Saying 'Hi' vs 'Hello' vs 'Dear' in emails?
Saying 'Hi' vs 'Hello' vs 'Dear' in emails? Which is better? I feel like I have better results with 'Hi'. Personally, if it's someone I know I don't care what their response is and I have to be professional, then I go with 'Dear'. I am considering emailing current IBers for coffee side chats, for VCs I use 'Hi'. However, I am worried 'Hi' might seem to unprofessional, while 'Hello' seams kind of weird, and 'Dear' seems potentially impersonal.
Anyway, thoughts?
- Prospective IB intern
I use dear in the initial cold email then switch to hi for back and forth emails, since they usually respond pretty informally so I just take it as a go-ahead to be less uptight
Don’t use “Dear”. You’re not talking to your grandma. Hello > Hi > Hey in order of descending formality - just do whatever based on the closeness of the connection.
And make sure you spell the recipient’s name correctly. That’s much more important then the greeting word.
Generally, I use “Hi First Name” for anyone under 45 (or graduated undergrad after 2000), and “Good morning Mr./ Ms. Last Name” or “Good afternoon Mr./ Ms. Last Name” for anyone above that age.
I remember blasting 100+ emails out when I was networking back when I had no clue what I was doing. Looking back now that I have a few years of experience, I’d say the following:
Don’t use good morning. It’s not a good morning when I wake up to an email from a random kid at 9am asking to jump on a call. I don’t care about you.
Don’t use dear. I’m not your grandma, you don’t care about me, and I don’t care about you.
I would use “Hey first name”. That’s how I send most emails. If I’m responding to an email, I rarely use an intro. My signature has my name in it.
I like "Hi"
"Hello" seems a little formal and "Hey" is a bit informal
In practice I don't really notice these things too much and won't ever ding someone for saying Hey, but Hi is the ultimate neutral
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