How to Start an Email? 5 Greetings for Every Occasion

Want to know How to Start an Email with the right foot? 🦶 In this article, you will discover the 5 best Greetings to send emails for every occasion. 💯

Remember that the first impression is something that you can never get back, 👀 so make sure to introduce yourself correctly to get off to a good start when sending emails in professional or personal environments! 🤝

How to Start an Email? The Best Intro Format

Here are 5 tips on how to start an email properly. Below, you will find 5 effective greeting templates for your emails. 👇

1) Appropriate ways of salutations:

Greetings such as “Mr.” and “Mrs.” are socially acceptable, but you can risk “misgendering” someone, presuming the reader’s identity or marital status incorrectly. 🌈 So use “Dear {{FirstName}}” or “Dear (first and last name)” instead.

This email salutation is ideal for formal email conversations. It’s commonly used in cover letters, official business letters, and other forms of communication to show respect for the receiver. 😌

2) Casual approach for email starters:

In most work-related emails, a casual “Hi {{FirstName}},” followed by a comma is totally appropriate as an email greeting. Consider the salutation “Hello {{FirstName}}” if a somewhat more “official” tone is desired. 😏

Although this is a casual greeting, it expresses a simple and welcoming tone. 👌

3) Greeting multiple people when starting an email:

When sending an email to two or more people, you have a few alternatives like “Hi everyone,” “Hi team,” or “Hello X team”, these greetings are informal yet professional ways to welcome a group of individuals. 🤲

They also avoid using gender-specific addresses to a group, such as “Hi guys,” “Hi ladies,” or “Ladies/Gentlemen,” which may not appropriately identify the recipients. 🤫

4) Perfect start mail subject lines:

Beginning an email with “I’m reaching out concerning…” is polite and forthright, and it emphasizes the communication’s goal. With hundreds of email correspondences transmitted in a single business day, 😖 this approach shows you mind about the recipient’s time by getting straight to the point. 🏹

In addition, stating your objective from the beginning minimizes misinterpretation or uncertainty about what you want from the reader. 🤷

5) Expressing gratitude to greet someone:

Gratitude is another approach to show that you care for the reader, you can start your email by saying “Thank you for…”.  This is a way of acknowledging from the start that your email is in response to the recipient’s email or to a previous action, it’s also a way to show appreciation for the teamwork shared together. 🤩

1. How to Start an Email to a Teacher/University Professor

Especially when contacting a teacher, university professor, lecturer, mentor, or anybody else to whom you want to convey respect, it’s better to stay on the side of formality. 🤓

You can use a template like this one: 👇

👉 Here are some tips to take into account when emailing a teacher or a professor:

• Add a clear subject line so that your teacher knows what class you’re in,
• Use a polite greeting like “Dear Prof./Dr. X”, instead of an informal one like “Hi there”. 👋
• Always sign off with “Best regards”, “Sincerely”, etc. and don’t forget to add your full name.
• Keep it short, it’s very possible that your teacher is very busy, and it’s better to ask them further questions in person.
• Use your school email to send the message, rather than a personal email address like “thejocker_13@gmail.com”. 😝

2. How to Start an Email for a Job Opportunity

Furthermore, alumni frequently assist one another. 🤗 Whether you’re applying for a job, you should see if there are any alumni from your school who already work there. This information is frequently available on the LinkedIn network.

Then, contact them and ask if they would be ready to answer some questions about the corporate culture or about their job in that company.  You could use a template like this: 👇

👉 Here are some tips to take into account when sending an email regarding a job inquiry:

• Once again, add a clear subject line so that your correspondent knows what you want,
• You can opt for an informal greeting like “Hi there”, to keep it friendly.
• Always sign off with “Thank you”,  “Best regards”, etc. and don’t forget to add your full name as well.
• Go straight to the point, don’t beat around the bush! 🌳
• This goes without saying, but please use a formal email address for this, like “mike.towers@gmail.com” or send a connection message directly from your LinkedIn profile. 😉

3. How to Start an Email to an Employer/Boss

Sending an email to your employer or boss, is a quick and easy way to express any updates, questions, or vital information about the ongoing work and projects. 🪶

If your job requires you to communicate with your boss, knowing how to write a professional email like this one, may come in handy: 👇

👉 Here are some tips to take into account when sending an email to your boss:

• Explain the reason why you’re contacting them and put it in the subject line,
• Use an appropriate greeting like “Dear Mr./Mrs. X”, “Good morning Ms. Smith”.
• Ask clearly what you want them to do for you, “Please validate my time off request”, “Please review the attached documents”, etc. 💼
• Add a closing phrase “You can reach out to me with further questions or for more information.”
• Of course, use your work email “chris.evans@waapi.com” and always proofread it to avoid making mistakes. 🙊

