Addressing customers [email]

[Daffodil100]

Hello! I wrote an email to promote our products to a potential customer- Mr Mike Simpson. He is an American. He responsed to my email and sent his enquiry to me. He addressed me my first name - Anna.

How do I address him appropriately? Should I call him Mr. Simpson or Mike for the second time?

Thank you!

 

[ewie]

Hello Daffy/Anna. Oh you should certainly address him by his first name ~ he's obviously a friendly and informal chap ~ which I believe is quite routine in American business circles.

 

[Daffodil100]

Hi Ewie,

Thank you very much for your reply. He started as -Hi Anna, ....

Should I also start as Hi Mike or Dear Mike? Which one is better to a customer?

 

[ewie]

I'd start with Dear Mike.

 

[Daffodil100]

I'd start with Dear Mike.

Dear Ewie,

You are very helpful. Of course, you are not my customer.

 

[cuchuflete]

There is an age divide here. For those older than Uncle Ewie, use of first names in business correspondence, especially with people you have never met, is considered unprofessional.

 

[ewie]

Oh I agree, Uncle Couch. But alack! we must move with the times which are a-changin' (apparently).

 

[advertisement]

You can't go wrong by calling him Mr. Simpson, though.

 

[Packard]

When I first started using e-mails I used letter writing conventions for salutations.

Such as:

Dear Mr. Jones,

Dear Mike,

etc.

It quickly became clear that the "Dear" was routinely skipped over in return e-mails by almost everyone I e-mailed to. So now I just write:

Mr. Jones -

Mike -

Etc.

In my business experience the transition from Mr. or Ms. to first name starts out after the first correspondence (assuming it did not start out on a first name basis).

If you are writing to an American by e-mail I think you are almost always safe with the first name.

On the other hand, I would write:

Mr. Obama,

or

Dear Barack

but not just

Barack