Using Appropriate Email Greetings and Send Offs

Hi there!

All emails have to start somewhere, and all emails have to end. However, choosing exactly how to do so can prove challenging, text based mediums are notoriously easy to mess up when it comes to conveying tone and intent.

So what should you say? And how can you make sure you don’t put your foot in it? Today we’re going to walk you through some rock solid options, as well as advise you on when to wheel them out.

Let’s get to it.

Formal Greetings

Let’s start at the start by considering how you’ll open your email. If you’re writing for business then you’ll need to write a lot of formal emails that handle important topics with gravitas.

Opening your email with an inappropriately casual greeting isn’t going to convince your recipient that you’re taking the topic at hand seriously. So what openings can you use?

Consider the following:

• Hello - Simple and inoffensive, you can use this anywhere.
• Dear - A little stuffier, but still a solid choice for formal correspondence.
• Greetings - A solid choice, and can stand on its own if you don’t know your recipient’s name.
  
  

Formal Send Offs

So you’ve made it through your whole email while maintaining the formal tone you need, that’s great! Just don’t trip at the finish line by dropping an ill fitting send off. What is a good send off?

Consider the following:

• Sincerely - Very formal, and the ideal closer for applications and first contacts.
• Regards - Not too exciting, but sometimes that’s for the best. This one will never fail you.
• Best wishes - This one can work for a more personal formal email, though you may come off sounding like a greeting card.

Casual Greetings

Things aren’t always so formal in business, sometimes it’s okay to send out an email with a much more casual tone. This happens most often internally and when dealing with people you’ve known for some time.

So how can you let your recipient know that this is a friendly chat and not a formal notice?

Consider the following:

• Hello - We weren’t kidding when we said you can use this anywhere, this versatile greeting works just as well in casual settings as it does in formal ones.
• Hi - A more informal hello, this bad boy is also incredibly flexible.
• Hi there - This slight alteration functions much the same, but is better suited to mass emails or when you don’t have a specific name you can insert.
• Hey - This can work great with colleagues you know really well, but for those you’re not so close with, you risk sounding a bit aggressive.

Casual Send Offs

Hopefully you understand that ending a casual email with a super formal send off would be a weird thing to do, but if not, we’re telling you now. It's weird.

A casual email needs a send off that maintains the tone you’ve used up until this point. So what are your options?

Consider the following:

• Cheers - A great option for all kinds of casual emails, you can’t go wrong with this one.
• Best - An abbreviation of best wishes, this is a cheerier, friendlier way of conveying the same message.
• As ever - Don’t use this for a first time correspondence, but if you’ve known the recipient for a while, then this can work.

Being able to write good emails is an important skill for anyone doing business in the modern world. Business professionals need professional-level skills. Keep what we’ve shown you in mind and you’ll soon master the skill.

Cheers!