When you’re kicking off an email, you need to be conscious of who you’re writing to and the context of the message. Both will determine how you craft those all-important opening words.
A well-written salutation will determine how well the rest of your message will be received, regardless of whether you’re contacting a potential client or your best friend. Hopefully this list will help you pick the right words to fit the right circumstances, so feel free to use these ideas in your day-to-day correspondence.
Starting out an email with the right email greeting is crucial. It gives recipients their first impression of you, and it sets the tone for the rest of the message. It can mean the difference between your recipient closing the email right away (and condemning it to the trash folder), or reading on.
Starting an Email the Right Way
There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to start an email. In the past, there were strict rules about using “Dear” followed by a surname in any formal letter or email. Under no circumstances would you reach out to a perfect stranger and say “Hey!”
Nowadays, the lines are more blurred. It all boils down to how well you know the recipient, the context of the message, and what you’re expecting to achieve as a result of your email. From a punctuation point of view, there are still some rules that are worth following. Start by putting a comma after the email greeting, and then capitalize the first letter of the opening sentence. For example:
1. Find the Right Contact
When sending a cold email, it’s important to make an effort to personalize your message – it’s no secret that a personalized email is more likely to be opened, read, and acted upon than a generic mailshot.
Whenever possible, do your research and find out exactly who you need to be sending your email to. For starters, try to find a direct email address rather than a generic help desk email. Then, do your best to find the most relevant person to reach out to. If you’re hoping to promote email marketing software but reach out to the head of public relations, you’re reducing your chances of success.
2. Determine the Goal/Purpose of Your Email
Whether you’re carrying out a mass email paign or writing a bespoke email to a known recipient, it’s always useful to keep the purpose of your email in mind.
Your goal might be to introduce yourself or your business for the first time (cold outreach); recover a lost lead or dormant customer; or simply to send out your monthly newsletter. Whatever it is, knowing the purpose of your email and its context will help you to start it in the most appropriate way.
3. If in Doubt, Err Towards Being More Formal
A personalized email is generally more engaging than a formal one, but sometimes being too relaxed can rub people up the wrong way. If you’re not sure what tone to take, your safest bet is to be a bit more formal rather than overly friendly. Then, you can adjust your tone based on the response you receive, if necessary.
4 spdate. Watch Your Grammar
A surefire way of giving your recipient a bad first impression is to mess up on your grammar. When it comes to starting your email, the main punctuation you need to worry about is the comma after the recipient’s name.
Whether or not you choose to include a comma is not important. Consistency is. As a rule of thumb, if you use a comma after the salutation, then use one at the end of your letter when you sign off.
