another chain at the same time, or it certainly depends on how how long it is between emails.
So lots, lots to think about here.
Yeah, certainly, you know, it's less weird if, yeah, let's say that exact same half an hour you're replying to another change now.
And now you have to start a brand new chain about something else.
Less weird to not use a greeting, but still it feels weird to start an email brand new, fresh email without a greeting, without greeting, like just a simple hi, Michelle.
Right. Is what we're talking about.
It's not like I'm having a wonderful day.
That would be. Oh, gosh.
That's another one we could talk about one day is, you know, when people write and it's, you know, the oh, I hope everything is going well with you and I try and do that because I feel weird not doing that.
Yeah, not all the time.
But yeah, anyway, we'll get into that another day.
Yeah, totally. So all right.
Do we have an example here, Michelle?
Yeah. So well, let's talk about just quickly also.
So if it is on a chain, though, because we didn't really talk about that specifically, the going back and forth one right after another in the same thread.
OK. OK. The same thread in the same one, the same topic.
So when can you stop saying hi?
I think this I think this really depends.
Well, number one, this depends on your relationship to the person.
Is this a distant, formal relation, very professional relationship like a client?
Let's say you're negotiating a deal and you're you're the provider and you really want this client for something.
Then I probably would continue the whole way.
Yeah, just saying hi, Michelle.
Hi, Lindsay. They may not say back to you because you're trying to get their business.
But you as the provider seeking the client deal, you probably what?
But if it's coworkers like on our team, it probably drop, drop that quickly.
It would just be the first round.
Yeah. Like when, you know, for our team, it's very informal.
You know, if I write an email to Jessica or to you, I might open it like hot.
Well, I don't know.
It depends. But so, yeah, I think number one, Michelle, is depends on the relationship between the two parts.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
So let's let's do a sample email chain now.
So, OK, we're going to imagine we know each other pretty well.
And yeah, I think if it's internal, yeah, I think that's more likely that you're going to drop it eventually.
So this is a sample email chain.
OK, OK. So hi, Lindsay.
How are you? When are we recording this week again?
Hey, Michelle. Usual time.
Does that work for you?
That's fine. See you.
See you then. Great.
And I would also I would offer a caveat to the internal thing.
I mean, we're a tiny team of there are like five or six of us.
Right. But internal can sometimes mean 500 people.
True. True. True. Good point.
It could mean multiple offices around the world.
So so when we say just be careful with that.
You know, like decide, do you talk with this person in person or virtually every day, then yeah, maybe we're looking at dropping.
Are they a close colleague you're collaborating with or is it just something in another department?
Right. Yeah. Very good point, Lindsay.
So, yeah, you I said hi, you said hey.
Yeah. And then we dropped it.
You know, this was just a very quick chain.
Right. And there are some clues to the casualness and the size of our company here.
I'm set. You're saying, hi, Lindsay.
So that's a little more formal because you're using my name and you're saying hi.
And then I say, hey, Michelle, I've brought it down to be a little more casual with the hey already.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Casual with the hey.
Yeah. So exactly. And it would have been I mean, then if you said, hey, Michelle, usual time, does that work for you?
And I said, hi, Lindsay.
I don't know. It just would.
Yeah, I agree. It just would be too much for us because our team is small, because it's number three in a series of four emails.
But there's a lot of context to look at here.
So there's really, as you said, Michelle, there's no right or wrong answer here.
But we have to be aware of context and relationship.
Right. Right. And again, sometimes I may be in email chains about multiple things.
So I would greet on the first one.
And I said, remember, I said, you know, there's a cute thing you could say.
If you're just constantly going back and forth.
You have a really formal relationship with that person.
You might say something like me again or hi again.
Something light hearted if you're on a new chain.
But you've been talking about and it's kind of a fun way to acknowledge.
OK, yeah, I know. We've been writing back and forth, but hello again.
Yes, 100%, yes, I agree.
And I've seen that done and that's done well.
And that's that also kind of builds the relationship because you're being playful.
Right. Right. Yes, true.
It's true. And this actually also reminded me about things like virtual meetings.
For example, you and I always switch recording rooms.
Yeah. So we end one episode and then we start a new room.
And so sometimes do we generally say hi?
I think we say, all right, let's get into it.
