5 reasons to write a business letter

I have loved to write letters since I learned how to read circa ! One of my aunts was kind enough to be my penpal she lived two hours away, which required long distance calls … letters were cheaper. I still remember that feeling of excitement when my parents would arrive home from the post office with one of her letters! Those letters absolutely made my week. Communication these days is incredibly easy.

13 Reasons to Write a Professional Letter and How To Do It

At the center of any relationship, there is communication. This is true for business relationships as well: they are dependent on constant meetings, calls, and written correspondence.

Luckily, all the technology makes interaction with others much simpler and more time-efficient. There is no need anymore to be physically present at a meeting, and sending letters has become an instant activity thanks to the email. And still, once in a while it is expected that you write a business letter on paper and send it via post. Why so? First of all, it is more professional.

Secondly, it is a gesture which shows that you have invested more time into reaching out to a particular person or organization. If you find writing actual letters too challenging, fear not: this is an article for you. Normally, a personal business letter is the one that you write as an individual to either a company or other individuals within a particular business. It is normally typewritten. Although the reasons and occasions for writing one might differ, your main goal is usually of a personal character, while your relationship is of a business nature.

An important point to keep in mind is that personal business letters are slightly different from business letters. The main purpose of personal business emails is building relationships and establishing contact.

However, that is also true for business letters. The principal difference between the two is that you write the personal one on your behalf. Neither marketing nor sales letters fit in here. The reasons to write a personal business letter , on the other hand, can be different.

The most common example is a letter to government officials or your bank representative. For instance, you want to get a social security statement or request a credit score. Another popular use case is a job application letter. There are lots of occasions for this: a birthday, birth of a child, work anniversary, career promotion, or, for example, when the company you are watching gets an impressive funding.

One can be grateful for anything. You can write a letter to thank someone for a meeting or a job interview, for mentoring you, or for sharing with you some useful information. There are numerous possible occasions for this as well. You can follow up with your hiring manager, with a workshop conductor, with your insurance agent, or with a business partner.

Following up is a great way to remind people of yourself. For instance, when breaking the contract with your service provider or accepting a job offer, you can use a personal business letter format to make it more professional. It can also be used when you express your regrets when something bad has happened. Although invitations, like congratulation notes, are usually sent with cards, you can use a personal business letter as well. It all depends on the level of formality. In the case of the latter, a personal business letter is a right choice.

Image courtesy of Freepik. In almost any case, the paper should consist of the following:. Depending on the purpose of your correspondence, other elements can be present as well. For example, your company logo if you are writing as a representative of your company or an additional note listing the attachments in case you have any. Below is your main guide on how to write a personal business letter for any occasion.

Just make the list of these elements before you start crafting your message. We advise you to make a template and keep it, so that, once the occasion occurs, you can simply fill in the necessary details. Note: This instruction follows the block formatting style.

Start with your address at the top of the page. Remember that you just need the street name, building number, apartment or suite if applicable , ZIP code, the city, and the country for international correspondence. Also, remember to avoid abbreviations of any kind. Make sure to use the right date format depending on your country. For example, in the US, it will look like this:. Use the appropriate title if your relationship with the recipient is a formal one. One empty line after the previous block, address the person to whom you are writing.

If you know the person well, you can use just the first name. Follow the greeting with a colon and leave an empty line. Start the body of your message with a capital letter.

Next, state the purpose of your writing and provide the necessary details. If you have more than one paragraph, separate them from one another with an empty line. At the end of the body, sum up what you said and provide a call to action. Use a formal closing that you are comfortable with and that works in this particular situation.

Start this block with four empty lines after the closing. You will use this space for your signature. Write your name, address, phone number, and email—any contact details that would work for you. In case you are writing as a company representative, use the company name and address. For empty lines after your address and phone number, you can mention all documents that you have enclosed and are sending together with the current letter.

You can either state the number of enclosures or list them all. Image courtesy of Stocksnap. You should remember that personal business letters require official style and formatting. When we wrote about the elements, we had the block format of a personal business letter in mind.

It is characterized by leaving a particular number of empty lines between certain blocks and paragraphs. The main rules are:. Choose the proper font type and style. Make sure to use one font only. Use standard fonts, such as Times New Roman or Arial. If your recipient is less conservative, you can go with other readable fonts that are widely accepted and used for business correspondence.

The proper font size is To ensure better readability, you can highlight certain parts of the text that you find important. Depending on your audience, you can either do it with bold and italic formatting or with color. Still, avoid making your letter too colorful, as it decreases readability of the document and is considered unprofessional.

In case it is appropriate, you might use the corporate stamp as well. Still, be careful: if you are acting as a private person, you should not use any corporate symbolics.

Before you start writing your letter, we would like to point out the most common mistakes that people often make. So please try to avoid the following:. Remember that your personal business letter is a standardized piece of writing that should follow certain style guidelines.

