I find it interesting that marketing tactics of the past few years have been very focused on "telling a story" and humanizing the creators behind the website (photos of the team on the "about" page, etc) yet we continue to use email addresses like "contact" and "sales" and generic contact form pages, "submit a support ticket" pages, etc. My selection of "howdy" was the most basic thing I could do to create that kind of endearing outstretched hand. That said, the right answer to the OP's question is probably to create "contact","support", "company name", "webmaster" etc -- all of the above, and route them to some common mailbox. That way if the customer can't figure out the right email address and takes a guess, it should get to the right place. The related question is "is putting an email address on the site enough?" or "if I put a contact us form on the site, do I also need a catch-all email address?" I'd say, you need a minimum of both.
Grating? Really? Would "hello@domain.com" have any better connotation? I use funny greetings like "howdy" in regular conversation because it has the effect of disarming people. You can often do the same thing with an overly formal greeting "Good Day, Mr. Jones" - people can't help but crack a smile.
So I'm curious as a non-American (non-native English speaker?) what you would find an actually welcoming, non-trite greeting? "Howdy" is an old, informal rural greeting found everywhere in the US, somewhat like what I suppose "g'day" is in Australia. Would you find "g'day" grating as well?
I also dislike "howdy" (and "g'day"), but I wouldn't necessarily go to "grating". Depends on my mood.
I think the issue partially stems from the fact that the internet can be seen as culturally removed. So if I visit someone in the US I expect to encounter their culture, and I am prepared for it. Same for Australia. However, on the internet I expect something more culturally neutral like "hello".
But then again, maybe it's just that certain words/phrases/accents annoy certain people, and you can't please all the people all the time
Comments
Personally I use "howdy@domain.com" because it is just so darn friendly ;-)
It has a bit of a southern connotation that might be awkward for urban customers.
As an urbanite myself I find this quite endearing.
I find it interesting that marketing tactics of the past few years have been very focused on "telling a story" and humanizing the creators behind the website (photos of the team on the "about" page, etc) yet we continue to use email addresses like "contact" and "sales" and generic contact form pages, "submit a support ticket" pages, etc. My selection of "howdy" was the most basic thing I could do to create that kind of endearing outstretched hand. That said, the right answer to the OP's question is probably to create "contact","support", "company name", "webmaster" etc -- all of the above, and route them to some common mailbox. That way if the customer can't figure out the right email address and takes a guess, it should get to the right place. The related question is "is putting an email address on the site enough?" or "if I put a contact us form on the site, do I also need a catch-all email address?" I'd say, you need a minimum of both.
As a non-American I find this rather grating.
Grating? Really? Would "hello@domain.com" have any better connotation? I use funny greetings like "howdy" in regular conversation because it has the effect of disarming people. You can often do the same thing with an overly formal greeting "Good Day, Mr. Jones" - people can't help but crack a smile. So I'm curious as a non-American (non-native English speaker?) what you would find an actually welcoming, non-trite greeting? "Howdy" is an old, informal rural greeting found everywhere in the US, somewhat like what I suppose "g'day" is in Australia. Would you find "g'day" grating as well?
I also dislike "howdy" (and "g'day"), but I wouldn't necessarily go to "grating". Depends on my mood.
I think the issue partially stems from the fact that the internet can be seen as culturally removed. So if I visit someone in the US I expect to encounter their culture, and I am prepared for it. Same for Australia. However, on the internet I expect something more culturally neutral like "hello".
But then again, maybe it's just that certain words/phrases/accents annoy certain people, and you can't please all the people all the time