Business letters are one of the most essential means of communication in the business world. Due to the vast expansion of commerce and trade, the importance of letters has increased. A well-written and structured letter represents the business identity as well as conveys the professionalism of a company.
Business letters can be written for various commercial purposes such as business deal, complaint, warning, notice, invitation, declaration, information, apology, and various other corporate matters.
Nowadays, business operations are not restricted to any state or nation, all over the world there are numbers of organisations big and small. All types of exchange of goods and materials or any other thing require documentation; business letters is one amongst such documentation. Business letters are the cheapest and most extensive form of communication used all over the world.
Different kinds of business letter-
Correspondence is an integral part of commerce to exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions with others. There are different kinds of business letters, but they follow a generalised pattern with different subject-matter. They are the principal source of business communication which helps in the growth of the trade and establishing bonding among business partners.
• Sales letter
• Business inquiry letter
• Quotation letter
• Order letter
• Complaint letter
• Recovery letter
• Letters of goodwill
• Collection letters
• Bank and insurance correspondence
• Correspondence with media and government offices
Parts of a business letter-
Each business letters have fixed components which can be described as parts of the business letter. Each component adds to an overall impact which the letter makes over the reader. The parts of the business letters are as follows-
• Letter head / Heading
• The reference
• Date
• The inside name and address
• Salutation
• Subject
• The body paragraphs
• Complimentary close
• Signature
• Enclosures
• Copies
Format of Business Letters-
Key concern at the time of writing business letters-
• Good composition is essential in business correspondence.
• Highly decorated words such as proverb and poetry have no place at writing business letter.
• Avoid long phrases, idioms, and assumptions.
• Each sentence must be simple, clear, accurate, complete and clean.
• If there is a lot of information to be stated, the letter may be divided into paragraphs and written step by step.
• Letter should be error free means no grammatical and spelling mistakes.
• Use active not passive voice.
• Main body must be divided into: Introduce, say and summarize.
• Print business letter on standard sized paper.
• Write a business letter on a letterhead.
• Subject matter of business letter must be adhering to the information.
• Unnecessary jargons should not be used.
• Language should be formal and straightforward.
• Follow the correct format and layout.
• Enclosure and carbon copy should be used when necessary.