How to get to email

How to Get a Mailing Address

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University.

There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

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How you get a new mailing address is highly dependent upon where you live. In general, you’ll be able to get a mailing address for a new construction by applying for an address once you receive your building and zoning permits. Contact your local government to find the specific government institution in charge of assigning address where you live and submit the necessary paperwork before the site visit. You can also get a mailing address by opening a PO box at your local post office or shipping center. In the event that you move, you’ll need to change your address by submitting an application at the post office, visiting the DMV to get a new license or ID, and contacting your bank and utility companies.

How to Start an Email (that Gets a Response Back!)

Image source: Getty Images

I once received an email with the opener “Hi Kevin.”

I’m sure you can guess what I did with that message. But that’s not the worst.

There was the “Hey Buddy” email (from someone I’d never heard of), the “Dear Sir/Madam” opener and the “Happy Friday” greeting (I read the email on a Monday).

Whether you’re sending a cold sales email, checking in on a new client, trying to promote your business, or reaching out to a contact about starting a partnership, the greeting and opening sentence are crucial if you want to engage the recipient and achieve your goals.

At a glance: How to properly start your email

What to consider before beginning your email

Before we get to the important topic of what to say in your email (and how to say it), let’s take a step back.

Your time is valuable, as is that of your customers, partners, and business contacts, so you need to first decide whether email is the best channel and then get clear on who you’re writing to and the goal of your email.

1. Is email the best channel?

Nearly 105 billion emails are sent each day, and this number is expected to reach 246 billion before 2020. It’s easy for an email to get lost in the deluge of electronic communication pinging around every day, so consider whether you should use a different channel before clicking send.

Would picking up the phone be more effective? Could you send a LinkedIn or Facebook message?

You could even take an omni-channel marketing approach and start with one of these tactics before following up with an email. Or ask your customers and contacts how they would prefer to hear from you first.

2. Who is your target audience?

The tone and content of your email will vary depending on who you are emailing and how well you know them. While I cringed when I got an email that opened with “Hey Buddy” from someone I didn’t know, the same opening might have been appropriate from someone who I regarded as a friend.

If you’re emailing someone who is already familiar with your business, you don’t need to explain what you do and can get straight to the point.

But if it’s a cold email, you need some explanation and a way to engage the recipient straight away.

3. What’s your goal?

Make sure you have a clear goal before you start writing an email. If the reason you’re sending an email isn’t immediately clear to the recipient, then they’ll delete it. Don’t waste anyone’s time.

The goal of the email will also dictate how you address the recipient, as well as the content and structure. Writing an email to discuss a potential partnership requires a different approach than emailing to try to make a sale.

Ways to start an email

Getting someone to open to an email is hard enough; getting them to read and respond is a whole different ball game.

That’s why you need to tailor your email intro based on your target audience and overall goal. Check out the examples below for information on how to communicate with different audiences in the right way.

Email openers for professional contacts

Try to find a genuine way of connecting with professional contacts that shows you have a reason for emailing and that you have put thought into your email.

This could be an event you’ve attended, an article they shared that has interested you, or even a compliment on something they have done or said.

Here are some great opening examples for professional contacts:

Email opener for semi-formal business contacts

If you already know your contact, you can use more creative, informal openings based on what you know about them.

This could be events they have attended, articles they have shared, or casual greetings. Here are some ways you can reach out to semi-formal business contacts:

Email opener for potential clients and cold emails

Many people open their emails to people they don’t know with “I hope you are well,” but we recommend avoiding this superfluous greeting and get straight to the point.

Explain what you can offer the person you are emailing and how you can do that straight away. Here are ways you can start cold emails:

Email opener for follow-up emails

Here are examples of how you can start follow-up emails:

Tips for starting an email that gets you a response

You’ve got your recipient’s attention with an engaging opening, but now you want to drive them to take action, whether that be by responding to your email, signing up for an event, or visiting your website.

Here’s what you need to do to make sure your email gets you a response.

1. Write a catchy and appropriate subject line

With 35% of people opening emails based solely on the subject line, you need to put time and effort into this task.

