- Correspondence today is a big part of our lives. Of course, the biggest part of the text we write every day is short messages. But good old letters are still around, just in digital form now. The problem is, that today there is so much information that we have to filter it.
- How many e-mails do you get every day? How many of them do you delete? The answer is, probably, «a lot» in both cases.
- So, how do we write such a letter, that a recipient reads the whole thing and writes an answer?
- Note: we are not talking about making a commercial. We want to explain how to compose a business letter so that the reader can get the main idea very quickly. Reading this article will help you understand what unwritten rules there are in corporate culture of big companies.
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What’s the problem? Just write the way you speak!
- Such approach is a highway to hell and here is why.
- When you are talking directly to a person you have more than just words at your exposal: you use mimics, voice tone, pauses, gestures, and, finally, words. As strange as it sounds, the language is the last in the list. According to research, only 7% of all information is transmitted trough words. The other 93% is at the mercy of non-verbal communication.
- In writing, however, all you have is your language. Semantics of English (of any other language for that matter) are far from ideal: most words are ambiguous, so we have to guess the exact meaning from context every time. In written language «the room for reading between the lines» is bigger since it’s very hard to understand the sarcasm and the irony in text. Punctuations marks can help a little, but you should also be very careful with them (read about rules of comma usage here).
Consequence 1: written and spoken languages are completely different things.
Consequence 2: we should take writing e-mails very seriously.
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What you should know before writing an e-mail
- Who is your recipient. If you are writing to your boss or someone you hardly know, your letter should be official. If your recipient is your colleague, the message can be more relaxed. It’s also important to know the recipient’s area of expertise so that you know what words and terms you can or can’t use.
- Why you are writing. The topic of the letter should be clear to you. That’s how you can stay within it.
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How to write a good business letter
- 1. Always state the topic of the letter. Your recipient can quickly understand, whether they are interested in your letter or not. Make sure the topic is simple and easy to understand. Try not to use more than 3 words.
- Examples:
- Meeting on Friday;
- Marketing plan;
- Table reservation.
- 2. Use greetings. It’s also a good idea to write a polite word or ask a polite question. Writing to a woman, always use Ms. no matter if she is married or not.
- Examples:
- Dear Mr Alex, hope you are well!
- Hello Mark, how was your holiday?
- Hello Ms Angela, I’m writing to you in order to…
- 3. Describe the reason, why you are writing.
- Example
- We apologize for…;
- I would like to clarify that…;
- We kindly ask you…
- We hereby inform you that…
- 4. Be brief. Of course, the number of words depends on the topic, but try not to spook the recipient with the volume of text. The shorter the letter is, the more chances there are it will be read.
- 5. Use inclusive words. Many employers and top-managers don’t have much time to write letters. That’s why they use very short but very inclusive word and phrases. Their letters have a lot of gerund forms (propose having). If you learn to write such letters, it will make you look very professional. We came up with a few examples of sentences with and without such words.
- Examples:
- Forefront. This goal should be in the forefront of your thoughts / This goal should be the most important thing to keep in mind right now;
- Highlight. We should highlight this word in the text / We should draw attention to this word in the text;
- Ensure. Please, ensure he receives the message / Please, make sure he receives the message;
- Regarding. We need precision regarding the time / We need precision on the subject of time;
- Acknowledgment. He made an acknowledgment to receiving the letter we had sent / He made a confirmation that he received the letter we had sent.
- 6. Don’t use contractions. Don’t forget about being serious. Using I’m instead of I am and I won’t instead of I will not is bad. On the other hand, talking about departments don’t forget about the. For example: The Sales dept., The Finance dept., The IT dept.
- 7. Use abbreviations. As strange as it seems, using ASAP (as soon as possible) makes you look very professional.
- Examples:
- FYI — For Your Information / Action. It’s used to inform the recipient that this message is interesting for him or to ask someone to do something;
- PFA — Please Find Attached. Add this when you want to draw attention to attachment;
- KPI — Key Performance Indicator. This indicator shows how much of something was achieved. For example, sales plan, a number of won cases;
- EOY — End Of the Year. It’s often used with KPI and year. For example, a number of sold products as a proportion to supplies Jan-Dec 2015 may look like this: 85% EOY 2015.
- COB/EOD — Close of Business / End Of the Business Day. It’s often used with deadline. For instance: the deadline is this Friday COB. This means that the job should be done before 6 p. m. (if you work till 6 p. m.). Sometimes COB is used instead of EOD. They both mean the same thing.
- 8. Be careful with jokes. It’s best not to use them at all. But if you really want to, make sure the joke is not offensive or inappropriate.
- 9. Use attachments. Charts, tables, pictures and so on should always be sent as an attachment, otherwise it’ll be difficult to read your letter.
- 10. Use short sentences. Even if your are a good writer, don’t show it in a business letter.
- 11. Use enter. Paragraphs make information look more systemized. Just look at this text!
- 12. Use bold. Be careful and remember: if all the text is bold, than none of the text is bold.
- 13. Write letters after meetings. In order to confirm some deals that you had made during a meeting write a letter starting with to confirm today’s meeting/call/discussion. After this name every agreements you got and write let me know if I missed anything.
- 14. Use a polite phrase in the end.
- Examples:
- Thank you and I’m looking forward to hearing from you;
- Thanks in advance;
- If you have any questions, feel free to contact me;
- 15. Don’t forget about your signature.
- Examples:
- Best regards;
- Kind regards;
- Warmest regards.
- We hope our tips will help you create new productive business connections. Our experienced teachers can teach you to write good business letters in our Business English course!