Why was I told off for saying 'To whom it may concern' in an email to client's customer?

[autisticconsultant]

Just joined this year

I basically cc'd a customer into an email chain where a bunch of client employees were discussing how to best help the customer

Then some lady from the client complained to my manager and said I shouldn't have

She also said me emailing a pair of managers 'To whom it may concern' sounded frosty and unprofessional (?)

I used 'to whom it may concern' bc my email was addressing a bunch of people in senior positions and I thought it was more professional than going 'Dear X, Dear Y, Dear Z, Dear A' or 'Hi all'

My manager told me that essentially the lady felt annoyed that I gave this client problem without trying to sum up the problem myself and present her with some action points and her complaints re the To whom it may concern email were to do being put off by the massive problem I gave her re the client

It's really hard to understand what you're saying

Are you saying that you copied in a client to an internal thread about them?

To Whom it may concern is when you have no clue as to the identity of anyone you are addressing. And yes, it is rude.

Dear Sirs, or Dear everyone anything else is better.

You shouldn't cc anyone outside your work into an already existing email chain. (is that what you did? your post isn't clear)

I'm not clear how the customer, the clients etc relate to each other and whether you were right to CC the customer in- sounds high risk. Generally poor form to CC new people into a discussion where people might have expressed themselves more freely than they would have done otherwise (unless it's a situation where that's normal).

"To whom it may concern" is usually used where you don't know who will be reading whatever it is- you wouldn't usually say that just because the list of addressees is long. What's wrong with "Dear all"?

It sounds like your approach was impersonal and not client focused. Instead of sending a huge email chain, addressed to whoever, you should have created a new email, summarised the key points, and addressed it to the people who needed to read it. If there are a lot of people, 'Good Morning All,' is fine.

But forwarding a long email chain is never a good idea, expecting the customer to dig through a bunch of emails to get to the bit that is useful for them isn't great customer service. It also runs the risk of the customer reading stuff you don't want them to.

I don't quite understand what happened but to whom it may concern isn't appropriate when you know who you're emailing

Hello All would work if you think Hi All is too informal

It's impossible to say anything more than that as all workplaces styles are different

Sorry OP. No one uses "To whom it may concern".

I don't understand the other bit. Can you explain more clearly?

You may want to do some research on how to communicate effectively...

I thought it was just me....

I basically cc'd a customer into an email chain where a bunch of client employees were discussing how to best help the customer

I'm quite shocked you think this was an appropriate thing to do. It shows really poor judgement on your part.

My manager told me that essentially the lady felt annoyed that I gave this client problem without trying to sum up the problem myself and present her with some action points and her complaints re the To whom it may concern email were to do being put off by the massive problem I gave her re the client

What on earth are you saying here? It's a jumbled mess.

1. Including an external (in this case a customer, even worse than a contact from another company!) is an absolute no
2. 'To whom it may concern' is for when you have no idea who to email - polite address for a group of colleagues is 'Dear all'

1. My manager told me that essentially the lady felt annoyed that I gave this client problem without trying to sum up the problem myself and present her with some action points
2. her complaints re the To whom it may concern email were to do being put off by the massive problem I gave her re the client

Your communication skills, both at work via email and on this thread, are very poor.

Maybe you could take a course on email etiquette and clear communication skills?

You only write ‘to whom it may concern’ when you have no clue of the name of the recipient, which is extremely rare now.

(and It is absolutely not the case in an email, when you actually have the persons email address and you know their name.)

That’s not the done thing at all.

This doesn’t really make sense!

However, I’ve just spotted your user name. I’m also autistic. Is it that you have missed some of the dynamics here, and acted in a way that is logical, but maybe doesn’t take the dynamics into account? There may be politics at play that aren’t explicitly stated.

Also, autistic people can have a more formal way of communicating which can sometimes be perceived as rude / standoffish by neurotypical people.

TWIMC is generally not used to address people you know. It’s used when you don’t know the identity of the recipient. ‘Dear all’ or ‘Dear colleagues’ (the latter slightly more formal) would work here.

That's still not very clear, but essentially it sounds like the problem is that you just sent it to her in a 'you sort it out' way rather than explaining there was an issue and suggesting solutions, is that right? It's not clear what your role is in the clients' and customers' (bit confusing having both) relationship and why you sent the email chain rather than briefing this lady, if that's the done thing. There's also nothing wrong with saying 'Hi all' in an email, if you're saying hi to several people at once, although it sounds like you should just have mailed the lady direct, or indeed sorted it out yourself maybe?

@autisticconsultant , The TWIMC is stuffy, and you used it in the wrong context, and from your posts reads a bit like you said 'to whoever could give a shit'.

Your post reads a bit like you described a problem without describing it in a way that suggested questions or answers.

I basically cc'd a customer into an email chain where a bunch of client employees were discussing how to best help the customer
That seems unprofessional.

I believe from your 1 and 2 points your manager believes you should have given a summary of the customers problems and some solutions or next steps for what would resolve it for the client? If so I agree with this

And I would start an email with "Dear Everyone
Or hello all please can you help our mutual client x with their concern around y"

"To whom it may concern" is appropriate for a note in a buried treasure chest.

Also risky to share the other people's email thread with the customer who they'd been talking about. Presumably they weren't writing with the expectation of her reading what they'd put so that could've been awkward for them. It sounds like you made a mistake so best to own it, apologise and learn from it - talk to your manager about how to handle such situations in future.

OP, are you on glue?

No one ever uses To Whom it May Concern.

I don't understand your other point. It makes no sense to me.

Well you are only there a short while and it sounds like you are learning a lot, that’s the good news!

You’re not making any sense?

OP copying and pasting a post that didn't make sense the first time around and just splitting it into two bullets isn't going to make it any clearer!!