While writing a catchy and engaging subject line is key, make sure it’s appropriate for the context of the email. Be interesting, but don’t be too informal if you’ve never met the person before, and make sure the subject line is relevant.

Email marketing software ActiveCampaign does a good job by putting the hefty benefits you can expect from its software right in the subject line.

ActiveCampaign’s subject line sells the benefits of its product. Image source: Author

2. Get to the point quickly

We’re all pushed for time, so make sure the body copy is as concise as possible. Many people will just skim an email to decide if it’s relevant, so you need to make your goal clear straight away. Use plain and simple language so they know what they need to do if they want to further engage with you.

This email from shipping integration software Zenkraft is a great example. It’s short with a bulleted list so it’s easy to skim. And it includes an obvious CTA button at the bottom.

Zenkraft’s email is short and to the point. Image source: Author

Also, remember to sign off with your contact details so they know who you are.

3. Explain the benefits first

If you want to attract someone’s attention, and fast, you need to explain what you can do for them. Lead with the benefits of what you’re offering and then explain how you can help them achieve that better than anyone else afterwards.

Wordstream starts by outlining what benefits you can get. Image source: Author

4. Add a call-to-action

What’s the point of your email? What are you trying to achieve? If you don’t include a call-to-action (CTA) then your recipients won’t know, and they certainly won’t spend the time trying to find out. Make them specific, rather than vague, So, instead of “get in touch”, explain how to get in touch. “Give us a call” would be better.

The CTA doesn’t have to be right at the bottom of the email, especially as there is no guarantee a recipient will make it that far. Add one where it feels natural, and consider using several throughout the email to reflect the different stages of the sales funnel.

5. Use email marketing software

Using a professional email format will improve how you communicate with customers, colleagues, and prospects. The easiest way to eradicate mistakes, such as spelling someone’s name wrong or including an inappropriate greeting, is to create templates for each purpose and then reuse them.

Email marketing software comes with pre-built templates for a variety of different purposes and audiences. These solutions can also provide personalized automated follow-up emails at set intervals to reduce the time it takes to send a reply and to ensure you’re always responding appropriately and promptly.

Some of our favorites include Aweber, Mailchimp, and MailerLite.

Considering the full message

All good things must come to an end, and that includes emails. Understanding how to start an email is key, but so is knowing how to end an email.

And then all you have to do is make sure you’re sending your email to the right people at the right time while tracking who has responded and thinking about what your next step can be.

Maybe that sounds a little daunting. Email marketing software can help with all of that, and more. Check out a few of our favorite email softwares, like Mailchimp, SendPulse, and MailerLite, to find out which one is right for your business.

How to Start an Email [20+ Best Greetings & Opening Lines]

Email etiquette has many conventions that you need to observe if you want to appear credible. Some of them are regional or linked to a particular type of correspondence.

Are you not sure how to start an email, what email greeting to use, or what the opening line should say? This guide will help you make the best choice.

On top of that, we’ll share great email opening lines and killer techniques to engage the recipient and make them actually want to reply.

In this article, you will learn:

Generate more leads for your next email marketing campaign

Want to explore other email-related areas? Have a look at these articles:

1. Choose the Best Salutation to Start Your Email

The most important function of every email—like with traditional letters—is to establish and maintain a connection. It doesn’t matter if it is an email campaign, business communication, or a cover letter. It should always be based on mutual respect.

Always start your emails with a salutation (greeting phrase). It is a matter of convention that is an integral part of proper email format.

What is a salutation in an email?
In the context of correspondence, a salutation is a greeting. The most common salutation in the English language is “Dear” and it can be used in most situations. Salutations are usually followed by the recipient’s first name or title + the last name, e.g. “Dear Emmett”, “Dear Dr. Brown”, “Dear Professor Chomsky”.

Some follow-up emails don’t need to start with a greeting, especially when they are quick replies that happen on the same day. But if you are writing to someone for the first time or sending cold emails, make sure to use a salutation.

