A business letter is a kind of professional communication that mainly takes place between two companies or between a company and its client, employees or stakeholders. Hence it is very essential to follow the formal conventions while writing the formal business letter. You will find some best letter templates onthe Internetfor writing a business letter. But apart from those templates, it is also essential to know all the rules and conventions that you need to follow while writing a business letter. That is the reason why we have come up with a complete guide on how to write an effective professional business letter:
- Limit the letter to one page: It is generally seen that almost all business people are always busy and they generally do not like to read a letter beyond the first page. So it is always important to always keep the business letter short and to the point. Hence it is always recommended to limit the business letter to one page.
- Use of proper salutation: Salutation is the first place when you make personal contact with the reader. The salutation should be always placed below the recipient’s address and should always be left margined. In a business letter for salutation, you should use recipient’s courtesy title such as Mr., Mrs., Dr., Dear, etc. and then you have to give the last name of the reader followed by a colon, not a comma. The comma is generally used in a personal letter.
- Keep your tone formal and factual: While writing the business letter it is important to keep the tone and content of the business letter formal and factual. It is true that feelings and emotions do not have any place in the business letter. As a result, it is important to keep the business letter cordial and friendly approach. Hence, it is important to avoid the phrases like ‘we feel’, ‘we believe’, ‘we think’ instead you have to use formal terms such as ‘heretofore’, ‘as per’, ‘herewith’, etc.
- Plan the letter carefully: Before you write the business letter it is very important to list all the important things that you need to cover. In some cases, you may have to call the recipient to confirm a specific point. If you don’t feel secure about what you’re coming up with, these ideas for business thank you letters will clarify how to proceed and nail it.
- Make the letter clear, concise and logical: It is very essential to use clear and simple words while you write the business letter. Even if you want to use the phrase it should be simple and straightforward. What all you have to do is that first identify the main subject and the elaborate on it and finally draw the conclusion.
- Maintain accuracy and timeliness: The Business letter should always be accurate. If you have to give some statistical fact then you must double check the facts and make sure that there are no errors.
- Relegate the technical details to attachment: It is often required to send the recipient to include the technical details. But whenever you need to send the technical details send it as an attachment. As such, you can use the list in the body of the business letter and state that the whole technical document is attached.
- Use non-discriminatory language: Whenever you write the business letter it is very important to avoid language which is too specific to any gender, race, or religion. For example, whenever you write a business letter you must use the word “workforce” instead of using the words “manpower” or “chairperson” or “chairman”.
- Remove the redundant words or phrases: In any business letter, you should not use any words or phrase that make the language more complicated and cumbersome. For example, in the business letter, you should use “although” and avoid using “in spite of the fact that”. Again avoid using the phrase “in the normal course of event” rather you should use the simple word “normally”.
- Proofread the letter: Finally, it is very important to go through the whole business letter very carefully in order to make sure that there is no spelling or grammatical mistakes in the letter. If possible ask someone to read it before sending it.
