In contrast, if you start on the wrong note, your email could be heading straight to the trash folder.<\/p>\n
In this article, I’ll show you how to start an email, including the 16 best greetings and opening lines<\/a> to use. I’ll also mention which ones to avoid<\/b>.<\/p>\n Finally, I’ll cover the best way to test your openings<\/a><\/strong> to figure out what works best for your specific audience.<\/p>\n Further Reading:<\/b><\/p>\n (Click on the links to jump to a specific section)<\/p>\n Let’s dive in.<\/p>\n Your opening line isn’t the first thing your recipients see.<\/p>\n Your subject line is. But the subject line and opening line serve different roles.<\/p>\n The subject line<\/a> plays a huge role in determining whether a recipient will open your email or not. For that reason, it needs to be eye-catching, provocative, intriguing, and compelling.<\/p>\n Your opening line is different. Now that you’ve caught someone’s attention, think of your opening line as the beginning of a one-on-one conversation.<\/p>\n You need an engaging start that also strikes the right professional tone. One that doesn’t contract your subject line \u2014 but also may not be quite as bold or flashy as the subject line. One that makes it clear you’re a real person hoping to build a real relationship.<\/p>\n The greeting or salutation is an integral part of any email.<\/p>\n Whether it’s a business email, marketing email, or a cover letter, the greeting you choose will set the tone for the rest of the message.<\/p>\n Here are some salutations you could use for a professional email:<\/p>\n Once upon a time, you would’ve written “Dear {FirstName}.”<\/p>\n Today, that feels a bit old-fashioned and overly formal. You can drop the “Dear” and just go with the person’s first name. (Using mail merge<\/a>, of course.)<\/p>\n This greeting works when you’re corresponding with someone who’s on the same “level” as you \u2014 for example, if you’re sending a cold email to try to find clients, or even applying to a job at a more modern company.<\/p>\n If you’re writing a\u00a0particularly<\/em> formal email, or one to someone on a much higher “level” than you, that’s when you might want to use “Dear” and even a last name rather than a first name. For example, if you’re writing a cover letter, you can address the recipient using their last name, like \u201cDear Ms. {LastName}\u201d or \u201cDear Mr. {LastName}.\u201d<\/p>\n Another exception: Always<\/b>\u00a0use traditional <\/b>honorifics<\/b> that indicate professional status, like \u201cDr.\u201d or \u201c<\/b>Professor<\/b>.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Overall, a first name is an acceptable generic greeting in countries where formality isn\u2019t mandatory, like the U.S.<\/p>\n However, if your recipient is in a country where formality is common (such as India), you can use their full name.<\/p>\n While you wouldn\u2019t use these email salutations in a particularly formal business letter, they are perfectly acceptable for professional emails.<\/p>\n The most popular version among these is a simple \u201cHi {FirstName}\u201d.<\/p>\n This greeting is usually appropriate for a personal or business email unless it’s a very formal email.<\/p>\n Although the greeting \u201cHi there\u201d is often used in marketing campaign emails (to newsletter subscribers, for example), people are generally more likely to read an email when you mention their first name instead of a generic greeting.<\/p>\n (If you’re a GMass user, you can use our easy personalization features to add that first name \u2014 GMass can even automatically detect a contact’s first name<\/a> by analyzing their email address.)<\/p>\n When addressing a group, it would be way too awkward to list everyone’s name in the greeting. Instead, you can use a greeting like \u201cHi everyone\u201d\u00a0 if you’re emailing a group of people, like your work team.<\/p>\n “Hi everyone” is preferable to “Hi guys” because the latter has a gender connotation and has fallen out of favor.<\/p>\n On the flip side, if you’re emailing just two or three people, you could list their names, separated by commas. For example, \u201cHi Lee, Mary, and Ann\u201d. These greetings are more appropriate than the abrupt \u201cHi all\u201d greeting, which sounds like it’s part of some generic email template.<\/p>\n This is a popular salutation you can use when sending an email to a large group of people or just one person.<\/p>\n Additionally, you can use “Greetings” when you’re sending a professional email to a business email account and don’t know the recipient’s name.<\/p>\n For example, \u201cGreetings\u201d is an appropriate opener when you’re sending business emails to an email address like support@(companyname).com.<\/p>\n Let’s look at a few more greetings that work well in professional email messages.<\/p>\n Here are a few other greetings you could use in your emails:<\/b><\/p>\n When you’re sending mass emails using a mail merge, you might not know everyone’s first name. So if you use a salutation like “Hello {FirstName}”, you need to cover your bases if you don’t know the contact’s name.<\/p>\n When you’re setting up your personalized mass emails<\/a> with GMass, make sure to set a fallback value. So rather than only using Go back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Once you’ve chosen the perfect way to greet your email recipient, you’ll need to add an intriguing opening line<\/b> next. This will motivate the recipient to read the entire email.