How to Start an Email: The Best Salutations & Opening Lines
It sets the tone for the rest of your message and increases your chances of receiving positive responses from the recipients.
In this article, I’ll show you how to start an email, including the eight best salutations and opening lines to use. I’ll also mention which ones to avoid.
Then, I’ll explain why the beginning of your email matters and offer five actionable tips to help you write better emails. Finally, I’ll highlight the best email companion you can use today.
How to Start an Email
Most people think the subject line is the only important part of an email because it determines whether your email will be opened or not.
After all, if you want your professional email to be taken seriously, you can’t start it the same way you’d begin a personal email. You’ll need an engaging start that also maintains a professional tone.
To help you start your emails the right way, I’ll go over a few pointers on writing suitable salutations and effective opening lines.
8 Salutations to Use
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.
1. Dear [Name]
This greeting is appropriate for formal emails. For example, if you’re writing a cover letter, you can address the recipient using their last name, like “Dear Ms. Blair” or “Dear Mr. Brown.”
Always avoid honorifics like “Mrs.” that imply someone’s marital status. However, always use traditional honorifics that indicate professional status, such as “Dr.” or “Dear Professor”.
Now, if you don’t know the recipient’s gender (or the person’s gender preference), you can use the gender-neutral honorific “Mx”.
Alternatively, if your recipient is your age or younger and doesn’t outrank you professionally, you 
can open with “Hello Taylor.”
However, if your recipient is in a country where formality is common (such as India), you can use their full name. For example, “Dear Ajay Goel”.
2. Hi, and Hi There
The most popular version among these is a simple “Hi (Name)”. This greeting is usually appropriate for a personal or business email unless it’s a very formal email.
Although the greeting “Hi there” is often used in paign emails (to newsletter subscribers, for example), people are more likely to read an email when you mention their first name instead of a generic greeting.
3. Hi everyone
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 “Hi everyone” if you’re emailing a group of people, like your work team.
On the flip side, if you’re emailing just two or three people, you could list their names, ple, “Hi Lee, Mary, and Ann”. These greetings are more appropriate than the abrupt “Hi all” greeting, which sounds like it’s part of some generic email template.
4. Greetings
This is a popular salutation you can use when sending an email to a large group of people or just one person.
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.
Additional Salutations
- Hello[Name]: If you’ve emailed the recipient before, instead of using a greeting like “Hi,” you could make it a bit more personal and say “Hello [Name].”
- Hi team: If you’re writing to three or more recipients in the same team, you could use this greeting.
- Good morning,Good afternoon, orGood evening: When you know the recipient’s time zone and the time of day they’ll be reading your email, you could use one of these greetings. Additionally, these greetings work well if you’re making an announcement.