Salutation in a Business Letter

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 are some
business letter salutations etiquette's one has to follow, while writing a formal business letter.
One of the most commonly used salutation is 'Dear', followed by the name. For instance,
 Dear Mr. Rogers
 Dear Mrs. Williams
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
gender unknown (esp. in American English)
concern
Business partners often call each other by their first names. In this case, write the salutation
as follows:
Dear Sue
 Punctuation
As far as the punctuation is concerned, in American English a colon (:) is used after the
name, Dear Mr. Miller:
while in British English, don't use any punctuation mark or use a comma (,) after the name.
Dear Mr Miller or Dear Mr Miller,
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 person’s name, but are
aware of the gender you can use salutations such as
 Dear Sir
 Dear Madam
Note: Abbreviations for Mister, Misses etc. are usually written without full stops (Mr) in
British English and with full stops (Mr.) in American English.
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. 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. Something between too formal and too casual salutations.
 Kind Regards
 Best Regards
 With Appreciation
 Sincerely
 Regards
According to the norms of business letter salutation format if the salutation is followed by a
colon, the closing salutation has to be followed by a colon as well.
 Subject Line in a Business Letter
A subject line is not really necessary. You may want to use one, however, so that the reader
immediately knows what your letter is about. There are three common methods to distinguish
the subject line from the body of the letter:
 Use "Subject:" or "Re:"
 Type the subject in bold letters
 Type the subject in capital letters

British English
The subject line is usually placed between the salutation and the body of the letter (with a
blank line in between).

American English
In American English, the subject line can also be placed between the recipient's address and
the salutation (with a blank line in between).