4. How to Start an Email to a Client

Approaching sales prospects via email is a great way to close a deal and build a working connection with a new client. Your ability to write these emails can assist you in increasing conversions by utilizing an effective acquisition channel. 🧲

Discovering engaging ways to write an email to a prospective client can help you increase your chances of closing a sale. Let’s see this template for example: 👇

👉 Here are some tips to consider when emailing potential customers or clients:

• Put a call-to-action in the subject line to attract your B2b prospect,
• Use a friendly greeting like “Hello X”, “Hi there” and always personalize your message.
• Show the value proposition in your email, and present the benefits of the product/service clearly. 🥇
• Add a closing phrase “Looking forward to hearing from you”, and include your contact information: email, phone number, etc.
• Once again, always proofread your message if you don’t want to end up in spam. ❌

5. How to Start an Email to a Friend/Stranger

Last but not least, here is a greeting example you can use when contacting a friend, a coworker or somebody you don’t know that well but that you would like to become friends with. 🤗

You can be informal in this type of approach, for example can use a template like this one: 👇

👉 Here are some tips to consider when emailing a friend or acquaintance:

• Use a funny subject line in order to show it’s not a formal email,
• Prefer gender-neutral greetings like “Hello you”, “Hi {{FirstName}}”.
• Keep it short and simple, if it’s not a serious message then prefer speaking in person. 🗣️
• In the end, you can say “Goodbye”, “Take care”, “Kisses”, “Greetings,” depending on the level of trust you have with this person.
• You can make jokes like “Happy (not) Monday!”, “I hope you had your coffee this morning”, to lighten things up. 😎

Conclusion: How to Write a Professional Email? Use the Best Greetings

Emails are a regular part of our lives. Whether you use them in your personal or professional life. Emails are very useful and as shown here, it’s not too difficult to write a professional email, right? 😃

You just need to pay attention to the little things and send the email. Who knows? 💁 Maybe, you could get a huge customer, a nice job, or a promotion. Simply because your email was flawless. 💯

The possibilities of a well-written message are limitless, so don’t be intimidated by formalities. 😅

To finish, here are more ideas you can apply for effective email greetings:

• Understand your target audience. 👂 Your email greeting and opening line should represent the relationship you have with your readers. Think about if you’re writing for a customer, executives, a professional acquaintance, or a close coworker.

• Make your goal clear. 🎯 When the objective of your email is not obvious, the reader may get confused or frustrated. To prevent overlooking this important component, try including the objective of your email within the first phrase or even better, put it in the subject line, so the reader knows what to expect from that incoming message.

• Use internet tools, to check spelling or to send automated messages (if applicable). 🤖 Spelling is super influential when conveying a message, specially in professional environments it really counts if you want to be taken seriously! So be careful with it. 🔔 Furthermore, maybe you need to send a reminder email in two weeks from now, and you don’t want to forget about it, or perhaps you won’t be available at the time. So that’s when automation tools, like Waalaxy, come in handy! 👽

There you go, don’t hesitate to employ these tips to write that wonderful email, we believe in you! 😘

😏 Pst! If you need some extra help, why not try sending emails via our Waalaxy CRM?

Try Waalaxy Now 👩‍🚀

FAQ: How to Write a Proper Email Opening?

How do you Professionally Start an Email?

Here are a few ways to begin a professional email with these greeting formulas: 👇

• “Hi {{FirstName}}”, “Dear {{FirstName}},” are the standard greetings,
• “Greetings”, or “Hi there”, (Used when you don’t know the recipient’s name or when emailing to corporation email addresses like contact@xyz.com),
• “Hello {{FirstName}}”, (This is less formal than “Dear” but more formal than “Hi”),
• “Hello everyone,” (In case there are multiple recipients).

Make sure you use commas, punctuation and grammar correctly, since first impressions can make or break your company, or tarnish the brand image. 😣 You can find professional email templates above in this article! ⚡

What is a Good Starting Sentence For an Email?

There are several starting sentences for an email, each with its own set of use cases. 🤔

Some examples include expressing gratitude to your reader or reminding them of an upcoming meeting. You need to write different opening lines depending on your goal and the people you’re talking to. ✍️

Here are some standard starting lines to keep in mind for every occasion: 🧠

• “Just following up on [matter].”

• “Would you please [favor]?”

• “I’m writing to you about [matter].”

• “Wonderful work on [work].”

• “How is [project] going?”

• “I would like to introduce myself.”

• “I have a quick question for you.”

• “When are you able to meet?”

• “I have some bad news to share.”

• “I wanted to apologize about [event].”

• “Just wanted to thank you for [favor].”

• “This is a reminder email about [matter].”

• “I hope this email finds you well.”

Haha, the last one reminds me of this really funny meme! 👇 You probably have seen it around on social media too, it cracks me up every time. Enjoy! 🤣

I hope all of these tips & tricks were useful to you, and that you’ll know how to start an email for every occasion. 👌