First names or formal address

Should you use tu or vous with a customer in an email?

Tu or vous with a customer by email: keep the register already in place, and use vous when unsure. After a meeting noted in Granola, a Muzau agent reads in the transcript whether you used tu or vous, writes the recap in that register when one clearly dominates, and notes it on the customer's record. If that customer later writes by email from an authenticated address, the agent keeps it. By default, you approve the recap before it goes out.

Why tu or vous is settled in writing

In a meeting, the register sets itself without anyone thinking about it: you switch to tu along the way, or you keep vous to the end. In writing, the question comes back with every email, and the gap shows. A “vous” after a meeting where you said “tu” sounds cold; a “tu” the customer never offered sounds too familiar.

The difficulty grows with the team. The salesperson who saw the customer knows how they talk to each other. The colleague who answers their email three weeks later does not, unless someone wrote it down. The register is a piece of information about the customer, like their need or their deadline: it is kept in the same place.

How the agent goes about it

Input

The Granola note from the meeting, with its transcript

It does

Spots tu or vous, writes the recap in that register, notes it on the record

It delivers

A recap in the right register, kept for the emails that follow

Tu or vous is read in the transcript

It is the transcript of the meeting, not its summary, that says how you spoke to each other. Muzau reads it in the Granola note and spots the tu and the vous. It only decides when one of the two clearly dominates, and only in French. If the conversation mixes both, for example a colleague you say tu to and a customer you say vous to, the recap uses vous, unless the notes show otherwise.

The recap picks up the register and the tone

The recap (see the sales meeting recap) uses tu or vous as you did, and picks up the tone of the conversation: formal, cordial or relaxed. The transcript itself is not passed to the writer of the recap: it only receives what was drawn from it, including the tone. By default, the recap waits for you in “To approve” before it goes out.

The register goes on the customer's record

After the meeting, the tu or vous that was spotted joins the customer's record in “Customers met”, with the tone of the relationship, the date of the meeting and the link to the note. This applies to each outside participant the Granola note knows about. An older note never overwrites what a more recent meeting has learned.

The same register when the customer writes later

When that customer writes later by email, the agent that answers them knows what was said in the meeting and keeps the same tu or vous. The reply has to go to them alone, their sender address has to be authenticated, and the agent has to have access to the business's files. The site chat and bulk sends do not use it. For the rest, see how an AI answers your customers' emails.

Tu or vous: the method for your customer emails

The right register is not a general rule of politeness: it is the one you already have with this customer. A few markers are enough.

• Keep the register of the last conversation. If you said tu in the meeting or on the phone, the email says tu; if you said vous, it says vous.
• When in doubt, use vous. Moving from vous to tu happens without awkwardness; going back from tu to vous is noticed.
• Let the customer open the tu. If they say tu to you first in writing, or offer it, follow them from the very next reply.
• With several recipients, vous is the rule. It addresses everyone, and nobody gets tu in front of a customer who gets vous.
• Match the greeting and the sign-off. “Salut” only goes with tu. With vous, “Bonjour” followed by the first name, or by “Madame” or “Monsieur” and the surname if the conversation is formal. At the end, “Bien à toi” only goes with tu, “Bien à vous” only with vous, “Cordialement” with both: that is where a mixed register shows.
• Write it down. A “tu or vous” column in your customer file, or a line in the recap, saves the colleague taking over the account from guessing.

In English, the question does not go through pronouns: distance shows in the greeting and the use of first names. For the content of the email that follows a meeting, see the thank-you email after a sales meeting.

What it does not do

• It chooses between the informal and formal "you" only in French, and only when one clearly dominates in what was said: otherwise the recap uses the formal "you", unless the notes show the opposite.
• Without the Granola transcript, it does not spot tu or vous: a note taken in another tool and forwarded to its address gives a recap that uses vous, unless your notes show otherwise, without the tone of the conversation or the customer's record.
• It does not carry this register into the site chat or a bulk send: when the customer writes later, it keeps it in an email reply to them alone, if their address is authenticated and the agent has access to the business's files.

Frequently asked questions

Should you say tu by email to a customer you say tu to in meetings?

Yes: the email follows the register of the meeting, and going back to vous after a conversation where you said tu sounds distant. After a meeting noted in Granola, a Muzau agent spots the tu in the transcript and, when it clearly dominates, writes the recap with tu.

Can you say tu to a customer who says tu to you by email?

Yes, it is the clearest invitation. Answer with tu from the very next email, and write it down so the whole team keeps that register with this customer.

How do you offer tu to a customer?

The safest is to let the customer offer it. If you do it yourself, ask simply, out loud or at the end of an email (“We can say tu, if you like”), and keep vous until they answer.

How do you address a customer formally in English?

English has only one “you”: distance comes through the greeting, the use of first names and the sign-off. After a meeting in English noted in Granola, a Muzau agent's recap is written in English and picks up the tone of the conversation, formal, cordial or relaxed.

Should a site chat use tu or vous with visitors?

It follows your business's tone, and vous remains the safe choice with a stranger. The Muzau chat answers with the tone and rules that your Company Brain knows; the register noted after a meeting is not used by the chat.