<\/p>\n No matter the type of professional email you’re writing, the best email opening lines meet one or more of these four requirements:<\/p>\n The key to choosing the right <\/b>opening line is deciding which of these four you want to accomplish with your email. Once you do that, you can move on to picking the best opening line for your message.<\/p>\n Here are a few opening lines you could choose from:<\/p>\n You wouldn’t walk into a business meeting and just start talking, especially if you’ve never met the other attendees before.<\/p>\n Then why do it in an email?<\/i><\/p>\n If you’ve never emailed or met the person you’re emailing, it’s polite to introduce yourself first before moving on to your message.<\/p>\n But remember, you should keep the introduction short \u2014 don’t use this as an opportunity to talk about yourself, your company, or your qualifications in great length. Just a quick introduction will do.<\/p>\n Note: I wouldn’t recommend this for cold email. You need to make sure a cold email is all about the recipient and, well, introducing yourself first doesn’t really do that. Give yourself a quick introduction (along with social proof of your qualifications) after you’ve hooked the prospect.<\/p>\n Short emails are more effective than long emails. So don’t waste time with generic platitudes (like “I hope you’re doing well”). Say something interesting, eye-catching, or related to your offer.<\/p>\n Your subject line compelled your recipient to open the email \u2014 now pay off their interest by continuing down the same theme as you used in your subject line.<\/p>\n Chances are, the person you’re emailing receives tons of emails each day.<\/p>\n You can make it easier for them to decide your email\u2019s importance by mentioning why you’re emailing them right at the start.<\/p>\n This opening line is effective because it gets straight to the point, which busy professionals will value. For example, you could use this opening line when applying for a job, emailing a prospective client, or requesting a phone call with a company representative.<\/p>\n Generic flattery is useless fluff. For instance, don’t tell the person you like their website \u2014 that looks like a generic mail merge. If you want to go the flattery route, tell them why<\/em> you like their website. Or their latest article, recent interview, and so on.<\/p>\n No one is fooled by generic flattery anymore; everyone’s seen that in hundreds of mass emails at this point. Get truly personal and let the recipient know you’re actually interested in them specifically.<\/p>\n Here are some more opening lines you could use:<\/b><\/p>\n Go back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Now that you know the best ways to start an email, I’ll cover the salutations and opening lines you should avoid.<\/p>\n Have you ever received <\/i>emails<\/i> that began so awkwardly that you didn’t bother to go through the whole thing?<\/i><\/p>\n If you received an email starting with the following greetings or opening lines, you probably wouldn’t give it your attention, and neither will anyone you’re emailing.<\/p>\n An inappropriate or outdated greeting will set the wrong tone for your email right from the start. Here are some salutations you should stay away from:<\/p>\n This greeting is seen as too stiff <\/b>and vague <\/b>to be used in business emails. It gives the impression that you were too lazy to find out to whom the email should have been addressed.<\/p>\n As you would when writing a formal letter, try to find out the person’s name before you send your email. Alternatively, opt for a warmer opening sentence.<\/p>\n For example, let’s say you’re emailing company XYZ regarding their job application, and you can’t find the name of an HR team member. Instead of using \u201cTo whom it may concern\u201d, you can use something like \u201cTo Team X\u201d or \u201cDear Hiring Manager at Company XYZ\u201d.<\/p>\n A misspelled <\/b>name is up there with the worst greeting you could write.<\/p>\n Always double-check your emails to see if you have the correct spelling of your recipient’s name. If the person’s name seems complicated, just copy and paste it from a good source.<\/p>\n However, if you’re not confident about the correct spelling of the name, remove it and stick with a greeting like \u201cHello\u201d. This is somewhat rare but might happen at events where an attendee sent you a company or team email instead of handing you their business card.<\/p>\n Although using \u201cHello\u201d might be considered an impersonal opening, it’s always better than a serious breach of email etiquette like misspelling a person’s name.<\/p>\n Like \u201cTo whom it may concern\u201d, \u201cDear sir or madam\u201d is a stiff and often ceremonial salutation which in the past was reserved for formal letter writing. However, these days it can come across as slightly outdated for modern business writing.<\/p>\n Moreover, it shows you didn’t bother to check the recipient’s name.<\/p>\n This email greeting is still used in business letter writing in countries where men and women are called \u201csir\u201d and \u201cmadam\u201d. However, these types of formal salutations don’t suit an email.<\/p>\n Using a less formal way of greeting the recipient (like \u201cHello\u201d) would be a better option.<\/p>\n While several informal salutation options may be acceptable in certain formal greeting scenarios, a straight-out casual greeting is not encouraged in business emails.