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Saniya Sood
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Published October 6, 2026 · Updated October 6, 2026
The short answer: for most business emails, open with “Hi [first name],” and close with “Best,” or “Thanks,” followed by your name. Use “Dear [title and surname],” for formal first contact with someone senior, in legal or academic settings, or in cultures where formality is expected. Never guess a title or a gender, and never open with “To whom it may concern” if you can find a name. The tables below give examples for each situation, opening and closing.
Who wrote this: Valley runs outbound for 1,000+ LinkedIn accounts and has sent 30M+ messages. The examples below are patterns we see get replies, written out so you can copy them. Valley appears once, near the end, clearly marked.
Salutation examples (how to open)
Situation | Use | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
Most business email | Hi [first name], | Hey there, |
Formal first contact | Dear [Mr./Ms./Dr.] [surname], | Dear Sir or Madam, |
You do not know their title or gender | Dear [first name] [surname], | Dear Mr./Ms., |
Cold outreach to a prospect | Hi [first name], | Greetings, |
A small group you know | Hi all, or Hi [name] and [name], | Dear Sirs, |
A team or department | Hi [team name] team, | To whom it may concern, |
You cannot find a name | Hello, or Hi [role, e.g. hiring team], | To whom it may concern, |
Replying in a running thread | [First name], or no greeting after the first reply | Dear [name], on every reply |
Someone you know well | Hi [first name], or [First name], | Yo, |
A customer complaint | Dear [first name], or Hi [first name], | Hey, |
Punctuation: a comma after the greeting is standard in business email. A colon is used in very formal American correspondence. An exclamation mark is fine with people you know and best avoided in a first email.
Closing salutation examples (how to sign off)
Tone | Examples | Good for |
|---|---|---|
Neutral and safe | Best, / Best regards, / Kind regards, / Regards, | Almost any business email |
Warm | Thanks, / Thanks again, / Many thanks, / All the best, | Colleagues, customers, anyone who has helped |
Formal | Sincerely, / Yours sincerely, / Respectfully, | Formal letters, legal, applications |
Forward-looking | Speak soon, / Talk Thursday, / Looking forward to it, | When a next step is already agreed |
Brief | Thanks, / Cheers, / [Just your name] | Short replies and running threads |
Greetings and sign-offs for cold outreach
In a cold email, the salutation and sign-off should disappear. Their only job is not to get in the way.
Open with: “Hi [first name],”. It is what a colleague would write, and it works at every level of seniority in most industries.
Skip the warm-up line. “I hope this email finds you well” delays the reason you are writing. Go straight to it.
Close with: “Best,” or “Thanks,” and your first name. If the email ends on a question, the question is the real close.
Signature: name, role, company, one way to reach you. Leave out the quote, the banner and the six social icons on a first email.
Check the name. A misspelled or wrong first name undoes everything that follows. If your list has names in capitals or with stray spaces, fix them before you send.
Twelve salutations to retire
To whom it may concern
Dear Sir or Madam
Greetings of the day
Hey there
Hi [wrong name]
Dear [first name] [surname] (when it is clearly a mail merge)
Hope this finds you well (as a first line)
Happy Monday!
Yours faithfully (outside formal letters)
Thanks in advance (it assumes a yes)
Warmest regards (to a stranger)
Sent from my phone (as your only sign-off)
Most of these fail for the same reason: they tell the reader the email was not written for them.
Formal or informal: three questions to decide
Have they written to you before? If yes, copy the level of formality they used. That is always safe.
Is this a first contact with someone senior, or in law, government, academia or medicine? If yes, use “Dear” with a title and surname.
Would you use their first name if you met in person? If yes, “Hi [first name],” is right.
Greeting and sign-off pairs that belong together
Opening | Closing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
Hi [first name], | Best, | Standard business |
Hi [first name], | Thanks, | Friendly, when you have asked for something |
Dear [title] [surname], | Kind regards, | Polite and formal |
Dear [title] [surname], | Yours sincerely, | Formal letter |
[First name], | [Your first name] | A quick note between people who know each other |
A mismatch stands out. “Dear Dr. Chen,” followed by “Cheers,” reads as careless, and “Hey,” followed by “Yours sincerely,” reads as a template.
The defaults above cover most English-language business email. They change in three situations:
International and formal cultures. In some countries and sectors, a title and surname on first contact is expected. When unsure, start formal and follow the other person's lead on their reply.
Regulated or legal correspondence. Use the formal forms throughout, and keep them consistent across the thread.
After the first exchange. Mirror them. If they sign off with their first name and “Thanks,”, you can too.
For what goes between the greeting and the sign-off, see our cold email templates, introduction email templates and call to action examples.
Where Valley fits (our product, marked as promised). Greetings rarely decide whether a cold email is answered. Relevance does. Valley finds people from live buying signals, qualifies them against your ICP, researches each one and drafts a personalized message for email and LinkedIn that you review before it sends. Plans start at $149 per seat per month billed quarterly ($199 monthly). Valley pricing.
FAQ
What is a salutation in an email? The greeting line that opens the message, such as “Hi Priya,” or “Dear Dr. Chen,”.
What is the best salutation for a business email? “Hi [first name],” for most situations. Use “Dear [title] [surname],” when the context is formal.
What is a closing salutation? The sign-off before your name, such as “Best regards,” or “Thanks,”.
Is “Hi” too informal for a business email? No. It is the standard greeting in most workplaces. “Hey” is the one to save for people you know.
What can I use instead of “To whom it may concern”? A name if you can find one. Otherwise a role or team, such as “Hi hiring team,” or a plain “Hello,”.
How do I address an email to multiple people? “Hi all,” for a group, or name them if there are two or three: “Hi Sam and Lena,”.
Should I use “Best” or “Best regards”? Either. “Best regards” is slightly more formal; “Best” suits ongoing conversations.
Is it okay to use no salutation at all? In a fast back-and-forth thread, yes, after the first message. In a first email, always include one.
How this page was made: the facts were read from the sources named in the text on October 6, 2026; drafted with AI assistance; fact-checked, reviewed and edited by Saniya Sood.
