Digital Life: Rules for how to close a business email

Paste BN columnist Steven Petrow offers advice about digital etiquette.

Q: Like most business people these days I do most of my communication via email. I rarely use formal salutations, or close with anything other than my initials (if that). Now we have a new manager who thinks we're being awfully rude, and he's called a few of us out for sending him these emails. He expects "Hi Alex," and please and thank you, and paragraph breaks, and "Sincerely, Greg." Isn't he making us go backwards and taking up too much of our time?

– Greg E., Phoenix

A: Dear Greg: When I posted your question on my Facebook wall, I got lots of "Dear Steven" responses, with almost everyone agreeing with this poster (myself included):

"Yes, with many if not most correspondence by email, I often use salutations and closings. Why, because it transforms the message into something more personal and more effective with many readers. It more nearly resembles the power of a letter to express ideas and feelings to someone who matters to me. So in business, as in personal exchanges, those touches help make you stand out -- and in a digital world where far too many messages are either unwelcome, impersonal, unwanted or possibly offensive, those touches help us connect better."

So, Greg, here are the rules for business e-mails:

1. When writing to someone outside your company (or someone in another department that you don't know well), always use a salutation ("Hi" or "Dear" are preferable) and a closing ("Kind regards" or "Sincerely" or "Thank you"). This is especially true if trying to get a new job or cultivate new business – but is never wrong. Your e-mail should have all the formality of a letter.

2. Use the correct title. If a person is a judge, it's "The Honorable," a physician, "Dr…." and so on. First names are fine if you're already on a first-name basis but don't presume. Just as in the non-virtual world, don't call me "Steven" until I've said, "Please call me, Steven!"

3. When volleying back and forth, inter-office, it's okay to omit salutations. I still recommend saying "Thanks" every time it's warranted. You can skip the "Kind regards" in these less formal situations.

4. Spelling counts. And don't rely on spell check programs to do your heavy lifting (too many words have multiple spellings; context matters). So, too, do paragraph breaks and capitalization.

5. Remember that many of your emails will be read on smartphones, so keep them short and to the point. When you need to write an important message, don't compose it on your phone, where you're likely to forget proper grammar and spelling, if not etiquette.

I'm all for the ease and speed of digital communications, but it's a sign of respect to use proper form. And really, how much longer does it take to add in a salutation and closing?

Kind regards, Steven Petrow

Submit your question to Steven at stevenpetrow@earthlink.net. You can also follow Steven on Twitter: @StevenPetrow. Or like him on Facebook at facebook.com/stevenpetrow.