Nature Types and Principles of Writing Good

Business Letters
After reading this lesson you will be able to:
 Explain the nature, types of various business letters
 understand and apply the principles of writing good business letters

Letters Defined
The digital age produces lots of documents, like letters, reports, memos, and notices.
Whether you're in the public or private sector, or at home or abroad, you have to write
letters to share information with others.

You might write to give someone information or ask for information from them. You
might want a refund for a damaged product or want to offer condolences to a colleague
whose spouse passed away. Regardless of your reason, you write to fulfill a certain need
and inform others.

Your primary objective when writing a letter is to fulfill that need. Sometimes, you may
have multiple objectives, such as giving instructions and acknowledging an order in the
same letter.

Additionally, businesses have a secondary objective of improving their public image

through their correspondence. The letters a company writes can create a strong
impression and can impact its success and profits.

First, letters are highly personalized messages, for they single out a special reader and,
usually a letter is written by a single writer not by a team.

Second, they have the more formal effect than most face to face communication.

Third, they receive the added impetus of the printed word and have the quality of
performance.
So a company can create good public relations only by presenting its face in the best
possible way through good business letters.

Letters provide data for two main purposes:

1. To fulfill certain needs;
2. To elicit a definite response and to make the reader to be on the Writer’s side.

Types of Business Letters

Letters typically go to people outside the organizations.
By writing letters you in fact present your organization's image and face to the outside
world.
As a family member, or social person you do write personal letters conveying your
feelings, interests, good news, and bad news, depending on the type of relationship you
have with the reader and also on the message that is being conveyed.
Business letters are written and received for keeping all business transactions, and
relationships, perfect, and live in the business world.

Most formal letters fall under three main categories:

Writing 'yes': accepting something, agreeing to a plan.
Writing 'no': refusing something or disagreeing with a plan or offer.
Writing for action: to move people to do something, to persuade or to give orders
sometimes.

On the job you might write the following common types of letters:
a. Sales Promotion letter designed to create interest in a product or service.
b. Letter of instructions outlining a procedure to be carried out by the reader.
c. Letter of transmittal (cover letters) to accompany reports and other documents that
you will mail out.
d. Letter of recommendation for friends, fellow workers, or past employees.
e. General business letters describing progress on a project, requesting assistance,
ordering parts or tools, confirming meeting times, and so on.
f. Letter of inquiry, asking about the cost or availability of a product, requesting advice
for solving a problem, soliciting comments about a job applicant, and so on.
g. Complaint letters were written to complain about disappointing service or faulty
products and to request an adjustment.

You may also need to write a letter in response to those letters received by your
company.

You might also write letters to apply to colleges, compete for scholarships, or foreign
study programs, or join campus organizations.

These application letters are considered important for good reasons:

They provide evidence of your talent for clear self-expression, your level of confidence,
your sensitivity to your readers, your ability to recognize important points, your
attention to detail your mastery of logical reasoning and your level of maturity and
personality development.

Principles of Writing Good Letters

Depending upon its quality your letter will either open doors or, be a waste of time.
So to be an effective letter writer think of the good communication principles that you
can apply in writing a business letter.

The following basic principles will help you to produce a letter which is most likely to
achieve the desired result.

o Remember the basic rule: never send a letter until you genuinely feel
confident about signing it; your signature certifies your approval of the
content
The You Approach

In writing a letter you face a blank page; you can easily write to please yourself only,
forgetting that a flesh-and-blood person will be reading your letter.
The "you" perspective affects your tone and as the letter is more personal than a report,
tone is the major ingredient of your message.
Put yourself in your reader's place; ask yourself how readers will respond to what you
have just written. Your letter creates a relationship with reader. So the words should be
chosen carefully in order not to offend and confuse the reader.

Instead of writing:

"I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter

dated ..............., and I have to inform you
that .............."

It is better to write :
"Thank you for your letter of .........., you
will be pleased to know that ..........."

Plain English
The reader of a business letter is not interested in the type of person who has written the
letter but in the content of the letter i.e., what the letter say, and how simply and easily
he can grasp the message, and help his organization
.
So avoid stuffy, tired and over blown phrases (letters) that you might think will impress
your reader. Here are a few of the many Letters that make letters unimaginative and
boring:

Do not use use

letters Translated into plain English
As per your request As you requested
Contingent upon receipt of As soon we receive
I beg to differ I disagree
It is imperative that you reply You must reply
Please be advised that my new address is My new address is
We are in hopes that you succeed Good luck In the immediate future
Soon I humbly request that you consider Please consider
Pursuant to our agreement As we agreed
I beg to acknowledge receipt of I received

Clear Purpose
Before writing as you plan, answer these questions:
A. What purpose do I wish to achieve (get a job, file a complaint, ask for an
information, answer an inquiry, give instructions, share good news, share bad
news).
B. What facts does my reader know? (Dates, cost, model numbers, enclosures,
measurements, other details).
C. To whom am I writing? (Reader’s name? or title? write to a person not a title).
D. What is my relationship with reader? (Is he an employer, employee, a person
asking for favors, customer asking for refund, an associate, a stranger?)

Answer to all of the above questions will help you prepare the draft and after writing the
draft ask yourself three more questions such as:

a. How will my readers react to my statement as phrased? (With anger, hostility,

pleasure, confusion, resistance, satisfaction).
b. What impression will readers get from my letter? (Courteous, friendly,
confident, dull, intelligent)
c. Am I ready to sign my letter? (This one will take you to some more thought)

Do not submit or mail your letter until you have answered these questions and keep on
revising as often as you need to achieve your purpose.

Aim for brevity, accuracy, and conviction

This one is the most important principle of all communication skills. For readability,
keep your letter short, straight, formal and right to the point.
Give readers as much as they need no more no less even. Also write with conviction
i.e., write what you believe in, in order to sound convincing to your readers.

Direct-Indirect Plan
The reaction that you visualize from your readers should help you organize your
material whether you should apply direct or indirect method of writing. In the
direct plan you put the main points right away in your body section of the letter
followed by explanation. Usually use the direct plan for good news writing, inquiry or
application or other routine correspondence.

If you expect your reader to disapprove or need to be persuading or refusing a claim

then use the indirect plan i.e., give the explanation before the main points. The
indirect plan in fact makes readers more tolerant of bad news or more receptive to the
writer's arguments stated in the letter.

SUMMARY

• Think before you write

• Analyse the purpose of the letter and reader's needs

• Make sure you have included all the points relevant to your purpose

• Use a courteous tone and 'you' approach

• Use plain, precise English and avoid Letterese

• Be concise and keep your language warm and personal