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25 Greeting Statements for Email and Chat Support

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A greeting statement is like an outfit. It’s the first thing people notice about you when they interact with you for the first time. It’s also how they will form their first impression of you.

Like your ensemble, a greeting statement at the beginning of an email or chat should read neat and thoughtful. It should reflect how great you and your company are and let the recipient know that you are kind, friendly, and professional. This ensures that their first impression of you and your company is a good one.

A good first impression opens the door to many possibilities, all of them beneficial for you and your company. It could, for example, lead to a solution to a support problem, a sale of a product, and most importantly, a satisfied customer.

It could also lead to a compliment from your boss, trust from a peer, and a positive yearly evaluation.

Under what circumstances should you use greeting statements? How do you write one? Don’t worry, we answer both of these questions below. At the end of the article, you’ll also find 25 greeting statements customer service agents can copy and paste into their own customer and professional interactions.

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Common Situations For Using Greeting Statements

Greeting statements start any conversation out on the right foot.

Below are some common situations you’re likely to find yourself using greeting statements in, including conversations with customers and fellow professionals.

1. Writing A Formal Email

Writing a formal email is something you’re likely to do every day in customer service. For example, you may write a formal email to a customer to discuss a support issue, a potential sale, or a deal your company wants to offer them. On the business end, you may request time off from your boss or ask for a report from a coworker.

It’s important to start your formal email with a greeting statement to establish your professionalism. Rather than rudely launching into the meat of the conversation, you should take a brief line to tell them, “Hello,” thank them for their time or for reaching out first, and politely express your hope that their day is going well.

This small but meaningful beginning shows the recipient that you’re considerate. You’re not an emotionless, soulless robot. You’re a human being who genuinely cares about the person on the other end, not just about the business matter at hand. That’s the power of a thoughtfully written, formal greeting statement.

2. Writing an Informal Email

Even if your email is informal - between you and your favorite coworker, for example - you should still start with a greeting statement. Not only is it polite, but it starts your conversation on a positive note and may make the other person’s day.

It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A simple, “Hi! How are you?” is enough to satisfy greeting statement etiquette for an informal email.

3. Interacting With A New Customer

A greeting statement is the first step to turning an interaction with a new customer into a lasting relationship between them and your company.

Remember, this is the new customer’s first interaction with your company. This is your one chance to make a great first impression. You won’t get another.

When you greet a new customer by email or chat, start by saying, “Hello!” or a variation of this salutation. Then, thank the customer for contacting customer service and ask how you can be of assistance.

This type of greeting statement makes the new customer feel valued. They will also sense that the agent on the other end is human and friendly, which will help them feel more at ease and build their trust in you and your company.

4. Finding Out A Customer’s Name

If you don’t know the customer’s name, a greeting statement is an effective way of finding that out. You can say something like, “Hi! Thank you for contacting customer service. May I have your name, please?” This gets the conversation going right away, but in a polite and friendly way.

5. Welcoming A Customer Back

When you’re welcoming an existing customer back to customer support, a greeting statement will make them feel appreciated and recognized.

It’s easy to do this. Simply insert their first name after your initial “Hello!” and then ask them how you can help them this time around.

Leading off with this type of greeting statement lets the customer know that you remember them (or at least, that the company does). This makes them feel special and boosts their sense of loyalty to your company.

6. Letting the Customer Know Your Availability

You can use a greeting statement to let customers know your availability. Getting this information out at the beginning of your conversation is also the best way to call attention to it. If it’s the first thing they read, the customer is more likely to remember it.

One scenario where you may want to use an availability greeting statement is when you’re out of the office. You can set up an automatic email response to tell customers who try to contact you that you’re gone and when you’ll be back.

You can also use this type of greeting statement in a chat to tell a customer who’s been waiting for an agent that someone will help them soon.

Tips for Writing Greeting Statements for Email and Chat Support

If you’re stumped on how to write your own greeting statement, here are some tips to help you get started on the right path.

1. Keep Your Tone With Customers Light and Conversational

When you’re writing your greeting statement for a customer, keep your tone light and conversational. Don’t overuse formal language or you run the risk of sounding too robotic.

For example, “Hi, Judy! How can I help you today?” sounds much more personable and conversational than, “Hello, Ms. Judy. How may I be of assistance?”

You’ll get a lot further into your conversation with the customer if you can establish a friendly, humanlike rapport with them.

2. Avoid Sounding Spammy

The last thing you want to do with your greeting statement is make it sound like a spam message.

Customers and professionals alike will become suspicious if your email or chat message to them sounds like spam. We’ve all received so many spam emails and messages, that we’ve developed a second sense of what’s spam and what isn’t.

Here are some common “spam” triggers you should avoid when composing your greeting statement.

3. Keep It Short and Sweet

Remember that a greeting statement is only supposed to be at the beginning of your conversation. Don’t wax poetic for several sentences about how well you hope the other person is or how happy you are to be helping them.

Keep your greeting statement short and sweet. Short, so you can get to the point of the email or chat conversation as quickly as possible. Sweet, so the recipient sees how professional and considerate you are.

25 Greeting Statement Examples

Below are 5 categories of greeting statements. Each category has 5 greeting statements which you can quickly copy and paste into your email and chat support conversations as needed.

1. Greeting Statement Examples For A Formal Email

These greeting statements are best used in formal emails to customers and business professionals. They use more formal, business-like language that cuts straight to the point. They are appropriate for emails regarding sales proposals, customer support issues, policy reviews, and requests for time off, to name a few.

Another thing you’ll notice about these greeting statements is they don’t come across as too relaxed or too friendly. Instead of using, “Hi” or “Hello,” for example, they all use “Dear” in the salutation. That’s because “Dear” is more traditional, and these greeting statements are designed to help you convey the highest level of professionalism and respect for the person on the other end.

2. Greeting Statement Examples For An Informal Email

These next greeting statements are a bit more relaxed since they are intended to open informal emails. These are the types of emails you may send to your favorite coworkers or team members. You may also use an informal greeting statement in an email to the customer if you want to achieve a more friendly, conversational tone.

3. Greeting Statement Examples For Interacting With A New Customer

We combined the greeting statements in this section with the section on finding out a customer’s name. The reason for this is they go hand in hand. Getting on a first name basis with your customer within the first few seconds of the chat or email will make an awesome first impression.

Another consideration we made when we crafted these greeting statements was how to impress a new customer in just a few words. The best approach, we found, was to strike a balance between sounding friendly and human-like without being too familiar or spammy.

4. Greeting Statement Examples For Welcoming A Customer Back

In this set of greeting statements, there is a slot in each one for the customer’s first name. This is because these greetings are designed to be used when you’re interacting with a customer whom your department has helped before. This is not someone new. They are an established customer with your company and your job is to make them feel recognized and valued right away. Any one of the following greeting statements can help you do that.

5. Greeting Statement Examples For Letting The Customer Know Your Availability

Finally, this last category of greeting statements will help you let customers know your availability. This is invaluable for individual customer support agents as well as entire companies. They politely tell the customer when a good time for them is to contact you personally or the customer service department in general. They also let them know how long it will be before they can expect to receive help from a support agent.




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