Business letters are common to various businesses and there are many occasions when people need to write such letters. Like any other form of letters, the business letters also have particular format that are crucial to follow for you can build an impression with the help of the letters. But, the difficulty with many people lies in how to write business letters. Most of the business letters follow a common guideline. Here are some tips of writing different parts of business letters.
- Date- Date on the business letters bears the proof of the date the letter was written. It is written on the top of the letter at two inches from the top of the page. However, the date format should be according to the country where the recipient is staying. For instant, if you are writing to the companies within US, you need to use the American date format. Whether you keep the date left justified or at the centre, it is decided in keeping with the format of the letter.
- Inside Address- The recipient’s address is generally termed as inside address. Addressing the letter to a specific individual of the company is always a better option. Adding personal title such as Mr, Mrs, Ms is a good gesture of writing letters. If you have no idea about the name of the person, you can do a research or ask someone in the company. The inside address should be placed a line below the sender’s address if the sender’s address is below the date, else it can be written 1 inch below the date and should be in left justified format.
- Salutation- Use the same name of the inside address along with personal title to address the particular person. If you are unsure about the gender of the person you can use the full name of the person. You can also use only the first name of the recipient. A line should be left blank after the salutation.
- Body- Although the content of the letter is not included in the format of how to write business letters, there are certain formats that are used to develop the body of the business letters. It is important to remember that each paragraph of the body of the letter should be left justified. Two paragraphs should be separated with a blank line. The first paragraph should be a friendly opening to the main subject matter. The second and other following paragraphs focus on the topic. Finally, the closing paragraph either repeats the purpose of the letter or requests fro an action.
- Sender’s Address- Sender’s address is the elective part of the business letters. You have two options where you can place your address- below the date on the letter or after the closing signature. When you are including the title after the date you don’t need to include the name of the senders.
- Closing- Closing of the letter is included after a blank line below the last paragraph of the body. A gap of at least four lines should be maintained between the closing lines and the name of the sender for the sender’s signature.
- Enclosure- If you are including any document along with the business letter, you need to list them bellow the body of the letter. This is an important part of how to write business letters.