The actual text of your e-mail begins with a combination of a greeting and addressing the reader. Although this is something that a lot of people have been known to get wrong.
How formal do I need to be?
It’s always better to be too formal and polite than to be not formal or polite enough. Stay on the side of caution and stick to the classic ‘Dear Mr. /Mrs. / Ms. …’, especially if you are writing to someone who you don’t know or who you know is of a superior standing to you. If you are already quite familiar with the individual then you can use ‘Dear…’ and the person’s first name. Only when writing to colleagues or clients that you know very well should you use ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’.
What title should I use when addressing the reader?
Sometimes writing professional e-mails can mean contacting individuals from an academic background, maybe even several. However, this only really becomes relevant if you are dealing with a Ph.D. Or it may even be that the individual or individuals in question are professors. In this case, the professor title replaces the Dr. part of the title; as can be seen in the examples below:
‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or ‘To whom it may concern’?
Only if you have no name of a contact person should you use ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or even ‘To whom it may concern’, although this last one is regarded as slightly outdated. Therefore, it may be best to write ‘Dear Sir/Madam’.
Writing to multiple recipients
If an e-mail has multiple recipients, then naturally all must be addressed at the head of the text. If the amount of people you are writing to is less than five then the best option is to include all of them:
- Dear Mr. Murphy, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Jones, Mr. Malone, and Ms. Littlewood
or
- Dear Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Jonas
If the number of recipients exceeds five then you should probably opt for ‘Dear all,’ instead of going to the effort of listing all respective names.
What should I do if I am unsure whether the recipient is masculine or feminine?
It might sometimes happen that you only have the surname of a contact person, or maybe it is the case that it is not clear from the person’s first name what gender they are, e.g. Alex Jones. If this is the case then you should set about doing some detective work, because addressing someone with the wrong title could lead to your e-mail being completely disregarded. Company websites, social media pages, and even telephone books can assist in situations like this. If you are dealing with bigger companies, then it may also be worth getting in touch with the HR department. However, if none of these options are available then you should simply opt for ‘Dear Sir/Madam.’ While it may be slightly impersonal, at least it is a safe option.
How should my opening sentence look?
Once you have addressed the recipient, this should be followed by a comma. This comma does not affect the sentence that follows – this should still begin with a capital letter:
- Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your quick response…