What’s the Most Common Sales Email Greeting?

The art of the attention-grabbing sales email is a skill every high-performance sales professional is constantly trying to master.

You have a second or two to make an impression on your prospect. You can’t afford to waste a word. 

So we wanted to find out: what are the most common sales email greetings sales professionals use? 

Our team analyzed 1.5 million sales emails to find the answer. 

The top 10 most common sales email greetings 

There are three sales email greetings that are much more widely used than any others: 

• "Hi" was used in 58% of emails (868,002)
• "Hey" was used in 13% of emails (196,678)
• "Hello" was used in 8% of emails (124,815)

Here are the top 10: 

Pretty plain, if we’re being honest. 

Of course, one could argue this is just good email etiquette – Hello, Dear [Name], and Good Morning – these are all normal and acceptable ways to email someone you barely know. 

But in a world of sameness, why not try to stand out? What do you have to lose?

We decided to explore some of the most off-the-wall sales email greetings in our data set to see if anyone is getting creative. Here are some interesting choices we found: 

Now, we don’t necessarily recommend starting off your emails with “Yo.” (But if it’s working for the 15 people who do it, no shade!)

What we DO recommend is thinking through how quickly you can break through the noise and do something slightly different than everyone else. 

It’s less about the exact word you use, and more about the hook that draws a reader in and sparks interest. 

Focus on the idea first. 

Here are some options on how to start off your sales emails with more oomph (with examples of how I’d do it for SetSail): 

• Instantly ask a question: Do you have an opinion on how revenue leaders should use sales data to coach a struggling rep? 
• Congratulate them: Just saw on LinkedIn you hired a new sales team member – congrats on the growth!
• Share a spicy fact: Did you know 73% of opportunities closing soon have no emails logged in Salesforce in the past month? 

In a future exploration, we’re going to dive into whether or not the email greeting you choose affects response rates – stay tuned! 

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