The Ultimate Guide to Writing Business Letters

Communication, both oral and written, is vital for a company. You need to stay informed, and inform others about certain issues related to your business for it to function properly. To maintain this type of communications, different instruments can be used, such as social networks or electronic mail or ordinary mail, essential in certain circumstances, such as claims.

Regardless of the form of sending the business letter, no one can doubt its importance. Knowing how to correctly write these types of documents will benefit the image of your company. It is necessary that you strengthen your writing and communication skills and acquire diverse knowledge about communication and negotiation strategies, among others, to achieve professional success.

What is a business letter?

The commercial letter is a communication tool between your company and your clients or potential public, suppliers, entities and other series of people or institutions with which you need to get in touch. This is used for very different purposes:

• Offer the products or services of your company.
• Inform about promotions, events.
• Notify about orders.
• Request information or collaboration.
• Sue defaults.
• Claims

Structure of a business letter

Every commercial letter, regardless of its purpose, must respect a logical structure and contain a series of essential elements.

• Heading: It consists of a series of elements that present both the entity that issues the letter and the person to whom it is addressed.
• Letterhead: Include the logo of your company with its data.
• Date and place: Do not forget to point out the place and the complete date of issue, the day, month and year. As a general rule, it is placed on the right side of the paper. Remember that the months are written in lowercase.
• Greeting: Customize your letter as much as possible. Write the name of the person to whom you are sending the letter you whenever you know them. You can use expressions like “Dear..”.
• Message body: Here you must state the reason for your letter in a clear and orderly manner.
• Introduction: Start with a brief presentation of your company to put the reader in a position, unless it is an answer to another letter or a collection letter.
• Exposition: Then state the purpose of your communication clearly and concisely, with the necessary arguments.
• Conclusion: End your presentation with a brief conclusion or summary of the reasons and the relevant request.

Closing the letter

• Farewell: Conclude your writing with a farewell phrase. This may vary depending on the reason or recipient. The most used phrases are “Sincerely” or “Cordial greetings”.
• Firm: In every letter your name and position must appear next to your signature.
• Annexes: If your letter is accompanied by an annex you must refer to it, even if it is indicated in the body of the same. It is a good information strategy, to remind the recipient that the documents that accompany your letter are important.

Tips for writing a business letter

• Make a model template to use as a base, this way you will save time.
• Take care of the design of your letter. It must be attractive and invite reading.
• Use clear, concise and direct language.
• Write short sentences and paragraphs. They make reading more attractive, understandable and easy.
• Select a typography that is legible, easy to read.
• Highlight in bold those words or most important content that you wish to highlight, but without abusing.
• Leave space between the lines and paragraphs, to make the reading of the document more fluid.
• Depending on the purpose of your letter, the tone may vary. Be polite; uses a formal tone, never aggressive, disrespectful or ordinary.
• Take care of your spelling. Review the text several times to check that there are no spelling or grammar errors.

Remember that the business letter is part of the image of your company, so you should take care of its appearance, structure and content.

Author bio: Lauren Bradshaw started writing in 2003. Since then she tried her hand in SEO and website copywriting, writing for blogs, business writing and working as an expert at CustomWritings academic writing service. Her major interests lie in content marketing, developing communication skills, and blogging. She’s also passionate about business, philosophy, psychology, literature and painting.