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Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience
Audience
Formal communication with people outside your company.
Purpose
Purpose
Acknowledge a complaint
Apprise
Ask or answer questions
Create understanding or clarify
Create written records of actions or events
Give instruction
Invite
Offer a service or product
Request permission
Commend
Thank someone
Style
Style
Includes company letterhead
The following are needed before the body of the letter:
- The date
- Recipient’s name, title and address
- Subject line (highly recommended but optional)
- Salutation (i.e. "Dear ..." as most common and accepted)
Always try to send the letter to a specific person, if you don’t have a name then use the job title, e.g. Dear Registrar
Letters should use the close of “Sincerely”
After the close (if needed):
- Enclosure or Enclosures (encl:) identify what is enclosed, such as documents or addenda
- cc: (carbon copy) then list names
Checklist
Checklist
I. Analysis
Before sending your business letter, ensure that it contains this information:
The main purpose of the letter
The secondary purpose of the letter
The action the reader should take
II. Evaluation
Content
Is the letter closed to multiple interpretations?
Is the letter well organized?
If there are enclosures, have they been enclosed or attached (if electronically transmitted)?
Is the letter correctly addressed and signed?
Tone
Is the letter courteous, professional, and tactful?
Style
Is the letter written in language the reader will understand? Clear? Correct?
Are sentences short and direct? Clear? Concise?
Are paragraphs short enough for easy reading? Concise?
At least three paragraphs:
Tell 'em what you will tell 'em: introduction to the purpose of the letter
Tell 'em: the body of the letter; evidence, information, data, appeal, etc. (can be multiple paragraphs)
Tell 'em what you told 'em: the short closing paragraph with a call to action, if required.
Consider topical headers to lead multiple paragraphs for ease of navigation and "scanning" by the reader.
Attitude
Does the letter encourage (or request, as the case may be) the reader to take action (if needed)?
Does the letter tell the reader the benefits of taking the requested action (if action is needed)
Appearance
Does the letter present an attractive, well-balanced appearance? Limit to two pages is recommended.
11 or 12 point font, Arial, Calibri or Times Roman are typical business fonts.
Is the letter's format correct? See example.
Is the letter free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling? PROOFREAD! Tip: read the letter backwards as that will often find problems. Read aloud to "hear" awkward phrasing.
Avoid repetition in the starting words of sentences and paragraphs. Change it up!
Source: Betty Ricks and Kay F. Gow’s Business Communication: Systems and Applications (1987).
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