How Do I Find A Soldier To Write To

Updated: xiii Oct 2021

Readers have asked me to suggest opening sentences for emails that go to people around the globe. The goal of these openers is to avoid coming beyond as edgeless and boorish, particularly in messages to people from cultures in which English is not the first language.

Information technology is wise for people in the English language-speaking business organization world to include a sentence of greeting rather than getting immediately into their concern purpose when they write to people who look and value such electronic mail courtesies.

Below are a few opening sentences for international email. Each one would come after a greeting such as "Dearest Dr. Rivas" or "Howdy, Osouf." You can apply "I" or "We" depending on whether you lot are writing as an individual or as a representative of your group.

I hope you are enjoying the flavor.
I hope all is well.
How are y'all? I hope yous are healthy and happy.
I hope you are doing well.
I promise you are fine.
I hope yous and your coworkers are fine.
I trust y'all are doing splendidly and enjoying the flavor.
We send you our all-time wishes.
I send you and your esteemed colleagues my warm wishes.
Greetings from all of usa at _________ [fill in organization name].
Greetings from _____ [fill in a person's name] and me.
Greetings to you and your coworkers.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Information technology is a pleasure to be in touch with you once again.
It was a delight to meet you lot in ____.
I hope y'all enjoyed your trip to ____.
Welcome dorsum to work! I hope you had a wonderful vacation.

If you correspond with business organisation readers around the world, you lot can pay attention to the opening sentences they use, and reply similarly.

Related: Read our article on how to write an opening sentence.

"I promise this email finds you well"

A graphic of an email with the opening phrase "I hope this email finds you well" and a comment that says" time to find an alternative!"

One popular opening judgement is "I hope this email finds you well." Although it is common at the start of business email, I recommend using a sentence that sounds more natural. To me, "I hope this e-mail finds you" is awkward phrasing.

Information technology is a good idea to vary your beginning judgement if you write to someone frequently. A repeated opening sentence could come up beyond as a habit rather than a sincere sentiment.

Here are a few alternatives to the sometime "I hope this e-mail finds you well" y'all tin consider:

A more personal approach

If you are drafting a high-stakes email that needs to go results, it's worth your time to do a bit of research about the person or the company you are addressing. Opening your e-mail with a sentence that pertains directly to the sender shows that this isn't a generic, boilerplate bulletin. Information technology will warrant more attention and institute a bit of a personal connection. Consider, maybe, a recent professional development to show you are familiar with the recipient'southward piece of work, or maybe a nugget of personal information you can use to show you are invested in this relationship. Here are some examples:

Professional:

I learned this morning that CTX Solutions received the greenish light for the merger. You must be energized by what's ahead!

I actually enjoyed your presentation last week in San Diego on Nonlinear Marketing trends. You really painted a perfect motion picture when you said…

Hats off to y'all and your team for the recent success of the Black Mason campaign! It's the talk of the town down here!

Personal:

Rumor at the office has information technology y'all have completed a triathlon over weekend. I don't know how you manage to find the time for training – it is both impressive and inspiring!

Congrats on last week's large win! Your team is the stuff of bowling legend!

Skip the opening sentence!

A recent data study from the email app Boomerang showed that the optimal length of an email, when it comes to receiving a response, is 75-150 words.

Graphic showing data on correlation between word count in an email and reply rate. Emails with 75-100 words have the highest reply rate.

This is understandable, every bit people are busy and time is valuable. With this in listen, y'all may consider skipping the opening sentence, and getting straight to the point. As long equally the overall tone of the e-mail is warm, this approach shouldn't come off every bit cold.

Small talk

Y'all should really know your audience when crafting your email. Therefore, if you feel that the recipient is someone who would enjoy a picayune chit-chat, peradventure a bit of small talk is the way to go. Again, it's best to skip the generic "I promise this email finds you lot well" and opt for a more than personalized opener. Here are some examples:

I hope you lot're staying warm, it seems New York didn't go that memo that its spring!

Are you getting ready to accept the boat out for the weekend? Should be peachy weather condition!

The most important thing to recollect when crafting an email is to stay as genuine as possible. Forced conversation is not pleasant in person, nor is it in written grade. Attempt to imagine running into your recipient in the hallway, and write as if you are having a face-to-face conversation.

8 alternative opening phrases.

If you want to add a few openers to your phrase bank as to avoid the awkward "I hope this e-mail finds y'all well," hither are a few more phrases you can use equally an alternative (the 17 examples listed at the meridian of the article would work as well):