The choice of words for your email greetings significantly impacts how your audience will receive the rest of your message. If you wonder about the personality of a sender when their email greeting is overly enthusiastic, if you ignore emails beginning with “To Whom It May Concern,” or groan due to the misspelling of your name on an email, it is a sign that you’re aware that knowing how to introduce yourself in an email is important.
On the other hand, in a lot of industries, you’re going to need to reach out to someone you don’t know in email, possibly quite often. When that is the case, you need to understand that strangers have fewer incentives to open and reply to your message, compared to even loose business acquaintances. For that reason, you need to think about the email greeting you should use for various occasions to portray the right perception from the onset.
Before looking into different email greetings, you need to know why they matter.
The Importance of Email Greetings
Build Your Brand
Shaping and refining a personal brand is possible by choosing email greetings and openings. The reason is that communication with people allows them to identify the common greetings you prefer using when sending emails. In turn, such individuals will use the email greetings you like to understand your values, goals, and personality.
That may be a subtle effect, but you cannot afford to ignore it.
Make a Good First Impression
Making a good first impression is not an option whether you are sending an email to your colleagues or reaching out to a new contact. Of course, your subject line is the first thing individuals will read. In case you have mastery in email subject lines, your greeting and the opening few lines will create an immediate impression of who you are and how you operate as soon as recipients open your email.
Set the Tone
Setting the tone of the rest of your email conversation starts with the greeting you choose to use. An email introduction can assume a formal, serious, or even an informal tone that can be lighthearted depending on a particular situation. That will eventually dictate how the persons you address will receive your message. For example, if your email content is stiff and professional, recipients may decline a personal invitation.
On the other hand, people may not take your offer seriously if your email’s tone is not formal enough.
Some Examples of How to Introduce Yourself in an Email
First and foremost, there are tried-and-true business email greetings. Below are some of the popular email greetings. They are some of the simplest and most reliable options for starting a professional or business email.
All/Everyone
Calling out specific names when emailing multiple individuals is impossible or unrealistic. The solution here is greeting the entire group with something like “Hi everyone” or “Hello all” because that will serve as a simple modification to accommodate your needs.
Hi (Name)
It doesn’t get much easier than this short, sweet, and simple email greeting. “Hi” may be innocuous and friendly, but it does not sacrifice formality. Also, adding a person’s name makes the greeting personal. You may use an individual’s first name or surname and title, depending on the setting.
(Name)
It’s even simpler to start an email greeting with a person’s name. Although this approach may be a bit cold, and even if it’s not creative, it is still popular.
Hello (Name)
Different from the “Hi (name)” email greeting, but serving a similar purpose, the additional length of the word “Hello” in the case of this option is what makes it a bit formal.
Greetings
Although “greetings” may feel Martian-like, it’s acceptable and a common email opening option. “Greetings” is appropriate when reaching out to someone for the first time in a while or if you are introducing yourself.
Dear (Name)
Right from the days of handwritten letters, “dear” is a vestigial greeting and is ideal for a letter-like email structure. Using “dear” as an email greeting can also be a friendly opening that appeals to your recipient, and it can differentiate your emails from those of other professionals.
Other Email Greetings
When emailing a friend or if coming across as sociable and friendly is a priority, you can use funny or highly personal email greetings. The only thing you should avoid is using such greetings in situations demanding formality or seriousness or with a person you do not know very well. Here are examples of funny or highly personal email greetings.
(Any Inside Joke)
If you have an inside joke with a friendly boss or close colleague, don’t shy away from using it to lead into an email as long as the details you intend to share are not essential or very serious. A joke can turn a serious email into an object of ridicule, but it can also make a light message easier to receive.
Yep, It’s Me Again
You can make light of a situation when emailing someone in high volume by using this greeting.
I Hope You Are Sitting Down
If you want to reveal exciting or surprising news, this is one of the common phrases you can use as an email greeting. The greeting is a good way of leading into something important you are planning to share. You only need to ensure that you are not using email for gossip.
X Days Until Friday
Everyone loves and counts down to Friday. So, you can go ahead and acknowledge the same (even if it’s a bit trite) by using this phrase as your email greeting.
Are You Surviving Yet Another Workweek
If you want to make things a little lighter when work appears as a drudgery some days, this email greeting can be appropriate.
Don’t Worry I’ll Keep This Brief
You can insist that you will not be wasting an individual’s time (in a funny manner) using this phrase as an email greeting. It serves as an excellent introduction to a short email.
Hopefully, You’ve Had Your Coffee This Morning
Using this phrase as an email greeting will be ideal when describing somebody in terms of their pre-caffeine and post caffeine personalities.
Yet Another Message to Bog Down Your Inbox
Everyone wrestles with overflowing inboxes at one point or another. This email greeting lets your recipient know that you understand their plight.
Don’t Neglect Your Email Introductions!
Whether you are writing a formal or informal email, the most important thing is identifying the right email greeting to use. Your relationship with the recipient(s) matters as well in this case. If you need more information on email greetings, contact us today!