Have you ever wondered how to start an email to a client? Will they be offended if you write “Mr. Mark” ? Or will “Dear Sir” not sound too stiff? And after “Good day” should there be a comma or an exclamation mark? Or maybe nothing? See how to start an email and how to end it correctly so as not to alienate the recipient of the correspondence.
Half of the matter will be taken care of by Internet etiquette, the other half by the rules of spelling. How you start an email depends on who you are greeting. You have to know who you are writing to.
It’s like meeting your neighbors. To those you know well, you usually say Hi!
To people you’ve never talked to again – Good morning . You won’t tell the old lady from the 3rd floor Eluwina! (Don’t know what that means? That means you missed the youth word of the year 2019 poll .)
How you start an email does not depend on your age or the age of the recipient, but rather on the level of acquaintance you are at.
Do you know each other or are you writing to someone for the first time?
Is this an official email or just friendly chat?
And whether the person you are writing to is higher in the social hierarchy than you.
How to start an email
Unofficially
– when you’ve known each other for a long time and you’re on first-name terms:
Hey! Hey! – that’s how scientists discover link between brain’s structural features and autistic traits in children greet a friend. And in any other way that sounds natural in your conversation. You probably don’t have a problem here. Who would pay attention to commas and capital letters when you need to talk about girly things.
You can get started in different ways:
Hi!
Hello, Gosia,
Gosh!
Semi-officially
– when you know each know yourself and your enemy but you are not on first-name terms:
When you have been working with a client for some time and the Dear Sir form seems too stiff to you, you can use:
Good morning,
Good morning, Mr. Michael,
Mr. Michael,
But be careful! Addressing someone by their first name indicates a certain level of familiarity. If you are just starting out with the recipient, they may not be happy with such a greeting.
Officially
- when you write to clean email of higher rank
- you don’t know who exactly will receive your message
- when you write your first email to someone and you know that Good morning is not enough.
If you are writing to a company where you don’t know anyone or you are sending an official letter, start with:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Sir, Dear Madam,
Dear Mr. Director, Mr. Professor,
Which form you choose depends on your intuition.
Email goodbyes
If you want to end your message correctly, follow the advice of Prof. Małgorzata Marcjanik :
Tailor your farewell to your greeting.
If at the beginning of the email you write:
Good morning, Hello and welcome, Howdy ,
this is the best way to end it
Kisses, Papatki and Narazka .
You can hug and kiss as much as you want.