Here are the most popular email greeting phrases (a.k.a. email salutations):

1. [Name], (the most direct)

Sometimes you don’t need to say hello or goodbye at all. Your recipient’s name is enough. Try to think of it as a gentle nod followed by speaking someone’s first name. It works in all kinds of situations and it fits email correspondence too. Still, it is not the most popular option and it may be interpreted in several ways. If you don’t want to appear too direct, it’s better to stick to other greetings.

2. [Hi [Name], (informal)

“Hi” + the first name is the most universal salutation. Today it is appropriate in almost every context. It works great in business emails and gives an immediate sense of friendliness. At the same time, it is perceived as a neutral option by most internet users. It is informal but it doesn’t mean that it is rude—today’s culture of online communication is much more relaxed.

3. Hello [Name], (semi-informal)

“Hello” is a more formal greeting than “Hi” and less formal than “Dear.” It may seem to be the best of both worlds. A good compromise, right? But it isn’t. It is neither formal nor informal and tends to stand out. Technically, there is nothing wrong with it—but it is better to go one way or another.

4. Dear [Name], (formal and natural)

“Dear” is the traditional salutation used in correspondence. It is more common in letters than emails, especially when we combine it with a first name alone. In informal emails, it may come off as pretentious. If the slightly archaic tone is what you’re after then go for it.

5. Dear [Title/Honorific] + [Last Name], (formal and polite)

This combination is the most common greeting used in formal emails and letters. Let’s assume that you are a student who needs to write an email to a professor. Or you are looking for a job and you want to prepare a nice cover letter. “Dear” + title + the last name is pretty much your only option. It is the standard salutation when you need to address your “superiors.”

6. Dear [First Name] + [Last Name], (gender unknown)

This way of starting an email comes in handy when you want to be formal but encounter names like Morgan, Rio, or Sasha. In general, honorifics that imply gender are frowned upon. Since there is no consensus about alternatives, this combination seems to be the safest choice.

7. Hi there, (to a group)

8. Greetings, (to a group)

This one is also quite universal and you can use it when addressing both groups and individuals. You don’t need to add a name after “Greetings,” which makes it another good choice when we don’t know it. Some may, however, perceive it as slightly formal and impersonal. But it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Salutations combined with names are followed by a comma (or a semicolon in very formal correspondence). Nevertheless, the opening line of the first line of the main body of your email should be treated as a new sentence and the first letter should be capitalized.

Notice:

“Dear Mark,” is always written without a comma between the salutation and the name. However, in the past “Hi, Mark,” (or “Hello, Mark,”) with a comma used to be perceived as more correct than “Hi Mark,”. Recently, the second option has become more popular and is preferable. One comma after the name looks more aesthetic than two commas close together.

If you want to use an honorific (Dear Mr. Smith/Ms. Smith), you don’t need to use full names. The most popular option is an honorific followed by the last name of a person. However, assuming one’s gender may be perceived as offensive. The gender-neutral honorific is “Mx.”

“Hi” and “Hello” can be used without a name. It is the best option for informal greetings. If you don’t know your recipient’s name, you can use one of the more universal welcoming phrases such as:

In some cases you can write something like:

But notice that they make your email sound more like an announcement. These greetings come useful when there are multiple recipients. However, it is always better to address your email to a specific person rather than a group of people.

Double-check your recipient’s name before sending your emails. A misspelled name won’t make a very good first impression. And it is usually very easy to find anyone on social media, LinkedIn, or their company’s website.

If you don’t know a person’s name, you can also use their job title.

Some email greetings appear to have higher response rates. According to a study, emails that start with “hi”, “hello”, and “hey” are slightly better than “dear X” at getting a reply (by about 7%). It is also worth noticing that including any salutation increases the response rate.

There are also some greetings that it is safer to avoid, for instance:

⛔ Hey! (It might be received as too informal)

⛔ Dear Sir/Madam (This is a very formal greeting and it sounds stiff)

⛔ To Whom It May Concern (This is imprecise and tends to be ignored)

You shouldn’t sound too formal, but sometimes it is safer. Don’t try to fraternize if you have just begun exchanging business correspondence with someone you don’t really know that much.