<\/p>\n This includes any informal greeting like:<\/p>\n Remember, correspondence through a professional email address is not the same as a message on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, where an informal salutation is expected.<\/p>\n Using a nickname, exclamation point, or any other informal salutation can make you seem unprofessional and should be reserved for informal emails and social media.<\/p>\n However, some offices encourage<\/b> such a casual culture.<\/p>\n You may casually communicate with your work colleagues internally. But be mindful of any external business correspondence you send to clients, prospects, or anyone with a professional email address. They may not have the same work culture as you do.<\/p>\n As a result, it’s safer to stick with a simple and slightly formal greeting when you start your emails.<\/p>\n Bonus: A broken mail merge<\/strong><\/p>\n If you try to send an email using a mail merge on the salutation, but the merge fails, you’ll tank the email almost every time.<\/p>\n It’s hard to imagine anyone would be receptive to an email that starts Hello {LeadName <\/strong>\u2014 where you forgot to put the closing bracket so the mail merge didn’t work. Or even Hello ,<\/strong> \u2014 where the space before the comma clearly indicates there was supposed to be a mail merge, it just wasn’t filled in.<\/p>\n At GMass, we’ve taken several steps to help you avoid mail merge<\/a> disasters.<\/p>\n First, our mail merge tags pop up in the Gmail compose window as you type \u2014 so you don’t have to try to remember them or manually type them yourself.<\/p>\n Second, GMass has an easy-to-use fallback system for mail merges, so you don’t have to leave blank spaces before commas.<\/p>\n And third, with GMass you can save your emails as drafts<\/a> before you send \u2014 which gives you a chance to look them over to make sure all merges worked properly.<\/p>\n Go back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Now that we know which greetings to avoid, let’s also look at some opening lines to stay away from.<\/p>\n It can be challenging to decide on the perfect opening lines that segue smoothly into your email messages. To make it a little easier, here are the opening lines you should steer clear of:<\/p>\n No you aren’t.<\/p>\n This line is generic and no one believes it. It’s taking up space with no purpose.<\/p>\n There’s a proliferation of AI line writers<\/a> today which look up a contact’s social media profile, then create a “personalized” first line based on their findings.<\/p>\n These are more likely to get you laughed at than get you a response.<\/p>\n It’s a total misunderstanding of personalization. Personalization isn’t showing off that you know someone’s publicly-accessible biographical data. It’s showing you understand their needs and pressing problems, or their work and goals, and then applying that info in a relevant and compelling way.<\/p>\n You may think you’re polite with this email. But it sounds insincere and immediately undermines your credibility. Because if you were\u00a0actually<\/em> focused on not bothering them, you wouldn’t have sent the email at all.<\/p>\n Instead of this opening line, it’s best to get straight to the point, mentioning why you’re emailing them \u2014 the recipient will appreciate your honesty.<\/p>\n When you’re sending a professional email, this is an opening line you should avoid because it’s too presumptuous.<\/p>\n Whether you’re <\/i>emailing<\/i> a person within your organization or a perfect stranger, how do you know that they’re busy?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n This opening line is bad news for your engagement because it comes across as too familiar for business correspondence. As a result, it’s best to avoid it.<\/p>\n Instead, if you know the person you’re emailing is busy, choose an opening line<\/a> that explains your reason for emailing them.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that the fundamental purpose of every email is to establish and maintain a connection. To do that, you need mutual respect<\/b>, which you probably won’t gain if your first time communicating with the recipient involves asking for a favor.<\/p>\n To increase the chances of your email being read, you need to make them feel like you’ll be doing them a favor and not the other way around.<\/p>\n Go back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Next, I’ll briefly explain why the start of a professional email is so important.<\/p>\n Emails are generally considered a more formal way of communicating.<\/p>\n That’s why you must create an excellent first impression when you contact people through email, especially when reaching out to a potential client or a prospective partner.<\/p>\n A good email with a strong opening sentence helps create a professional impression that shows your message is worth the recipient’s valuable time. This way, there’s a far better chance your recipients will read the entire email and respond.<\/p>\n Go back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n You’re reading this article on the GMass blog and, if you aren’t familiar with GMass, it’s a powerful email outreach and marketing tool that works inside of your Gmail or Google Workspace account.<\/p>\n GMass is a fantastic way to send personalized mass emails <\/strong>(our 400,000+ users and 9,000+ positive reviews give us the confidence to say that) \u2014 whether those are cold outreach emails, marketing newsletters, automations, or anything else.