Opening salutation in business emails for US and UK

What would the the appropriate opening salutations for business emails in the US and the UK when you do not know the contact person.

I guess in the UK it's more formal like 'Dear Sir or Madam:' .... In the US would it just be 'Hello,' ...??

Thanks for any help.

[Tdol]

In formal emails, I have seen and used 'Dear Sir or Madam'. I'm not sure what the American approach is, but RonBee willbe along soon tohelp, I'm sure. 'Hello' strikes me as a bit informal.

[RonBee]

"Dear Sir" would be fine with me. Also, as stated, use "Dear Sir or Madam" if you don't know who the contact person is. I do think MNY probably knows more about business emails than I do.

In informal emails it is typical to have no salutation. (The subject line serves that function.) I don't know what the rules for formal business emails are, but I don't think the salutation is necessarily all that important.

:)