How to Start a Formal Email Do you want to keep the right tone when writing formal emails? Check out: How to Start a Professional Email

2. Pick the Best Opening Lines for Emails to Attract the Reader’s Attention

Email opening lines are the first sentences of your email message. Don’t confuse them with email subject lines. Both—subject and opening lines—are important and help you catch your recipient’s attention.

The number of emails sent every year grows much faster than the number of unique email users. It means that we receive more and more emails per day.

Well-written private, marketing, and business emails should show that you respect other people’s time. Usually, it’s best to get straight to the point at the very beginning of your email.

There are four basic types of email opening lines that work best:

They employ different strategies of approaching the recipient, and you need to determine which one of them is best in a given situation.

Business Email Opening Sentences
Business writing should always be more focused than informal emails. A good opening line must be connected with your email subject or at least make a seamless transition.

1. Email Opening Lines That Offer Value

Hint at a potential benefit or a solution to their problem.

Email opening line examples that offer value:

2. Email Opening Lines That Ask Questions

Ask a question and let them express their opinion or ask for help. People engage more when they feel somebody needs them or is interested in what they have to say.

Email opening line examples that ask questions/ask for help:

3. Email Opening Lines That Boost Ego

Start with a compliment. Show your admiration for something your email receivers or their businesses accomplished.

Email opening line examples that boost the recipient’s ego:

4. Email Opening Lines That Use Contextual Conversation-Starters

Refer to a recent meeting, an event, or a person to introduce the subject and kick off a conversation.

Email opening line examples that are topical:

An alternative version (with a twist):

Email Templates
Email writing can be a daunting task. In some cases, especially when you write emails to your customers, it’s best to use email templates. You can access a collection of 260+ unique email designs that usually need only minor copy tweaks. Create your free Tidio account to try them out and send beautiful emails in minutes.

You should bear in mind that some of the common email formulas and phrases have lost their potency over the years:

⛔ Email opening lines that are overused or don’t work:

Ways to Start an Email: Closing Remarks

Before you send an important email, remember to go through this checklist:

These rules apply to business and personal emails. However, marketing emails are an entirely different beast. Frequently, they rely on the interplay between words and visuals. You can try out free email marketing software to create beautiful email designs in minutes.

How to start a professional email – Best greetings for every situation & salutations to avoid

A step-by-step guide on how to start a professional email in order to nail that ever important first impression in business communications.В

Table of contents

Wondering how to start an email?В Don’t worry you’re not alone. It can be surprisingly easy to overthink your email’s professional greeting, especially when you’re not very familiar with the person on the other end. Before you’ve even addressed the reason for your outreach you’ve already wasted time getting distracted with whether to say “Hey Tom”, “Hello Mr. Smith”, or “Dear Sir”.В

By the time you’ve made a decision, you’ve lost confidence in writing the message itself and overall it’s really slowed you down. Finding that perfect salutation can really take it out of you!

That said, it’s even more surprising how many people don’t think about their email greetings enough. How you start an email sets the tone for everything that follows and impacts a person’s all-so-important first impression of you as a professional.

That’s why we’ve outlined every step, scenario and circumstance you’ll need to think of when beginning any type of professional email. Here are the best ways to start that professional conversation and some of the most crucial things to avoid when doing so.

To make this super helpful we will list out examples of good ways to start a professional email plus point out what not to do when professionally greeting someone.

Why is it important to understand professional email greetings?

Here are some things to consider when professionally greeting someone.‍

What tone do you need to set?

‍In-person communication allows us to observe audio, visual and physical cues that written communication does not. Think about the environment and sentiment as if you were delivering your email’s information in person, then remove these cues.В Your email’s tone is how the character of your business comes across with your words, illustrating your emotional perspective without these other useful cues. ‍

How do you want to be perceived? ‍

As mentioned, life is generally easier when we make a good first impression. So by beginning your correspondence appropriately, you demonstrate your professional ease, expertise, and competence in just a few words. Sounds good, right?

AВ studyВ from the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science gives a comparison to in-person communication «First impressions are heavily influenced by emotional expressions such as smiles. In face-to-face contact, smiling individuals are perceived as warmer and as more competent than non-smiling individuals.