We don't say hi. Right.
When we cut, because we've just in this recording session today, we've had like six different rooms, recording rooms.
I don't say like, how's your day going?
Right. Right. You might say you might say, hey, you know, something.
But usually I would say when we get to the next room, we just say, OK, all right, let's get started.
All right. Let's look at the next one.
Something like that.
It's one continuous recording session.
Right. A couple of hours.
We're not like going off the mic or going and doing other work and coming back.
No, we are continuously working together.
We're just changing our location.
Yes, exactly. And that's a good point that I also wanted to bring up after the after the break.
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All right. We are back, Michelle.
So what did you want to say?
Well, yeah, I did want to talk about the time in between.
So that's another aspect, too.
Even if you're on the same email chain, right?
Let's say somebody emails you and you've been emailing back and forth and then you don't respond for a day or two.
At that point, now you might want to restart the hellos.
What do you think? Yeah, I agree.
So that's another factor to consider.
So it's relationship, it's context size of your company time between the emails.
I agree. Yeah. Yeah.
Huh? So there's it's funny, it seems like a simple question.
Right. But there's a many layers to it.
So yeah, so I was going to say about the time.
Let's say, for example, a weekend went by like some something may have happened.
Let's say you emailed me on Wednesday or Thursday and I just didn't have time to get back to you.
A weekend went by Monday morning.
I'm catching up on those what we say, 312 emails in the business business podcast, the bonus that we did.
Anyway, catching up on emails, I might say, hey, Michelle, hope you had a great weekend.
That is a form of a greeting of saying hi.
Right. Because a weekend has passed.
Right. So even though we're on the same chain, we're acknowledging there was some sort of break.
Right. Interesting.
Yeah. So let's go over this.
Let's boil it down.
I mean, these are the questions to ask yourself when you're trying to make this decision.
Yeah. So is this a new email chain?
So if you're starting a separate topic and you're on a new chain.
Yeah. And just to clarify, what is the decision we're making, whether we're going to say hi, Lindsay, or have some sort of greeting, right?
Just in case our listeners have tuned in late into the episode or something.
Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
OK. Yes. Thank you.
Yes. So, yeah. It's a new email chain.
And if you're just emailing and you start a different topic, maybe you want to say a hello or some sort of friendly greeting.
And then what's the next thing to think about?
Are we going back and forth?
So like you're saying how many?
How many on how many on the same on the same chain?
How much time? Well, no, that that's the third question is about time, which we already discussed time.
So I think maybe if it's after 24 hours, I'd say it resets.
What do you think? Hmm.
I don't know if it's so simple in terms of a formula.
It's more of a feeling that we have to feel into.
And it might be different across cultures.
This is tricky. I would say it's always better.
You know how they say it's always better to be overdressed than underdressed.
Right. Right. I would do the same apply the same wisdom here, especially if you're let's say you are you have been relocated to an English speaking country.
You're not 100 percent familiar with the culture yet.
Yeah, people don't know you yet.
You're new at a company.
That would also be that would be a good one, too.
How new are you? I would add that.
Yeah, I would. I would.
You know, how new are you?
And also your position in the company sometimes I would default more to up leveling it and making it more formal.
So go, you can't go wrong, really, unless it should, unless you're way out of like the ballpark, you know, right?
If you're really if you know someone well and you're emailing back and forth now, I'm going to do this to you, Lindsay, just as a joke and our emails, every single email.
I'm looking forward to that.
Hello. Greetings. Salutation.
Yeah, it's better to go to like default on the side of being more formal, especially if you're new.
So yeah. Yeah. And then the other the other piece to consider, of course, is your relationship.
Who are you emailing?
Let's say it's not internal.
It's with a client that you want to get their business.
Right. Yeah. You need to stay formal in that case.
Right. Maybe you're an event planner, right?
You want to keep it more on the formal side.
So that's definitely another great point.
So, guys, also, I wanted to highlight you and Aubrey did this really great episode.
It was episode three.
Oh, nine. That was me again.
Phrases for business email conversations.
So I mentioned this me again today.
So definitely go over there to find out some other really useful phrases for these email, email chains.
Yeah. Yeah. This is kind of an informal series about email chains.
We say email conversations, meaning multiple emails back and forth about the same topic.
