Email greeting line builder: add a safe Hi {first name}, line to every row of a list
In short: Upload a list, pick the first name column and your greeting, and get a new column where bad names fall back to a neutral line. Limit: It uses the first word of the cell, so a name like Mary Jane gets Mary.
Upload a CSV or .xlsx file, or paste it with a header row. Pick the first name column and write the greeting with {first} where the name goes, such as Hi {first},. Names typed in capitals are fixed. Blank cells, initials, role words like Team and Info, and names with digits get a fallback line you choose. Download the file.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. Check your list free nowSee pricing
Sample result
Six example names give Hi Ava, Hi Ben and Hi Cara; the initial J., the role word Team and a blank cell get Hi there,.
- Greeted by name
- 3
- Blank or initial
- 2
- Role word
- 1
What this means for you
A greeting does not show which addresses exist; a check does.
- Your greeting text
- Capitals fixed
- Role words caught
- Titles skipped
- Greeting
- CSV
- Merge
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
Greetings ready? Check the addresses before you send.
- Download the file, or use the check button under the result, which carries its addresses across.
- Upload or paste it at /verify. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.
How do I build a greeting line column for a mail merge?
- Upload the file as a CSV or .xlsx, or paste the cells with the header row first.
- Pick the first name column and write the greeting with {first} in it, then the fallback for rows with no usable name.
- Read the counts and the tidied names to see what the tool changed.
- Download the file and map the new column in your sending tool.
Example
- You enter
- Six first names: AVA, ben, J., Team, a blank cell and Dr. Cara, with the greeting Hi {first}, and the fallback Hi there, and capitals fixed.
- You get
- 3 rows greeted by name (Hi Ava, Hi Ben, Hi Cara) and 3 given Hi there, : the initial J., the role word Team and the blank cell.
- Limits
- Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. It uses the first word of the cell and cannot tell a real first name from a company name that looks like one.
Why build the greeting before the merge?
A merge tag such as the first name field puts whatever is in the cell into your opening line. Blank cells, a single initial, a role word like Info or Team, and names typed in capitals produce openings such as Hi , or Hi AVA, or Hi Team, which tell the reader at once that the email was mass-produced.
Building the whole greeting line in a column lets you fix those rows before sending and map one field, not a name plus a fallback rule that differs between sending tools.
Which names get the fallback?
A row gets the fallback when the cell is blank, holds only a title such as Dr., has a single letter such as J., is a role word (team, admin, info, support, sales and similar), contains a digit, or is longer than 20 letters. Titles are skipped when there is a name after them, so Dr. Cara becomes Cara, and only the first word of a longer name is used.
Names typed all in capitals or all in lower case are set to Name Case, including after a hyphen or an apostrophe. Mixed-case names such as McDonald are left as they are.
What else should be checked before a send?
A greeting does not prove the address works. Check the list before sending, and check the whole opening of the email against the rest of the row: see the mail merge field checker for empty fields and the first name cleaner for names that are really company names. To get a first name from an address when the column is empty, use name from email.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Cold emailers
- Stop a sequence opening with Hi Info, or Hi J., after a scrape with messy name fields.
- Agencies
- Give a client's sending tool one ready-made opening line per lead.
- Newsletter owners
- Tidy shouting and lower-case first names from old sign-up forms.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- It uses the first word of the cell, so a name like Mary Jane gets Mary.
- It cannot tell a real first name from a company name that looks like one.
- The role word list is English only.
- Only the first sheet of a workbook is read.
Common questions
- How do I write the greeting?
- Type it with {first} where the name goes, such as Hello {first}, or Hi {first} - quick question. Only {first} is replaced.
- What does a row with no name get?
- The fallback line you set, Hi there, by default.
- Does it fix names in capitals?
- Yes, when the box is ticked. AVA and ava become Ava, and mary-jane becomes Mary-Jane. Mixed-case names are left alone.
- Why was a name sent to the fallback?
- It was blank, an initial, a title alone, a role word, had a digit or was over 20 letters. The counts of each are shown.
- Can it use the full name column?
- Yes. Pick that column and it uses the first word, skipping titles such as Mr. and Dr.
- Is my file uploaded?
- No. It is read in your browser and goes nowhere.
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.