Keep this in mind as you dive into the world of workplace communications, and it will keep you straight and narrow when choosing the perfect email greeting. ‍

Will this person keep reading your email?

In a time where humans have shorter attention spans than ever before, politeness levels really go a long way. Basic considerations like spelling someone’s name correctly, mirroring the greeting they’ve used, acknowledging the tone of the interaction in your reply go a long way in making sure you don’t offend or alienate the recipient.

So you ask, how to start an email? Let’s go through some scenarios and examples that you need to be aware of.

Formal email greetings for professional emails

First off, we can divide the realm of professional comms into the «what’s more formal and what’s more friendly» spectrum. As highlighted inВ how to end an email professionally,В most business emails exist in the elusive middle ground between formal and casual.В Hence, it’s important to pause and review what you’ve written before you press ‘Send’. Here are our top picks.

1. Hello

It’s that straightforward. When in doubt, keep it direct and friendly, and you can literally do no wrong.

Yep, again, do not overthink this.В SurveysВ show that simple and polite without going over the top is always a winner.

3. Dear

This can feel a little unnatural. However, there are definitely still scenarios in which this professional greeting is the most appropriate. Especially when addressing a more old-fashioned institution or traditional representative like a government official. It can also be a nice touch when applying for a job if you know the person’s name.В As rule of thumb, when contacting someone for the first time use Dear Ms./Mrs./Mr. – if you are on first name basis, feel free to use that.

Friendly ways to begin a professional email

There are many cases where your email context isn’t so formal or where a friendly touch is appropriate. Maybe it’s an internal mail to colleagues or with a long-term client. You can both relax a little and also keep things nice and competent. It’s a fine balance sometimes. While many workplaces tend to be more casual these days, keep your basic principles of polite, friendly, and professional front and center.В

2. Hi there

When you do not know the recipient’s name or its spelling, this is the safest way to address a professional email without sounding too formal or indirect.

3. Good morning/afternoon/eveningВ

This can add a friendly, casual, yet still, polite touch to your email greeting. It’s definitely for occasional rather than consistent use, though. Needless to say, if different time zones are in play, you should use this greeting wisely.

4. Hey

Be careful with this one. There are cases to be made for and against «Hey» but feedback shows this should really only be used if you have a rapport with, for example, friends or close co-workers.

When replying to somebody, you can mirror your recipient’s tone and choose to open your email with a similar greeting or an alternative that matches the level of formality and familiarity – the some principle applies also to choosing the right email sign-off.

Email salutations to avoid at work

1. To whom it may concern

Many sources say just don’t use this one. In aВ surveyВ of almost 2,000 people, 37% of respondents found this greeting the *worst* way to start a professional email. It’s been described as annoying, vague, inappropriate, dated, and the list goes on. It, hands down, has the #1 spot of how not to start an email. Convinced? We are.

2. Hey

It’s generally best to steer clear of this if you’re unsure how, where, and when to use «Hey». As mentioned above, there’s a time and place for it, but it’s just not worth the risk of coming across as too informal.В

3. Greetings

Best practices suggest that this is outdated. There are now more apt ways to address a group of unknown recipients, like the favorited «Hi there» or «Hi all». It’s not the biggest faux pas, but try and stick to the validated winners.

This divides the masses a little. Overall knowing your audience is key here. While many reports say that this comes across as immature and unprofessional, maybe internally, your company culture embraces this greeting style.

5. No greetingВ

A big no-no. You may well be on the receiving end of a no-greeting email, but mostly this rubs people up the wrong way, so this is one behavior not to mirror.

6. Smiley or emoji

It’s a tricky one for many as smileys and emojis are widely used in much more visual communication channels to express outside of the written word. Unfortunately, it is still not universally seen as professional enough for use in the workplace, so best to leave these out of your emails in all contexts. 🙁

7. Misspelled name

This is so avoidable so pay attention when writing your greeting. Double-check this before you press send, and you’ll be in the clear. If you’re really unsure of the spelling, a little copy and paste of their sign-off or email address should really set your mind at ease.

How to approach different scenarios with ease

Professional email greetings are a space that covers a wide range of contexts and scenarios. Here are a few more example situations to make sure you feel truly confident in all your email communications.

