Business letters: how to write to be answered

The rules for writing business letters, samples of correctly composed appeals, and an analysis of the most common mistakes in business correspondence can be found in this article.

What is business correspondence and why is it needed?

Modern business correspondence is a process of communication in a business and official environment using official letters. Letters can be sent not only by e-mail but also in messengers and chats.

Business correspondence can solve many tasks: from welcoming a new employee to finding new partners and closing large-scale deals. It is most often used for:

• communication between the recruiter and the applicant;
• offers of services and goods to potential partners;
• dissemination of information within the company and among existing partners;
• resolution of conflicts in the business environment;
• suggestions and approval of working ideas;
• receiving support or reasoned criticism when discussing new ideas.

Types of business letters

The rules of writing a letter may change depending on the context and its type. By content, business letters are divided into the following types:

This is not an exhaustive list of possible types of business letters. Disassembly of official notices can be extremely diverse and contain, for example, invitation notices, thanks, congratulations, guarantee notices, rejection letters, and other impersonal types of official correspondence.

The structure of a business letter

The general structure of the presentation of a service letter, for the most part, looks like this:

1. Subject of the letter. Before writing a letter, you must clearly indicate the topic. With its help, the recipient should easily find the necessary e-mail in the mailbox among many other animals.
2. Greeting, address. For high-ranking positions, it is better to use the full name of the position. In letters to colleagues, you can use less formulaic turns.
3. Introduction. It should contain no more than 1–2 sentences and clearly describe the purpose of further correspondence. If the recipient does not know the sender, this paragraph should be introduced at the beginning. This animal interlocutor cannot be verified in the reply to the letter.
4. The main part. Contains a detailed description of the situation. Depending on the letter you see, a discussion of the nuances is mainly carried out: details, a detailed description of the situation, statistics, arguments, etc. are given.
5. The final part. Contains the information the sender needs, how to get a response in the reply letter, or the recipient's call to action.
6. Subscription and contacts. More often in business correspondence, Nayda uses a standard signature with automatic indication of contact details. The conclusion of the letter "Sincerely" is a standard, protected, template-filled letter. In contacts, it is better to indicate the e-mail address, as well as alternative channels for fast communication: phone number, messenger, etc.

Important:

The standard length of a letter, with the exception of greetings and farewells, is 4–10 sentences, divided into paragraphs according to content.

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Mistakes in drafting business letters

Compliance with the rules of business correspondence, unfortunately, does not always guarantee the effectiveness of communication. Very often, senders make mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of written communication. Let's consider in more detail the most common among them.

Lack of topic or its vagueness

The subject creates a first impression and sets the tone for further communication. It should reveal the request and attract the attention of the recipient - the speed of the response and its availability in general depend on this.

What not to do:

• write letters without a subject;
• indicate a topic that corresponds to the content;
• make mistakes in writing the topic - grammatical, spelling, etc.;
• write a subject that is too long - mail services will not display it in its entirety, and the recipient will see only the first few words.

The optimal length of the subject is up to seven words, which reflect the purpose of the official appeal and are a sample of a well-written letter.

Absence or gross violation of the structure

With the help of the structure, the sender places semantic accents, highlights the main thoughts, and makes reading and perception of information as comfortable as possible for the recipient. If the sender does not know how to properly format the letter according to the standard structure, the addressee will have to make their way through the flow of the sender's thoughts.

What not to do:

• write letters without a specific purpose - the content of the letter should be clearly understood, preferably - a separate semantic block is selected;
• violate the logic of the presentation of the text, the sequence;
• do not pay attention to the visual design - at a minimum, the text should be divided into paragraphs;
• do not indicate expectations from the recipient at the end of the letter - the last paragraph must necessarily contain a call to action or a question.

Before writing a letter, it is necessary to clearly define its purpose and make an approximate structure.

Excessive use of clericalism

Although formal letters involve the use of a business style, correspondence should still be understandable to both parties. Simple and clear appeals should be made, without complex constructions and phrases that can be interpreted twice or mislead the recipient.

Avoid in your letters:

• language stamps: "it should be noted", "it is important to emphasize", "according to something", etc.;
• passive voice: "we increased sales", "service was provided";
• verb nouns: "use of sales channels", "processing of documents", "increasing attendance";
• slang, abbreviated words - before writing an official letter using such constructions, you need to make sure that the interlocutor understands them.

Presence of mistakes

Competent writing of a letter is a sign of respect for the recipient and an example of showing respect for a business partner. Errors, even if they are caused by autocorrect or are trivial typographical errors, indicate that the sender did not burden himself with proofreading the text and correcting mistakes.

What to avoid in official letters:

• grammatical and punctuation errors;
• use of a hyphen instead of a dash;
• confusion with names, positions, contact information, etc.

If necessary, text literacy can be checked through special services, such as text.ru, Advego, "Orfogramka" or even using standard Google Docs tools.

Examples of business letters

A sample of writing an official letter with a proposal to fill an open vacancy:

An example of a formal Appreciation Letter:

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Conclusion

Business correspondence has its own rules, the implementation of which helps to maintain a business reputation and establish effective communication. Follow the correct form and structure of writing a letter, remove stationery, watch the tone, and be sure to proofread the text before sending, and your communication in the professional sphere will allow you to consolidate your professional status and help you win new partners.