On the other hand, it is also important to keep in mind that your recipient is a living person. So keep your letter both professional and polite. Most of the tips for writing a personal business letter are the same as those for creating any other piece of business correspondence, from thank-you notes and autoresponder messages to prospecting emails.

This is why you might find some of the following best practices familiar. First of all, remember to keep a slightly bigger distance between yourself and the recipient when it comes to business correspondence. The two of you might have absolutely different social statuses, backgrounds, or even different perceptions of what can be considered as funny or appropriate. Remember that your personal business letter always has a purpose.

This purpose should be clear to your recipient from the very start. Avoid generalizations, metaphors, figures of speech, or anything that your addressee might misinterpret. No matter how well you have stated your point and formatted the letter, spelling mistakes or grammar errors might lead to drastic consequences. It is much better not to write the message in the first place than send it full of mistakes. Spend some extra time to check your letter several times before sending it.

It is vital to stay professional when it comes to business correspondence. However, the most important thing to remember is that you are writing to another human being. Sometimes, this person might be reading dozens of letters like this every day. So make it worth their time by keeping it polite and friendly. What do you expect from your recipient upon reading your letter? Do you want them to write or call you back? Or do you want them to send you some information or maybe be to solve a problem?

You need to specify this at the end of your letter. Give the person a clear call to action, so that they know what to do next.

Relationship Building. Purposes of. Selling Incentive Sales.

My daughter loves getting mail. But the journey to the mailbox is still something we do religiously every day, because it brings her so much joy. Truth be told, I still love receiving packages and letters.

At the center of any relationship, there is communication.

The world has become a global workplace where people belonging to different ethnicities, races, fields, and expertise work together. Therefore, it has become essential to improve your communication skills to move up the career ladder and work collaboratively.

Acknowledge the Importance of Business Letters in the Business World

There are wide varieties of business letters like circular letter, inquiry letter, order letter, collection letter etc. The major purposes or objectives of writing business letters are discussed below:. To exchange information : The main purpose of business letter is to exchange information related to business. Through it, business organizations collect and convey business-related information. To establish business relationship : By exchanging information through business letters, new business relationships can be established with various parties and existing relationships can be strengthened.

Business Letters

Business letters can be written to employees or managers, as well as clients and prospective customers. Business letters must be targeted to a specific individual or group, have a clear and concise purpose, be convincing and end with a specific objective, like a meeting date. The purpose of a business letter can include introducing customers to new products. In direct mail, a form of advertising, these letters are called sales letters. The sales letter is usually mailed with a brochure and order form. While the color brochure often features a company's products, the sales letter is designed to highlight the key benefits of the products for the consumer or business customer. All introductory or sales letters must follow the AIDA attention, interest, desire, action principle, according to businessballs. The heading or letter should grab the reader's attention, interest them enough to read it, increase their desire to own the product, and prompt them to purchase it. Purposes of business letters also include apprising or thanking business associates or customers. For example, a cover letter sent with a report can apprise business associates about the contents of the report.

By: Shazia Butt Posted on Mon, Business letters are very important, the reason being that they serve as a formal method of communication between people.

This handout will help you write business letters required in many different situations, from applying for a job to requesting or delivering information. While the examples that are discussed specifically are the application letter and cover letter, this handout also highlights strategies for effective business writing in general. Writing for a business audience is usually quite different than writing in the humanities, social sciences, or other academic disciplines.

5 Reasons Why You Need to Improve Your Business Writing Skills

Business letters are an effective way to communicate with employees, partners, prospects, customers and media contacts. Strong and effective communication helps businesses to share information and clear up misunderstandings in many different situations. Before you begin writing your business letter, clarify your main goals. Are you trying to persuade someone to take a specific action, or are you sharing information to deepen understanding? To whom is your letter addressed, and how much knowledge does he already have about the topic of the letter? Having a clear idea of your audience and goals will help you to craft an effective business letter. The need, goals and audience of your business letter will determine what kind of letter format to use. Business letters can be sent via email or by hard copy through postal mail or courier. You can also communicate the elements of a business letter through instant messaging or project management software if the content is short and directly related to the task at hand. Choose the right format for your letter.

Purposes of Business Letter

You can send a business letter via email as an attachment or in an email or as a hard copy printed on paper. Business letters are more formal than business emails. They communicate something more official in a business situation. It is important to write business letters correctly, because the impression you create depends on how you write them. Business letters have a sender and a recipient person who receives the letter. The sender can be a person or a group like a company and the recipient can be another person or group. Have a look at the main types of business letters:. Whatever type of business letter you are writing, read on to find out more tips and specific phrases you can use to sound more professional! At the end, you can easily make minor changes, but big changes are more difficult to make. So first of all, start gathering all the information you can on the situation you are writing about.