Decide on whom you are emailing

Do you know this person? Is this the first time you’ve corresponded? Are they external or internal to your company? Have all this in mind as you choose the perfect email greeting. Then you can decide if it’s more of a formal or friendly professional interaction.В

Our blog post on writing a cold email is a great step-by-step guide on this kind of outreach.

Is this a follow-up?В

Are you trying to prompt a reply or chase for an answer on something important? Check outВ our tipsВ on sales follow-up emails that help find the perfect way of driving that much-needed response while also staying pleasant, polite, and professional. If you are not used to following up on your emails, we’ve also created a complete guide on how to write a follow-up email after no response.

Introductions

This one gets easier with practice but is for sure a tricky one to feel confident about. Find a smooth style that feels natural to you while also ticking all of the boxes that we’ve outlined here. Finding time to read this piece onВ How to introduce two people over emailВ should be a no-brainer.

Group greetings

Good news! All of the above guidance can be applied when you’re addressing multiple recipients. The same principles, just not including individual names. Work with «Hi all», «Hello all,» or «Hi everyone,» and so forth.

If it’s a situation where there are 2-3 people on the thread, you can definitely address these by name with «Hi Name 1, Name 2, Name 3,» but we wouldn’t generally recommend continuing this above 3 people.

Conclusion

In a 2020В report, 73% of people said that email is their preferred communication method at work. As evolved as humans have become at interacting and communicating, there is undoubtedly much respect to still be paid to the world of electronic mail! What’s great is that you’ve taken the first step towards this by reading up on professional email greetings in this blog post.

Let’s remind ourselves of the key takeaways.

1. Don’t underestimate the importance of first impressions.В

Nailing this makes everything that comes next easier.

2. When in doubt, lean towards the formal end of the spectrum.В

Politeness has beenВ provenВ a classic for a reason. As long as you don’t go into grandeur territory, this is a fail-safe measure for your professional emails.В

3. Read the room

Take on board what you’ve learned in this blog post, and make sure you know your audience. Your recipients’ comms are always a helpful indicator, so don’t shy away from mirroring their tone of voice.В

And there you have it! Now you should feel completely confident about starting a professional email and conquering all of your workplace correspondences. To continue this streak of upskilling, why not learn how to end an email professionally?

Supercharge your communication with Flowrite

Turn words into ready-to-send emails and messages.

How to start an email: 29 ways to use intros & opening lines

In a way, along with the subject line, intro line is your first impression. It’s a factor based on which your prospects decide whether or not to give your cold email a chance.

Head of Growth @lemlist

Read more posts by this author.

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Vuk, Lucille Rabaux, Briana Dilworth

Learning how to start an email is one of the most important skills to have that will lead you to higher open and reply rates, and ultimately conversions.

In this article, you’ll learn:

Why are email intros important?

The email opening sentence is one of the first things your prospects see, along with your name and your subject line. Its influence is twofold:

One thing that you have to keep in mind is that most inboxes look like this:

The goal is to make your prospects want to open your email without thinking that they’re just one more person on your list.

For example, how would you feel if you saw this email intro in your inbox?

There’s all this me and my company talk, but nothing relevant for the prospect.

What about this one?

When people say they love your work, you wanna know more about what they have to tell you. 😇 That’s why, unlike the first message, I’ll open this email. And so did the 90% of people who received it.

What you need to do is catch their attention and leave a good first impression. Your intro line is there to melt the ice and lower the prospect’s guard down.

Different ways to start an email depending on circumstances

When writing intro lines, there are plenty of places that can inspire your next move, such as:

How to create powerful email intro lines? Say there are 3 different outcomes I’m chasing:

Let’s start with number one. For this, I can leverage a relevant Facebook community, SaaS Growth Hacks for example. I’ll open the group and start playing with internal search filters relevant to my business. For instance, «outreach» or «email deliverability.

If I have a specific prospect in mind and I know they’re part of the community too, I can filter for their posts only or search their name under «».

Then, I might stumble on a post like this.

