How to write a business letter: types, design rules, style and samples of business letters. How to write a letter - sample How to write a letter about

Dear friends, today I decided to write about a painful issue - how to write letters 😉. I think many experts in various fields receive many letters every day with questions and requests for help.

Your humble servant is no exception :) The number of letters with questions and requests for help averages 40-50 per day and sometimes exceeds my physical ability to answer them.

A significant part of the correspondence consists of letters in which questions and descriptions of problems are not entirely correctly formulated, which is why they require additional clarifying letters, which takes up unnecessary time for both the sender and the recipient.

In this post, I want to talk about how to correctly write letters with questions to specialists, so that getting the information you need takes a minimum of time and does not require unnecessary correspondence.

The main rule, in my opinion, is that in a letter it is very important to make it clear that you value the recipient’s time. Everything should be concise and clearly formulated.

1. Greeting

I believe that any letter must begin with a greeting. “Hello”, “Hello”, “Good afternoon” - writing these words is not difficult and takes seconds. I personally don't like emails that don't include a greeting. Nothing is valued so dearly or given so cheaply as politeness.

2. Calling by name

On all pages of the blog site where there is a feedback form (for example, the “ ”) page, I always write “My name is Mikhail,” so I don’t see a problem with not addressing people by name in letters. Subconsciously, any person loves to be called by name.

And although I like “Mike” more than “Mikhail” 😉, any call by name will do 🙂.

3. Google your question first.

How many times in correspondence have I had to provide links to materials that I found by simply typing the question asked of me in a search engine! I don’t even have enough fingers and toes 😉!

Seriously, I sincerely advise you to first google the question you are interested in in various versions (including in English, you can translate it through Google Translator) and spend time studying the materials found.

In most cases, you can easily find answers to your questions in search engines or on forums (many people come there to communicate, discuss specific problems on various topics and answer questions). Why waste another person's time when in many cases you can easily find everything you need yourself?

🔥 By the way! I have released a paid course on promoting English-language websites. If you are interested, you can apply for the early list through this form to be the first to know about the release of the course and receive a special discount.

I wish you success in increasing traffic to your sites!

Dessert for today is a video of a guy doing pull-ups on a horizontal bar with one finger. I want that too :)

Letters have been written since time immemorial and continue to be written to this day. They serve as a tool for communication between people, helping to clearly convey the essence to the interlocutor, which was the reason for writing it. In this article we will look at several types of business correspondence and learn how to correctly compose business letters.

To correctly compose any business letter, you need to be able to clearly state its essence and correctly structure it. Business correspondence is conducted on company-approved letterhead with your own logo and address. In the upper right corner, fill out a header consisting of the position and name of the head of the recipient company. At the end of the header is written brief information about the sender.

The next stage of writing a letter is writing an appeal. It may sound different depending on the degree of familiarity with the addressee. If you know him personally, then you can address him like this: “Dear Sergey Yuryevich!” If the addressee is a stranger, the address may look like this: “Dear Mr. Ivanov!” It must be borne in mind that in these cases it is unacceptable to abbreviate the word Mr. or put initials instead of last name and first name.

To convey the essence of the letter in a concise form is the task of the preamble. Most often it consists of one paragraph. After reading the preamble, the recipient should already have a brief understanding of the content of the letter. After it, the main text begins, containing several paragraphs. The text should succinctly express your thoughts about the situation. It is advisable that the main text does not exceed four paragraphs. The letter should end with a conclusion, which briefly summarizes the results of the letter, puts a date and a signature indicating the name and position of the sender. Depending on the reason for writing the appeal, sometimes it is appropriate to end it with the words: “Sincerely yours!”, “With hope for further cooperation,” etc.

One of the common types of business letters is a letter of guarantee. In its main text, the author guarantees the fulfillment of one or another promise, announces the end date for the fulfillment of guarantees and establishes the amount of the penalty that he will have to pay in case of violation of warranty obligations.

Can be downloaded here.

Letters of gratitude are also a type of business, but already from the category of personal. They can be issued on company letterhead or a greeting card. The main text should include congratulations to the addressee, indicating the event that gave rise to the letter and listing the recipient's outstanding achievements.

Not only organizations have to conduct business correspondence. When looking for a job, you also need to follow business etiquette. The applicant needs to be able to correctly compose a resume and a cover letter, in which a brief address to the employer is written, indicating the source of information about the desired vacancy, the name of the applicant and his telephone number.