<\/p>\n But we’re not going to dig into all the features of GMass in this article (you can learn more about them through the GMass tour<\/a>, or just by downloading the GMass Chrome extension<\/a> to try GMass for free<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Here, we’re going to focus on a great feature for\u00a0you<\/em> \u2014 that is, someone who’s doing thorough research on email openings.<\/p>\n GMass’s A\/B testing feature<\/a> is one of the easiest to use<\/strong> in the entire email marketing industry \u2014 and the perfect way for you to test different salutations and opening lines to figure out which brings in the best results<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The first step in setting up an A\/B test<\/a> is figuring out what, exactly, you want to test. Ideally, you’d only test one variable at once (i.e., you’d only test salutations or you’d only test opening lines, not both) \u2014 that helps you better attribute performance differences to one and only one change.<\/p>\n GMass’s A\/B testing system is set up to make it dead simple to compare two or more variations<\/strong>. With spintax commands, you write one email (including all the variations). Then GMass sends out different variations of your email to equal samples of your list.<\/p>\n In the example above, I am testing a softer opening (“I hope you’re having a great week!”) versus a more direct one (“I’m reaching out to you about…”) You can see in the screenshot how I’ve included both opening lines in the same email, inside of the GMass spintax commands.<\/p>\n Once your email is ready, head to the GMass settings box (click the little arrow next to the GMass button in the Gmail compose window).<\/p>\n Go to the Advanced section of the settings, and check the box next to “A\/B Test: Send different emails to see what works best.”<\/p>\n From here, you’ll choose the options for your A\/B test.<\/p>\n GMass makes A\/B testing very easy \u2014 since testing is built right into your natural email sending flow<\/strong>. We hope this encourages you to continue testing and learning.<\/p>\n Let’s say you found one opening line led to a significantly higher percentage of replies than another opening line. Now try testing a few salutations with the winning opening line. After that, keep refining \u2014 try new opening lines but use GMass’s mail merge features to personalize it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keep on testing and learning from your results. The better your opening lines, the more success you will have. And we want to provide the data to steer you toward that success.<\/p>\n Get started with GMass<\/a> today for fast A\/B testing inside your workflow \u2014 you can try for free and you’ll be up and running in mere minutes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n How you start an email plays a significant role in whether recipients will respond to your email or simply ignore it.<\/p>\n Use the tips I mentioned here to ace your email opening<\/a> and craft the perfect email. And once you pair it with a powerful email tool like GMass<\/a>, you can easily streamline your outreach efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Starting an email with a proper greeting and a compelling opening line is crucial to making an excellent first impression. (Note: In some regions, you may call the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-email-copywriting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n\n
How to Start an Email: Table of Contents:<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
How to Start an Email<\/h2>\n
8 Greetings to Use<\/h2>\n
1. {FirstName}<\/h3>\n
2. Hi \/ Hi There<\/h3>\n
3. Hi everyone<\/h3>\n
4. Greetings<\/h3>\n
Additional Greetings<\/h3>\n
\n
Important: Use Fallbacks When Including Names on Mail Merges<\/h3>\n
Hello {FirstName}<\/code> in your email, try Hello {FirstName|there}<\/code> to automatically swap in “there” whenever you don’t have a listing for a contact’s name.<\/p>\n8 Opening Lines to Use<\/h2>\n
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1. Allow me to introduce myself<\/h3>\n
2. Jumping right into your offer or something compelling.<\/h3>\n
3. I’m reaching out to you about<\/h3>\n
4. Personalized flattery<\/h3>\n
Additional Opening Lines<\/h3>\n
\n
How You Should Not Start an Email<\/h2>\n
4 Greetings to Avoid<\/h3>\n
1. To whom it may concern<\/h4>\n
2. A misspelled name<\/h4>\n
3. Dear sir (or madam)<\/h4>\n
4. An informal greeting<\/h4>\n
\n
5 Opening Lines to Avoid<\/h3>\n
1. I hope you’re doing well.<\/h4>\n
2. I see you live in Topeka, Kansas, have you ever eaten at Joe’s Restaurant?<\/h4>\n
3. I am sorry to bother you.<\/h4>\n
4. I know you’re busy but<\/h4>\n
5. I want to ask a quick favor<\/h4>\n
Why Does the Beginning of Your Email Matter?<\/h2>\n
How to Test Your Greetings and Opening Lines to Figure Out What Works<\/h2>\n
Testing step 1: Create your email featuring two (or more) variations<\/h3>\n
![\"Using](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/spintax-1-tinified.png\")
<\/p>\nTesting step 2: Make a few key decisions about your test<\/h3>\n
![\"Choosing](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/spinsettings-1-tinified.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
Testing step 3: Evaluating, learning, and adapting<\/h3>\n
![\"A\/B](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/AB-notifier-time-to-choose-a-winner-72kb.png\")
<\/p>\nGo back to Contents<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
How to Start an Email: Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n