It’s always a challenge to start an effective email or reply to avoid coming across as blunt and impolite. In the era of English Speaking Business world, writing an effective professional or business email is very important especially while addressing or messaging to people from cultures in which English is not the first language.
Some people directly come to the point while writing an email, however, it’s not a good practice. I suggest including a sentence of greeting rather than getting immediately into their business purpose when they write to people who expect and value such email courtesies. In this article, I will explain how one should start a business email message. This article will cover the below questions:
“Dear Mrs. Renee,” - If you have the formal relationship with recipient then you can use their family name but it's a little old-fashioned.
“Hi Andre,” - If you have the causal relationship with the recipient.
“To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir/Madam” - If you don’t know the name of the person you are writing to.
"Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening" - It may not be morning, afternoon, or evening by the time your email reaches the person, you can skip this one if the recipient is from different time-zone.
"Hello" – You can use this one if you don’t know the recipient.
Start with a nice sentence because the first sentence of an email determines whether the recipient will continue reading. If you correspond with business readers around the world, you can pay attention to the opening sentences they use, and respond similarly.
For example,
If someone has a question about your company, you can say, “Thank you for contacting ABC Company”.
If someone has replied to one of your emails, be sure to say, “Thank you for your prompt reply” or “Thanks for getting back to me”.
It is advisable to keep changing your first sentence based on current scenario because a repeated opening sentence could come across as a habit rather than a sincere sentiment.
I tried to explain above based on my experience, however, there could be more other ways one can start writing an email. Hence I would request all reader to share their experience in the comment section of this post because collective knowledge will surely helpful for everyone.
Don't forget to share with your friends and colleagues via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other medium, because Sharing is Caring.
Some people directly come to the point while writing an email, however, it’s not a good practice. I suggest including a sentence of greeting rather than getting immediately into their business purpose when they write to people who expect and value such email courtesies. In this article, I will explain how one should start a business email message. This article will cover the below questions:
- How to start a Business Letter or Email?
- Tips to start an effective email?
- How to reply an email politely?
Always open an email with a greeting.
Following is some examples which you may find useful:“Dear Mrs. Renee,” - If you have the formal relationship with recipient then you can use their family name but it's a little old-fashioned.
“Hi Andre,” - If you have the causal relationship with the recipient.
“To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir/Madam” - If you don’t know the name of the person you are writing to.
"Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening" - It may not be morning, afternoon, or evening by the time your email reaches the person, you can skip this one if the recipient is from different time-zone.
"Hello" – You can use this one if you don’t know the recipient.
Start with a nice sentence because the first sentence of an email determines whether the recipient will continue reading. If you correspond with business readers around the world, you can pay attention to the opening sentences they use, and respond similarly.
Below are some examples which you can use to start your email message (but not limited to):
- "I hope you are enjoying the season."
- "I hope all is well."
- "I hope this email finds you in good health."
- "I hope you are well."
- "I hope you are fine."
- "I trust you are doing splendidly and enjoying the season."
- "We send you our best wishes."
- "I send you and your esteemed colleagues my warm wishes."
- "Greetings from all of us at <Organization Name>"
- "Greetings from <Individual> and me."
- "Greetings of the day."
- "Best wishes to you and your family."
- "It is a pleasure to be in touch with you again."
- "I hope you enjoyed your trip to <place>."
- "Welcome back to work! I hope you had a wonderful vacation."
- "I hope this email finds you well."
Thank the recipient while replying to an inquiry:
If you are replying to a client’s inquiry, you should begin with a line of thanks because thanking the reader will make you appear more polite.For example,
If someone has a question about your company, you can say, “Thank you for contacting ABC Company”.
If someone has replied to one of your emails, be sure to say, “Thank you for your prompt reply” or “Thanks for getting back to me”.
It is advisable to keep changing your first sentence based on current scenario because a repeated opening sentence could come across as a habit rather than a sincere sentiment.
I tried to explain above based on my experience, however, there could be more other ways one can start writing an email. Hence I would request all reader to share their experience in the comment section of this post because collective knowledge will surely helpful for everyone.
Don't forget to share with your friends and colleagues via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other medium, because Sharing is Caring.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I'm very glad to see such magnificent info being shared freely out there.
ReplyDeletePost a Comment