Here, there’s a chance for me to be a bit more direct. So I can go with something like:

I saw your recent post in the SaaS Growth Hacks group where you were looking for ways to market your tool with a small team.

If I connect it with a teasing subject line and make sure my content delivers, I am golden. And of course, lemlist will be one of the growth tactics I’ve used.

In the rest of the email, you can add a bit more context and make Myk feel you really understand the challenges in that growth stage and potentially add a video to the mix.

Something like this.

Let’s move to the second scenario. The goal is to sell something to a bigger company.

As it’s colder outreach than number 1 example, I don’t want to go in guns blazing, but focus my email on starting a conversation and aim to build a relationship.

For instance, I can google recent news about their company and stumble upon something like this.

Give these articles a read and you’ll find relevant angles to exploit, like that “double your workforce” for Canva.

I saw that you have exciting projects in your plans, with doubling your workforce maybe being one of the biggest and most exciting ones.

For example, if I’m selling an HR software, my conversation can be around new developers they might bring to further develop the product thanks to the new investment as I’ve already confirmed in my research they’re planning to bring more people.

As soon as I get them talking, I can match their pains with the solutions my tool can offer to them. The trick here is to chase win-win situations.

Finally, in the third scenario, imagine my ambition is to bring Scott Leese as my podcast guest.

What I can do is search his name on YouTube and Google, then see what kind of podcasts has he been doing lately to make sure my offer is special.

I’m also going to listen to a few of them and use this as my intro line. like this:

Just finished listening to your interview on “Sales Secrets From The Top 1%” podcast. Was quite interesting to hear you share how you handle sales meetings, your urgency tactic and how you navigate the conversation from there.

Btw, I did this and Scott accepted the invitation as you can see in the image above. First result on YouTube, not bad.

The rest of the email would be a topic proposition and explain what’s in it for Scott if he agrees to join. You can see this entire strategy in the Tiramisu cold email tactic.

But overall, anything can be inspiration for an intro line. You can focus on the industry, company, or prospects themselves. 🙂

Later on, the setup is easy. You add a column in your CSV file that can be called «IceBreaker».

Once ready, upload your CSV into your cold email tool. In my case, that’s obviously lemlist.

Then, add the variable <> in your email sequence.

And let the magic happen ✨

Another cool thing that you can do on LinkedIn is to leverage lemlist’s Chrome extension.

Let’s say you browse on LinkedIn and you stop on the profile of one of your prospects.

As soon as I open the extension, it will enrich the lead with relevant information needed and you can also send add an icebreaker right then and there.

Once good and ready, send the lead directly to your lemlist campaign and, thanks to the integration with Dropcontact, get their professional email address too.

Want to test all these tactics in lemlist? Tap here to get started for free.

One of the challenges after writing email intros is transitioning into your sales pitch.

The idea behind any cold email is to optimize to get a reply, not to sell. At least not immediately. In most cases, your job is to start a conversation and get a reply.

There’s one catch though. You need to personalize cold emails, but you also need to make them relevant for the prospect. Personalization for the sake of personalization won’t get the job done.

When transitioning from email opening lines to a pitch, stay on the same topic. In other words, connect your intro to the pitch. One of the strategies is to demonstrate your expertise. Show them how you had a similar challenge in the past and how you solved it.

Alternatively, the pain-solution framework also works great. Have them see you understand their pain and position your product as the pain remover. It’s never about your product feature, but how it solves their pain.

Let’s compare one good and one not so good example, starting with the latter.

We are a HR software, so curious if you’re now hiring new people on the team?

The transition feels unnatural, right? It’s a fine intro, but then it goes straight to the sales pitch and outlines that the seller didn’t do a lot of research on Nadja.

For instance, they didn’t check our career page and see what roles are we hiring at the moment.

But check this one out.

I’m reaching out because a friend of mine Milovan liked one of your LinkedIn posts from last week. I saw your YT channel and noticed that lemlist is trying to crack into the US market as part of your expansion strategy.

So tons of companies all over the world have been reaching out to us and using this tactic to penetrate the US market. <> is one of them.