Consider how formal the letter should be. This is determined by the relationship with the recipient of the letter. Eg:

• If you are writing to an official, a future employer, a scientific supervisor, or someone else with whom you have a purely professional and business relationship, then the letter should be formal.
• If you are writing to your current employer, colleague, relative, or someone you don't know very well, a semi-formal writing style is acceptable.

Think about how you will send the letter, by email or on paper. This also affects the degree of formality of the letter.

• Most formal letters should be typed on a computer, printed, and mailed, unless, of course, the matter is urgent or the recipient prefers email.
• For informal letters, email or handwritten letters are also suitable.
• In the case of semi-formal letters, a telephone call must be made. If during the conversation you decide that correspondence should be conducted by email, well, so be it. If you are not sure about this, write regular letters.

Use printed letterhead or write your address at the top of the page (for formal letters). If you are writing a business letter and the company has its own printed forms, use them. If there are no forms, but you want the letter to look somehow more respectable, make such forms yourself in a word processor. Otherwise, you can simply write your full home address at the top of the page, left aligned. The way in which addresses are written varies from country to country, so be culturally sensitive to the recipient.

Set the date. If you have already written the address, then indent two lines and write down the date. If the address has not yet been written, write the date first, aligning it to the left.

• Write the full date. Remember that, for example, “January 1, 2012” looks much more formal than 1/1/2012.
• If you are sending a non-formal letter by email, then the date is not needed, it will be indicated in the data of the email itself.

Write the name, title and address of the person to whom you are writing the letter (for formal letters). Indent two lines after the date and write down the full name and position of the recipient of the letter. On the second line, write down the name of the organization (if known). On the third line write down the street, on the fourth line - the city, region and zip code.

• However, in the case of emails this is unnecessary.
• In the case of all non- and semi-formal handwritten letters, too. The recipient's name and address on the envelope is sufficient.
• If your letter is a request, but you are not sending it to a specific person, but simply to the address of an organization, then simply write the name of the organization and its address.

Start with a greeting. The type of greeting, again, is determined by your relationship with the recipient of the letter, as well as, in fact, by the formality of the letter. Here are some possible options:

• If you are writing a formal letter to an unknown addressee, you can begin with the words “For the attention of all concerned,” with a colon after “persons.”
• If the recipient is still unknown, but you are sure that it is he (or she), then there are more options. “Dear Sirs”, “Dear Ladies”, “Ladies and Gentlemen”. However, be careful with such greetings - you don’t want to offend anyone, right?
• If you are writing a formal letter and you know who you are writing it to, you can start with “Dear #.” However, if you think that this is somehow too unbusinesslike, then you can use the word “Dear #”.
• If you are writing a semi-formal letter, then options such as “Hello” or “Dear” will work.
• If the letter is not at all formal, then there are much more options. Here is “hello”, here is “great”, here is “hello” and so on.

Include the recipient's name after the greeting.

• In a formal letter, use the so-called. courtesy title (Mr., Ms.) or position/title, followed by the recipient's last name.
• If the letter is semi-formal, then you will have to decide whether to address the recipient by name or not. The safest thing to do if you're unsure is to use a courtesy title.
• An informal letter, on the other hand, assumes that you can address the recipient by name. Except, of course, for letters to relatives who are older than you. Then you should write something like, for example, “Hello, grandma #” or “Hello, uncle #”.

Start the letter itself. Indent two lines from the greeting or simply start the text on a new line if writing by hand.

• If you are writing a personal letter, you will start with a question about business, health and all that. There are many options, from formal to not very formal, so choose according to your taste.
• If you are writing a business letter, then get straight to the point. Time is money, and you don’t want to waste the recipient’s time, right?

Think about what you need to write about. The main purpose of writing is communication, communication, information exchange. Therefore, ask yourself what information the recipient should learn from the letter, what you need to tell him about. About new prices for goods? About what you miss about him? About being grateful for a birthday gift? Whatever the topic, remember the purpose of writing: sharing information.

• Remember that you can write Not about everything. A letter written, for example, in anger is not a letter worth sending. If the letter has already been written, but you are hesitating whether to send it or not, then it is better to put it aside for a couple of days. You may still have time to change your mind and look at the situation in a new way.

Check your letter. Before sending a letter, read it a couple of times and make sure there are no errors. If you want, have someone else check your email or use grammar checkers in text editors. And, of course, correct all mistakes.

Complete the letter correctly. This way, you can say a respectable goodbye to the recipient of the letter. Indent two lines from the last paragraph and write an appropriate polite expression to end letters with.

