Guide
Email Salutations: How to Start an Email
For most work email, start with “Hi [First name],”. Use “Dear [Name],” for formal or first contact, “Hello [Name],” when you want to sound professional but not stiff, and “Hi team,” for groups. Here are salutation examples from formal to casual, which to avoid, and what to write when you don't know the name.
Subject Following up on Tuesday's panel
Hi Priya,Salutation
Your point about patient follow-up stuck with me. I've attached the two studies I mentioned.
Would a short call next week be useful?
Best regards,
Sam
Examples
Email salutations from formal to casual
Pick the greeting that matches how well you know the person and how formal their world is. When in doubt, go one step more formal than you think, then mirror whatever they use in their reply.
| Salutation | Formality | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dear Dr. / Prof. [Last name], | Very formal | Academic, medical or senior recipients with a title | They sign off with their first name |
| Dear Mr. / Ms. / Mx. [Last name], | Very formal | Government, legal, conservative industries | You're not sure which title they use |
| Dear [First Last], | Formal | Unsure of gender or which name is the family name | You already know them well |
| Dear [First name], | Formal | Formal requests to someone you've met | Quick everyday notes |
| Dear Hiring Manager, | Formal | Job applications when no name is listed | A quick search would find the name |
| Good morning [Name], | Professional | Polite openings in the reader's morning | You're in different time zones |
| Hello [Name], | Professional | Clients, new contacts and cold email | Rarely wrong |
| Hello [Team name] team, | Professional | Shared inboxes and departments | You know who will read it |
| Hi [Name], | Neutral | Most work email, internal and external | Very formal or legal contexts |
| Hi all, / Hi everyone, | Neutral | Groups of three or more | Writing to one or two people |
| Hi team, | Neutral | Your own team or project group | External groups you're not part of |
| Hi again, | Neutral | A second email soon after the first | First contact |
| Greetings, | Neutral | Formal notes to an unnamed reader | You know their name |
| Hi there, | Casual | Friendly notes when you don't have a name | Formal requests |
| Hey [Name], | Casual | Colleagues and contacts you know well | First contact, senior people, formal fields |
| [Name] — / [Name], | Very casual | Quick internal threads | Any first message |
| No greeting | Very casual | Rapid replies in an ongoing thread | The first email in a thread |
Data
Which email greetings get replies
Boomerang looked at more than 300,000 email threads from public online communities. Emails with any greeting beat the 47.5% average response rate, and the three everyday greetings performed almost the same.
Response rate by email greeting
Boomerang, 2017. Online community mailing lists, which skew informal; average across all emails was 47.5%.
| Hey | 64.0% |
|---|---|
| Hello | 63.6% |
| Hi | 62.7% |
| Greetings | 57.2% |
| Dear | 56.5% |
| All emails (average) | 47.5% |
“Hey” edged ahead in a casual setting, but in work email “Hi” and “Hello” carry the same benefit with less risk. The real lesson: say hello at all.
Punctuation and format
- Put a comma after the greeting (“Hi Sam,”) and start the first sentence on a new line.
- A colon (“Dear Ms. Patel:”) is a formal American letter style; it's rarely needed in email.
- Copy the spelling of their name from their own signature, including accents and capitals.
- Don't mix styles such as “Dear Mr. John”. Use the title with the last name, or the first name alone.
Unknown recipients
How to address an email when you don't know the name
“To whom it may concern” is never wrong, but it tells the reader you didn't look. Spend a minute on the company site or LinkedIn first; if that fails, address the role or the team.
| Situation | Instead of | Try |
|---|---|---|
| No name on the job post | To whom it may concern | Dear Hiring Manager, / Dear [Team] Hiring Team, |
| Shared inbox (support@, sales@) | Dear Sir or Madam | Hello [Company] team, |
| A group of people | Hi guys, / Gentlemen, | Hi all, / Hi everyone, / Hi team, |
| Unsure of their gender | Dear Mr. / Ms. [Name], | Dear Alex Morgan, / Hi Alex, |
| They use Mx. or no title | A guessed honorific | Mirror how they sign their own emails |
| Two named people | Dear Sirs, | Hi Ana and Ben, |
| Unsure which name is the given name | A guess | Use the full name exactly as they write it |
| Doctor or professor | Hi [First name], | Dear Dr. Okafor, until they invite first names |
| Replying to someone who wrote “Hi” | Dear [Name], | Hi [Name], (match their tone) |
Cold email
Greetings and openers for cold email
In cold email, “Hi {{first_name}},” is the norm. What matters more is the line that follows: a specific reason you're writing to this person, not “I hope this email finds you well”.
Greeting + first line
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} just opened two SDR roles. Congrats on the growth.
Hi {{first_name}}, quick one about {{team}}'s onboarding.
Hello {{first_name}},
{{mutual_contact}} mentioned you're rebuilding outbound at {{company}}.- Set a fallback such as “Hi there,” in your sending tool so a missing first name never shows up as “Hi ,”.
- Skip “My name is … and I work at …”. Your signature already says it.
- Close as carefully as you open. See the email sign-offs guide for which closings get more replies.
A perfect greeting only helps if it reaches the inbox
Avoid
Email greetings to avoid
Each of these costs you a little goodwill before the reader reaches your first sentence.
| Greeting | Why to avoid it |
|---|---|
| To whom it may concern, | Impersonal; suggests you didn't look for a name. |
| Dear Sir or Madam, | Gendered and dated. |
| Gentlemen, / Hi guys, | Can exclude people in a mixed group. |
| Dear Friend, / Dear Valued Customer, | Reads like a mass mailing or spam. |
| Hey! / Yo, | Too casual for anyone who doesn't know you. |
| Hi [FIRST_NAME], | A broken merge field. Test templates before sending. |
| A misspelled name | The quickest way to lose a reader. |
| A nickname they don't use | “Hi Rob” to a Robert presumes familiarity. |
| Good morning, (to another time zone) | It may be evening where they are. |
| Dear Mr. [First name], | Mixes formal and informal styles. |
Sources: Boomerang blog, email openings and response rates (December 2017).
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Or see pricing →Frequently asked questions
What is a salutation in an email?
The salutation is the greeting on the first line of an email, such as “Hi Priya,” or “Dear Dr. Rao,”. It sets the tone before the reader gets to your first sentence.
What is the most professional way to start an email?
“Dear [Name],” is the most formal and works for first contact, senior or academic recipients and formal requests. “Hello [Name],” is professional without being stiff, and “Hi [Name],” is the everyday standard for most work email.
What can I use instead of “To whom it may concern”?
First try to find a name on the company site or LinkedIn. If you can't, address the role or team: “Dear Hiring Manager,” “Hello Support team,” or “Hello [Company] team,”. They're just as polite and show you know who you're writing to.
Is it unprofessional to start an email with “Hey”?
With colleagues you know well, “Hey” is fine. For first contact, senior people or formal industries, use “Hi” or “Hello” instead, since some readers take “Hey” as too casual.
Should an email greeting end with a comma or a colon?
A comma is standard in email (“Hi Sam,”). A colon (“Dear Ms. Patel:”) is a formal business-letter convention in American English and is fine in very formal emails, but rarely needed.
How do I address an email if I don't know the person's gender?
Skip the honorific and use their full name (“Dear Alex Morgan,”) or first name (“Hi Alex,”). If they use a title such as Mx. or Dr. in their own signature, mirror it.