This is a good transition because it might tease Nadja if the company mentioned is meaningful to her, plus it gives the seller enough room to pitch it in a valuable and relevant way in the next sentence. Plus, it’s naturally connected with the icebreaker.

Let’s add some more intro line examples to this story.

How to start an email in 29 examples

How you start a cold email will vary based on your target audience, cold email strategy, and the type of industry you’re in.

Email small talk examples

Email small talk is an okay way to start an email when you don’t feel super inspired or you have a difficult time finding info about someone.

Let’s see some email templates.

Talk about news in your industry

Simple chit-chat can also work

Cold email opening lines for marketing & sales

When you send an email to someone who has never heard about you, you only have a few seconds to make a good impression and make your prospect read the rest of your message.

Be personal and connect it with your pitch

Too hard to decline offer

Be the person who gives value

Mention mutual connections

You can also mention a mutual connection because recommendations are a no-brainer.

Vuk got John Barrow to join one of our webinar episodes, and this intro line definitely helped make his case. 👇

While interviewing Morgan Ingram, he told me I absolutely have to get in touch with you and bring you as one of my next guests. Plus, I just finished watching your recent video on prospecting in the time of a global pandemic, and it just adds to all of that.

After these kinds of intro lines, your transition is smoother since your prospect knows you have mutual relationships. Remember the saying, the friends of my friends are my friends too. 🌈

Using social media to write email opening lines

Social media interactions are a smart way to have the first interaction with someone. You begin to build your relationships and your prospects can see your face.

Thank them for interacting with you

Reference the same Facebook community you’re in

If you need more explanation for the dynamic landing page, here is a tuto from Anaëlle just for you!

Start a conversation that’s more about them

On LinkedIn, everyone completes their career info, former projects, etc.

That’s a good opportunity to find common ground or highlight a moment from their past experience.

For example, if you notice a change in their job role.

Just stumbled upon your profile on LinkedIn, and noticed something very unique about you. From CTO to Director of Business Development is a pretty rare occurrence. 🙂 It made me really curious!

Showing your interest will please your prospect who sees that their career is attracting attention. You show you understand the position he’s in, so you don’t send your message to just anybody, but wisely to specific kinds of profiles like them.

How to start emails using prospects’ milestones as opening lines

The golden rule of email outreach is that 51% of your success depends on your research. The more you know your prospect, the better.

The question now is. how to start an email and what milestones can you use?

Here’s an example:

Mention team members or managers

Congrats on promotion

In addition to the company’s milestone, you can celebrate someone’s promotion to a high position in the team (head of, director, etc.).

Just saw that you recently became Director of Business Operations at <>. It must be exciting to lead a team for a project with such a cutting-edge approach to customer relationships management!

Good ways to start an email follow-up

Finding inspiration for follow-up intro lines is perhaps easier as you have context.

Here are a few starters our team uses:

As promised, I’m sending [XYZ]

As we discussed on the call…

A short and sweet (or at least just short 😅) reminder about my previous email

Thanks for the quick response

It was great to see you at <>

It all comes down to your strategy. Are you following up after an event, meeting, or webinar? Or you have yet to meet your prospect?

Here’s an example of a webinar follow-up from our dear friend.

A small tip for your pictures, don’t forget to name your attachments! It can make a difference when you have a preview of the email.

You can also find inspiration in our 9 follow up email template.

How to start off a professional email with a little fun

Using funny ways to start an email can be a good choice, notably because it’s a pattern interrupt.

Funny opening email lines come and bring a good mood.

Play with automation jokes

Funny email greetings

Final points on the best ways to start emails

The answer to how to start an email depends on various factors. Number one is your style, then comes your audience and the cold email strategy of your choice, finishing with the type of industry you’re in.

If you’re not sure, test and use A/B tests to tell you where to double down and what to avoid.

And always, but ALWAYS, spend time understanding what your audience is about and what’s the best ways to start an email for them. Personalization and being relevant are THE BEST combination.

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In this article, I’ll show you how to get backlinks with specific link building strategies and email outreach templates that have helped us generate quality backlinks.

How to write a follow-up email [9 examples to get more replies]

It’s not always possible for your first email to generate a response from your prospect.

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