• For formal letters, options such as “With respect” or “With best wishes” are suitable.
• For semi-formal letters, shorter versions of formal politeness formulas are suitable.
• For informal letters, politeness formulas such as “With love”, “Yours” and so on will do.
• If you wish, you can use old-fashioned politeness formulas in formal letters (or if you are writing a letter to a close friend who can appreciate it). To do this, insert the formula into the last sentence. Then, indent two lines, write something like “Sincerely yours/yours/yours.” This is where you can get a little creative and create a truly unique ending to your letter.

Are you sure that among the hundreds of emails that the recipient views, your letter really stands out? Career development experts and marketers talked about how to correctly indicate the subject of an email to ensure that the recipient opens it and responds to it in a timely manner.

1. Always include a subject line

Ignoring the subject field of an email is the biggest mistake a sender makes when hoping to receive a timely response. The subject line of an email typically tells the recipient the content of the message and forces him to decide whether to open the email or not. An email with an empty subject field will most likely be deleted immediately because it will irritate the recipient, who will have to open the email to find out what it is about.

2. First enter the subject of the letter, and then start writing the message

Many people believe that the subject line of an email is a secondary concern after writing it. However, Amanda Augustine, a career consultant at The Ladders, emphasizes that the topic of the letter is the author's priority. Firstly, it is the topic that sets the tone of the message, and, secondly, it does not allow you to be distracted by other topics.

3. Be brief

While when you open your inbox on a computer monitor you can see 60 characters in the subject line, on a smartphone you can only see 25-30 characters. Therefore, keep the subject line of your email to 6-8 words. This will be more than enough.

4. Put the most important things at the beginning of the subject line

Dmitry Leonov, vice president of SaneBox, said that about 50% of letters are viewed from mobile phones. Take this into account and write the most important things at the very beginning of the subject line. Otherwise, in 50% of cases, important parts of the message may simply be cut off by mobile devices and not read by recipients.

5. Avoid unnecessary words

Do not clutter the subject line with unnecessary phrases such as “Good afternoon”, “Nice to meet you”, “Thank you” and so on. First, they mean nothing to the recipient. Secondly, you can safely use them in the letter itself, which will be even more logical.

6. Be clear and specific in the subject line

The subject line of the letter should indicate exactly what the letter will be about. It is the subject of the letter that the recipient must prioritize and decide when exactly he needs to respond to it. For example, a message in the subject “Do you have free time now to solve my question?” very vague, as it does not give the recipient an understanding of what exactly they want from him, and forces him to open the letter. Therefore, if you send a resume, then feel free to write your name and the name of the vacancy for which you are applying in the subject line. And if you want to ask a question about the current project to your colleague or partner, then indicate the name of the specific project in the subject line.

7. Keep your subject line simple and call to action.

This tip will be especially useful for marketers and those who send marketing emails. Hub Spot Vice President Kip Bodnar advises writing a subject line that calls the recipient to action and gets him interested.

8. Use keywords to further search and filter

Many email professionals have themed folders and actively use filters to search for specific emails. Therefore, if there are no such tags in the subject of your letter, then your letter will most likely simply not be noticed. Therefore, it is very important to use keywords that reflect the subject of the letter, so that in the future the recipient can easily find it through the search system.

9. Please indicate if you require an answer.

When a person receives a letter, it is also important for him to know whether he just needs to read it or whether he needs to respond to it. So, says Amanda Augustine, put "Please Reply" or "Please Read" in the subject line. You can also use the expression "FYI". It is used to let the recipient know that the message will be of interest to him. In business email correspondence, it emphasizes that the sender wants to inform the recipient, but the message is not an order and does not require the recipient to perform actions directly related to the message.

10. Indicate the deadline in the subject line of the email

If you are sending a lot of information in the body of the letter, but you need a response to it within a certain time frame, then indicate them in the subject line of the letter. This will significantly increase the chances of reading and responding to the message in a timely manner. For example, you could say, “Please respond to this email by close of business on Friday.”

11. If anyone referred you to this recipient, please let them know.

If the recipient's contact was given to you by a partner, client, or colleague, then indicate his name directly in the subject, and not in the letter itself. First, a familiar name will attract the recipient's attention. Secondly, it will give the recipient an idea of ​​the project or issue you may be approaching them with.

12. Highlight what you want to offer

If you send a cold email, you don't know whether your recipient will be interested in your offer. Therefore, indicate in the subject what you offer, and also tell us about bonuses - discounts, special offers.

13. Enter the recipient's name or company name

You must know who you are sending the letter to. And the recipient should also immediately realize that this letter is intended specifically for him. Kip Bodnar states that one of the best ways to show this is to include his name or company name in the subject line. For example, you can write like this: “Vladimir, look at these numbers: the company’s sales have increased by 25%.”

