About this lesson
Learn common uses of business letters, and their generally accepted tone, structure and format.
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Topic
Learn common uses of business letters, and their generally accepted tone, structure and format.
When to Use
When a formal business letter needs to be created.
Overview
Purpose
Typical purposes for business letters, which may be longer or more formal/less familiar than emails, are:
- Inquiries or requests
- Thanks or recognition
- Apologies or explanations
- Sales or prospecting
Tone is factual, often pleasant, sometimes firm.
Structure
- Use company letterhead
- Check for business letter templates: online, software programs, company files
- Use any company standards for fonts, signatures, etc.
- Important information or any specific actions suggested or required should be prominent in the body of the letter.
- Letters restricted to one page in length are ideal when possible.
Format
- Begin two inches from the top of the page with the date.
- Hit enter four times and begin the recipient’s name, title and address.
- Start greeting with “Dear ____:”
- Align the letter on the left margin.
- Use single spacing and double space between paragraphs.
- Space twice before closing (e.g. Sincerely or Best Regards work well).
- Space up to six times to allow for signature.
- Place name of sender under signature and title below.
- Notes regarding any CC: name, enclosure, etc. should appear four spaces below signature and title.
PROOFREAD and SPELLCHECK!
- 00:04 Let's start our business correspondence basics with business letters, which form the basis of professional communications in business.
- 00:13 In the professional environment everything is connected by the way the messages of
- 00:19 executives and the company reach out. And there's an art in crafting a business letter
- 00:25 as it reaches different audiences for different purposes
- 00:29 and the whole company is represented by what is printed on the paper. It needs to be done right and done well because it can land on many
- 00:37 desks. It stands out from email too. Now the purpose of a business letter
- 00:43 might be to make an inquiry or request, for example ask for a donation even from customers.
- 00:50 Business letters often offer thanks for recognition,
- 00:54 maybe announce an annual award that will be given.
- 00:58 Apologies and explanations
- 01:01 are typically handled in a formal business letter even to answer a complaint your company receives
- 01:08 and sales or prospecting mail is often done in letter form too, because there may be an
- 01:15 enclosure that must be included in the envelope such as a company brochure.
- 01:22 Constructing a business letter
- 01:24 begins with a set of standardized rules that you can use the format the letter on company letterhead.
- 01:31 We will cover the main structure here but it's good to know you can find templates in software
- 01:38 programs or online. This one is on the Microsoft Office web site and it's called the level design
- 01:46 You want to begin 2 inches from the top of the page and put the date there,
- 01:53 then hit enter four times
- 01:56 so you can begin with the recipients name title and address.
- 02:03 Start your letter with a greeting, use dear. And don't worry that is the standard
- 02:11 align the letter left side along the margin and use single spacing and then double space
- 02:17 between paragraphs. Use a plane font like Ariel, Times New Roman or Calibri.
- 02:24 Often your company might have chosen a preferred font for you so be sure to check.
- 02:31 The tone of a business letter is factual. It doesn't have to be very dry, in fact it's often pleasant, but sometimes it is firm. We have an example of
- 02:41 that here in the last sentence in the paragraph shown at the top of the example.
- 02:47 when you call please have it on hand so that we can expedite your request.
- 02:54 Be sure to keep impoortant information or any specific actions suggested are required for the recipient
- 03:01 prominent in the body of the letter you can put it at the end for emphasis.
- 03:08 Letters contained to one page are ideal whenever possible. If you're only a little bit over definitely try to cut.
- 03:17 Space twice before closing. Signing off with Sincerely or Best Regards works well.
- 03:25 Space up to six times to allow for the signature and it depends on the handwriting - you want to leave room.
- 03:33 Place the name of the sender under the signature and the title below that
- 03:38 and finally notes regarding the carbon copies
- 03:43 and the name or if there's an enclosure it should appear four spaces below that
- 03:49 or
- 03:51 here we show that note about an enclosure and that's just fine - same rule.
- 03:57 So that is the basic structure, format and tone and all the uses for a business letter which as you can see
- 04:07 does form of very far reaching form of communication. You can rely on it as the basis
- 04:17 for all the traditional professional communications.
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