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Salutation in an Email
How do you greet multiple recipients in an e-mail?

How do I use the initial words while writing an e-mail, in particular, to my superiors?

Suppose somebody is writing a letter to the HR representative of a company, requesting a letter, approval, information, etc. Should the salutation be written like:

Hi

or:

Dear

or her/his name:

Dear Jenny

Are any of these proper way? Or, should I leave it blank and start with the crux of the matter right away?

Does it matter whether I know the person or not, or if the person is not my superior but is a colleague or junior?

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  • yes but that question refers to a group of people
    – munish
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 13:58
  • Hello and welcome, @munish. I've made some (rather substantial) edits to help format your question and include your updated information in the title. You can edit further or revert if I accidentally changed your meaning! :)
    – aedia λ
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 14:30

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I personally do a greeting (Good morning/afternoon) versus dear or hi, and feel this is more appropiate than dear or hi. Normally all my emails start as follows:

Good morning/afternoon [First Name or Mr/Ms Last Name],
Hope all is well. [Start email]

I feel this is friendly and respectful to the recipient, and you would choose which titles to use depending on the relationship.

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  • I agree with your choice for a saluation. But unless it is a more formal request or a "Speech to group" type of email I would treat it like a memo. The To and CC lines cover the saluation.
    – Chad
    Commented Jul 28, 2011 at 15:19

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