14. Use words that limit the time frame for responding to the letter.

If you want to attract someone's attention and convince the recipient to respond to you, then indicate the deadline for your offer in the subject line of the letter. For example: “Registration is required today,” “The number of places is limited - hurry to sign up for the event.”

15. Don't start a sentence in the subject line that ends in the email itself.

If you start writing a question or sentence in the subject line of the letter, then end it right there, without continuing in the letter itself. This annoys the recipient because it forces him to open the letter and continue reading. Think, maybe a messenger or even a call would be more suitable for a short question?

16. Re-read the message in the subject line

Amanda Augustine advises re-reading the subject line before sending. Why is this? Very often, when a sender sends a whole “stack” of letters to different recipients, he forgets to change the name or company name in the subject line of the letter. This may irritate the recipient or even offend you. Therefore, before sending the letter, re-read it and check for inconsistencies.

17. Don't write in uppercase

Using words written in uppercase draws attention, but in the wrong direction. This method makes the letter difficult to read and makes the recipient worry on a subconscious level. Instead, you can use dashes and colons to draw a line between words and emphasize something.

Translation of the article was prepared by Ekaterina Nikitina based on materials from Business Insider

Today I’ll tell you what to write in the newsletter so that it’s interesting for subscribers and you can make repeat sales.

I'll present it in the form short rules. Follow them and you will be able to successfully use such an excellent sales tool as e-mail newsletters.

1. Put yourself in the client's shoes
Before you start writing letters to clients, ask yourself what they want. Who else but you knows your target audience, their interests and preferences. You know what they will be interested in reading about.
If you have a clothing store, do not write only about new collections, promotions and sales. Write about fashion trends, how to choose the right size, how to combine different items of clothing.

2. Do everything to get your email opened.
Imagine that your letter is in the inbox among other letters. It can be deleted with one click. Therefore, only the subject of the email can force the subscriber to open it. There are many techniques for writing headlines. The principle “What you name the yacht, so it will sail” works perfectly here. Dan Kennedy describes the types of headlines in his book “The Sales Letter” in a very accessible way, with lots of examples. Read it, it's not just about headlines.

Here three examples that you can successfully use:

No. 1. Who else wants.....?
Who else wants a perfect figure?
Who else needs an extra hour every day?
No. 2. If you…..
If you think you can't afford<товар>, then you just didn’t take it into account<скидку, акцию, предложение>
No. 3. …..ways……
10 easy ways to create an early spring look
5 Ways to Lose a Sale Slowly and Painfully

3. Make sure your letter is read
Letter design will help you with this. It should be simple and convenient. Remember - you are addressing your customers. The text of the letter should be catchy and interest the reader. You have to capture his attention, and then do it again and again. Use metaphors. The clearer the comparison, the more attractive and understandable the test.
Just like with a website, the user should easily find all the information he is interested in - contacts, feedback, easily go to a detailed reading of the article, and immediately take advantage of the offer. There is no need to force the client to think about how to contact you.

4. Call to action
If you think that a person, having read your letter, will immediately dial your number or go to add items to the cart, you are mistaken. He needs to be unobtrusively pushed to take the actions you need. For this use a call to action.
It consists of two parts: verb + essence of the sentence.
If you are describing a new product or service, you can easily “push” the reader in the right direction: “Buy now”, “Add product to cart”, Place an order.”
If you offer a promotion, a discount, a seasonal offer - show the person that he will be left with nothing if he does not take advantage of it right now. "Buy now with 15% discount"
Don't let the buyer go to your competitors.

5. Write correctly
This may seem obvious. Do not hurry. More than once I have received letters from reputable companies that contain not only typos, but also errors. This gave me reason to doubt their competence. If you want to be trusted, check, check and check again.

6. Minimalism
Don't overload your readers, especially when it comes to news. 2-3 important news is enough. Don't use long sentences. If this happens, break it into several short ones.

7. Don't be annoying
I don’t think it’s worth saying that it’s not worth sending letters every day. 3-4 times a month is quite enough.
The best days for mailings are
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
The best time of the day is considered
Morning from 9:00-10:00
Day from 15:00-17:00
Evening from 19:00-22:00
Try to get into one of these windows.

When you write a letter, remember that your recipients are not a gray mass of strangers, but your potential clients. Write not to everyone, but to everyone. Be guided by the fact that the reader will find fault with every little detail and strictly filter the information that you want to present to him.