The Salutation

Rules for Salutation in Business Letters

1.      The standard way to open a business letter is with Dear, the person's name (with or without a title), and a colon, like this:

              Dear Louise:   Dear Ms. Chu:   Dear Mr. and Dr. Paige:   Dear Professor Amato:  Dear Patrick:

            (For more discussion of Dear, see my post "Do I Have to Call You Dear?")

2.      The standard way to open a social business letter is with Dear, the person's name (with or without a title), and a comma, like this:

              Dear Nigel,   Dear Dr. Tarabi,   Dear Reverend Jans,

            A social business letter is social or personal rather than business-focused; for          example, letters of condolence, personal congratulations (for weddings, births,  promotions, and other celebrations), and thank yous.

3.       If you don't know the reader well or if the letter or the relationship is formal, use a title and a last name (Dear Ms. Browne). Otherwise, use the first name (Dear Gila).

4.      Unless you are certain that a woman prefers Miss or Mrs., use the title Ms.

5.       If you are writing to two people, use both names in your salutation, like this:

             Dear Mr. Trujillo and Ms. Donne:   Dear Alex and Drenda:

6.       Never spell out the titles Mr., Ms., Mrs., and Dr.  Do spell out these titles and similar ones:

              Professor, Dean, Sister, Rabbi, Imam, Senator, Governor, Captain, Admiral, Judge

7.      If you don't know a person's gender, use the full name rather than a title:

              Dear Dana Simms:   Dear T.K. Spinazola:

8.       If you don't know a person's name or gender, avoid "To whom it may concern." Instead, use the job title or a generic greeting:

            Dear Recruiter:   Dear Claims Adjustor:   Dear Sir or Madam:

9.       If you are writing to a company rather than any specific individual, use the company name:

             Dear Syntax Training:   (This is considered slightly informal.)

A letter salutation is a greeting, most often used in formal letters, used to begin the letter. While choosing the salutations for writing business letters, one has to take into consideration the seniority of the person being addressed and the relationship they share. Below we have mentioned some business letter salutation etiquette's one has to follow, while writing a formal business letter.

Tips for Writing Business Letter Salutations

One of the most commonly used salutation is 'Dear', followed by the name. For instance,

    Dear Mr. Rogers

    Dear Mrs. Williams

             Dear Miss. Martins

As far as the punctuation is concerned, in American English a colon (:) is used after the name, while in British English a comma (,) is used after the name. In informal letters, you can use only the first name sans comma or colon, but in formal letter you have to include these punctuation marks. If you don't know the persons name, but are aware of the gender you can use salutations such as

    Dear Sir

    Dear Madam

If you are not aware about the gender of the receiver you should ideally use the non existing salutation

    To Whom it May Concern

    Dear Sir/Madam

In case you want to refer to more than one person, you can either prefer to write their names followed by commas or just use 'Gentlemen' or 'Ladies' to address them. If you know the designation of the person in the company, but you don't know the name, you can use the designation to address the person. Read more on business letter writing tips.

            Business Letter Salutation Closing

An important part of the formal letter is the closing salutation. You should avoid using salutations that sound a bit too stuffy or too casual. The key is, the right mix i.e. neither too formal, nor very casual.

• Kind Regards
• Best Regards
• With Appreciation
• Sincerely
• Regards

If you know the person's name:

Dear Ms / Miss / Mrs / Mr / Dr + surname

Dear Mr Miller

You can also write the person's full name. In this case, leave out the title (Mr/Mrs). This way of writing the salutation is very handy if you don't know the gender of the person.

Dear Chris Miller

If you don't know the person's name:

There are several possibilities to address people that you don't know by name:

salutation	when to use
Dear Sir / Dear Sirs	male addressee (esp. in British English)
Gentlemen	male addressee (esp. in American English)
Dear Madam	female addressee (esp. in British English)
Ladies	female addressee (esp. in American English)
Dear Sir or Madam	gender unknown (esp. in British English)
Ladies and Gentlemen	gender unknown (esp. in American English)
To whom it may concern	gender unknown (esp. in American English)

Business partners often call each other by their first names. In this case, write the salutation as follows:

Dear Sue

Punctuation

In British English, don't use any punctuation mark or use a comma.

Dear Mr Miller or Dear Mr Miller,

In American English, use a colon:

Dear Mr. Miller:

For examples see

Ms, Miss or Mrs?

·         Mrs - to address a married woman

·         Miss - to address an unmarried woman (rarely used now)

·         Ms - to address a woman whose marital status you don't know; also used to address an unmarried woman