10 Safe and polite email greetings

Remember sending your first ever email? I do. I was 19, sitting in front of a huge, noisy computer in the University computer room. Strangely, the email format was basically the same: Address, Subject, Main body. The main difference was my inbox. It was empty. Always. This was so early in the age of the internet that there wasn't even any spam. Happy days.

Twenty-five years later, email is basically the backbone of our working lives. And though Teams, and other chat-style work apps attempt to replace it, email skills are still essential in the modern workplace.

According to the first page I found on Google, the average worker spends 28 percent of their work-week on emails, more than 11 hours a week! With that much time at stake, efficiency is so important.

Spending too much time on any one email reduces your efficiency, and writing in a second language can be frustratingly time-consuming. There are so many things to worry about: the set expressions, the grammar and vocabulary, the tone. Even the first words or 'salutation' can be a head-scratcher.

In future posts, I’ll look at many of these email issues, but for today I’d like to start at the beginning and consider the salutation or greeting.

How to begin your email.

Let’s stop and think of the context here. First, this is an email, not a letter. The expected formality is not as high as in a letter and brevity and clarity is the holy err…Binity? A certain amount of respect is needed, but too formal and too long is not good (think how you feel when you get an email with a long, long introduction). Other concerns are accidentally causing offence, or over-friendliness. So, with that in mind,

Let’s start with addressing an individual.

For me, the Euro Jackpot of email greetings is “Dear First-name Last-name”, i.e., Dear Henry Loveless. This is formal enough, risk-free and simple. If possible, use this. Always. If you don’t have the first name but you have an initial, this is also works, e.g., Dear H Loveless.

If you don’t have the first name it gets a little more complicated. “Dear Mr Loveless” or “Dear Ms Loveless” is fine, as long as you are confident about the person's gender identity. Avoid Mrs or Miss because these refer to marital status which is none of our business.

If you are worried about using Mr or Ms, I personally recommend “Dear Sir/Madam”. It sometimes sounds a little old-fashioned or impersonal, but it’s safe and respectful, which are important factors when you are writing to someone whose name you don’t even know. Most importantly, it's not offensive, long or weird.

Other options include “Dear Professor (Loveless)”, “Dear Doctor (Loveless)” or “Dear Job Title”, i.e. Dear English Language Jedi.

If you’re addressing a group of people there are a few approaches you can use.

In a more formal context, you can use the name of the department they work in or the organisation they work for, i.e., Dear Marketing Department or Dear Housing Committee.

“Dear Sirs”, is no longer acceptable. Top law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer uses “Dear Sir or Madam” in the UK and “Dear Ladies and Gentlemen” in the US.

When sending an internal email or something less formal, other options include “Hi Everyone” or “Hi Team”.

There’s one more possibility that can be used in any situation.

And that’s “Hello”. Just “Hello”. It may seem unusual, but that’s how you’d introduce yourself on the phone. The important thing is to follow up with “My name is …”.

So, that is perhaps more complicated than it should be, but you now have a few safe options. Below I’ll list them all to make it easier to read, and, just because I love a flow diagram, I'll try to post an email-greeting one here later this week.

One more thing.

Treat each word in a salutation as you would a name, that means capital letters, e.g., “Dear Senior Vice Deputy Manager to the Board”.

And, put a comma after the salutation.

Let me know if you have any problems.

For one person

Dear First-Name Last-Name

Dear Professor / Doctor

Dear Mr / Ms Loveless

Dear Sir / Madam

Dear Job Title

Hello

For Groups

Dear Company Department

Dear Sir / Madam

Dear / Hi Everyone

Dear / Hi Team

Hello

Here is my Email Greeting Flowchart. Below the image is a link to download the PDF version.

If you're interested in improving your English, get in touch. I'm happy to chat, free of charge, and discuss how I can help.