Business letters is utilized for formally communicating with a company or between two people. They are different from the personal letters and follow strict rules and pattern while drafting these letters. It is necessary to undertake some basic steps before writing a business letter. They include considering the purpose of the letter and the content included in letter should be clear.
Business letters can be classified into different types depending on the purpose. They are Inquiry letter, Adjustment letter, Response letter, Acknowledgement letter, Order letter and Complaint letter. A business letter should consist of different sections such as title, date, opening of the letter, the body and the conclusion.
Some important instructions are mentioned below which will help you to write an effective business letter:
- The letter should begin with inclusion of date in the left hand corner. Then it is followed by including the details of the recipient such as their name, job title, name of the company and the address.
- Begin the business letter with salutation in the upper left corner. The recipient should be addressed formally with Mr. or Mrs. If you are not aware of their names then it is advisable to write sir or madam.
- The next section in your business letter is the body. State the reason for writing this business letter. You can also make any request that you want to include in this letter. It should state the purpose of writing this letter. The language included in this letter should be simple and briefly state all the information that you want to communicate through this letter.
- Then conclude the letter by stating, ‘Thanking you’ or ‘Best wishes’. It should be followed by a comma. In the closing of the letter, skip some space or about four spaces and type your name and put signature just above your name. Include information about any enclosures that you are sending along with the letter in it.
- Below the section informing about the enclosures, you can include your contact information which will be helpful for the recipient to contact you after receiving this letter.
- The letter should be brief and should focus on the purpose of sending the letter. Avoid using short forms of verbs in the letter. It is also necessary to keep a photocopy of the letter for future reference.
- You can browse different websites which would provide you sample business letters and useful tips for writing an effective business letters. It will also provide you with the format of drafting a letter.
- It is necessary to use the block font for writing a business letter. While selecting the font, you have to make sure that the content in the letter is easily readable.
- Once you have completed writing your business letter, revise all the contents included in the letter. Make the necessary corrections in the letter. While writing the letter, consider yourself as the reader of the letter and foresee their response after reading the content. Then make the possible changes if you feel the content is not proper. After proof reading the content, make the final copy and send the letter.
Thus, the guidelines mentioned above would help you to write an effective business letter. It also informs you about the different sections to be included in the business letter.
