In today's fast-paced world, the practice of saving time by using the same opening for all customers, often called a "canned response", is increasingly more common.
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Although they can improve your efficiency, canned responses can also seem cold and impersonal. Our data backs that up, too, and the difference is HUGE. Tickets where the customer is greeted by name tend to score 0.14 stars higher than those with a generic greeting!

To make it easier for Experts to earn better reviews, we put a placeholder tag in most of the canned responses we offer. For example:
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Hi {NAME},
Hey {NAME},
Hello {NAME},
Hi {NAME} - thanks for reaching out!
Hey, {NAME}!

In situations where you know the customer's name, the data shows that using an initial connecting sentence is just as good as using one of the canned responses listed above. For example:
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Thank you for reaching out today, {NAME}!
I'm sorry to hear that your order arrived damaged, {NAME}.
That's an awesome choice, {NAME}; I'd be happy to help you with sizing.

If you are unable to determine the customer's name with certainty, data shows that customers permit --but do not prefer-- Experts to use "there" as a replacement, so this practice should be reserved for times when the customer's name is unavailable. For example:

Hi there,
Hey there,
Hello there,

We do not recommend using the following greetings, as they tend to earn the lowest customer reviews and can seem impersonal and far too formal:
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Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear Sir,
Dear Madam,
To whom it may concern,

It is also extremely important to avoid misspelling the customer's name or using a nickname that they didn't provide. For example, Experts should not use Mike in place of Michael unless the customer has previously referred to himself as Mike.
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Lastly, for many of our Business Partners, they may do business through a platform that utilizes usernames. Please do NOT greet customers by their username.