A salutation in a letter is the greeting with which you begin a professional correspondence like a business letter, legal letter, or email. It is the first thing the recipient sees and sets the tone for the rest of the letter. The salutation is always formal in a business letter and often begins with "Dear" followed by a personal title, such as "Mr." or "Ms." If you have the full name of the recipient, you can use it, but if youre unsure about the persons title or gender, then just use their first name. The salutation always ends with a colon. Here are some examples of common business letter salutations:

• Dear Mr./Mrs. [last name]
• Dear [first name]
• Dear [full name]
• Greetings
• To whom it may concern

The closing salutation must match the opening salutation and the overall tone of the letter. For example, if you started with "Dear Mr./Mrs. .