This is part two in that series, I guess.
I guess so. We didn't know we were doing a series.
I know. Yeah. Good.
Yes. OK. Should we do a sample long chain?
See what this looks like.
OK. Yes, exactly. OK.
So here we go. This is really.
Yes. Let's do a long chain.
Here we go. Yes. Hi, Lindsay.
Can you meet Tuesday to discuss the presentation?
Hi, Michelle. Definitely.
What did you have in mind?
Well, I figured it's a good idea to meet in the morning and review it a few times before we send it for in for edits.
OK. And now we're going to the end of the day, the next day.
Right. So that so I've I've sent that email, but that was kind of at, you know, maybe 4 p .m.
And you're responding now at maybe 11 the next morning.
OK, so sort of less than a business day has gone by.
I'm going to open with a greeting.
Hi, Michelle. Sorry about the late response.
Yes, that sounds perfect.
Hey, Lindsay. No worries.
OK, great. See you then.
Great. And I would even encourage you with this kind of like, this almost requires a phone call or a meeting or an in person chat, you know, rather.
But if email is the only option, then yeah.
So here, most of the time we stuck with our greetings, except for a few times, we drop them.
When did we drop them?
We dropped them in the first round before the end of the day.
I dropped it after you said, what did you have in mind?
But then there was a break in the day.
And again, this can be just use your own discretion about if you feel there needs to be another greeting or not.
I mean, you could have just said the next morning.
Yes, that sounds perfect.
And that's fine. I mean, it's not it's not like a week went by, right?
Yeah, we could have just left off the salutations then.
But we just decided to throw them in.
OK. And now let's take a look at the second chain, Michelle.
So now we're going to start a.
So we're doing we have this current chain we've got.
Now we're going to start a separate chain about something totally different.
Right. OK, so here we go.
Hi, again, Lindsay.
Did you ever hear back from the accountant?
Hey, yes, it was all good.
Perfect. All right.
So here now you're saying hi again because you're acknowledging we have another chain going.
Yes, all right. And then you said, hey, as you can, you always say, hey, very informal, I guess.
Yeah. Yeah. So you're just saying, hey, and now really not even saying my name.
We're just saying, yeah, we know we're talking already.
So, hey, yes, it was all good.
And then I don't say hi, Lindsay.
I just say perfect.
OK, nice. So at some point we do drop we drop that.
So we're pretty probably pretty close colleagues here.
Right. And we've been talking for a while, so it's OK to drop that greeting.
Interesting. This has been a really cool episode, Michelle.
This was fun. Yeah.
I definitely go over to 309 to get that.
Yeah, that episode that Aubrey and I did on a very similar slash the same idea, but different vocabulary you're going to learn here beyond just greeting.
So me, again, phrases for business email conversations.
Michelle, what's the takeaway on this one?
Well, again, it's going to be different for everyone.
How how this all happens and what your decision is.
Like Lindsay said, I would, you know, better to be overdressed than underdressed.
So basically, we'll go with it if when in doubt add the person's name, if you're in doubt about it, it probably means there is some sort of wall still up.
Maybe you don't know this person well.
Maybe you're new to the company.
So if you get that feeling, you're probably right.
If you get that that hunch, you get that feeling that, oh, I don't know.
If you feel confident, you'll know it.
You'll know, oh, no, I don't need to say hi again.
Right. Yeah. And I also want to say we didn't mention this, but mirroring the other person.
So let's say you you're ready to break it down.
Drop the greeting. Get a little informal, but you see that person.
Essentially, it's the equivalent of taking a physical step back is what they're doing when they go, let's say you start to say no greeting.
Just go right into the content or you start to bring it down to hey and nothing.
Right. Then they reply with a high Lindsay.
Something's probably up there trying to keep some distance.
Maybe they're trying to initiate a more formal conversation.
There's something up that they're not quite ready for that sort of closeness yet.
This is fascinating.
Yeah. Yeah, it really is.
So it's a very good question.
Very interesting question from our listener, Silky.
Really good stuff. So, guys, hit the follow button if you love our method.
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And we look at how we can help you to be more natural and build those relationships at work.
All right. Good stuff.
Michelle, I'll see you next time.
All right. Bye, Lindsay.
Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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