WRITING AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTER
In the professional world, you will often need to write a business letter or send a
professional email. From applying to a new job, writing a thank you note, sending a note of
apology, or sending a farewell email when you depart, there are many circumstances that will
require an appropriately formatted letter. (Doyle, 2020)
BUSINESS LETTER
- an effective business letter elicits the expected response from the reader. This
can be achieved through concise, tactful, and accurate writing style.
- serves several purposes: for sales efforts, for complaints, for information
dissemination, for relationship building, and for problem solving.
Parts of a Business Letter (Barrot & Sipacio, 2018)
Letterhead - It identifies the writer, his/her address and contact numbers.
Date - It is placed between the letterhead and the inside address. It should never use
plain numerals for dates as it may create confusion. Instead of using 12/12/19,
December 12, 2019 or 12 December 2019 can be used.
Inside Address - It identifies the receiver’s name, position, company and address. It
should be placed immediately below the date.
Attention Line - It is used when the writer wishes to address the whole company but
wants to bring it to the attention of a particular person in the company. It can be written
in two formats:
Attention Jollie Grace Mendoza
Attention: Jollie Grace Mendoza
Salutation - It refers to the writer’s greeting to the reader. It can appear in different
formats:
Dear Sir:
Sir:
Dear Mr. John:
Madam:
Body - It contains the message of the letter. Paragraphs are single-spaced internally but
double-spaced to separate paragraphs. If the letter is too short, the body can be double-
spaced or tripled-spaced to separate the paragraphs.
In the professional world, you will often need to write a business letter or send a
professional email. From applying to a new job, writing a thank you note, sending a note of
apology, or sending a farewell email when you depart, there are many circumstances that will
require an appropriately formatted letter. (Doyle, 2020)
BUSINESS LETTER
- an effective business letter elicits the expected response from the reader. This
can be achieved through concise, tactful, and accurate writing style.
- serves several purposes: for sales efforts, for complaints, for information
dissemination, for relationship building, and for problem solving.
Parts of a Business Letter (Barrot & Sipacio, 2018)
Letterhead - It identifies the writer, his/her address and contact numbers.
Date - It is placed between the letterhead and the inside address. It should never use
plain numerals for dates as it may create confusion. Instead of using 12/12/19,
December 12, 2019 or 12 December 2019 can be used.
Inside Address - It identifies the receiver’s name, position, company and address. It
should be placed immediately below the date.
Attention Line - It is used when the writer wishes to address the whole company but
wants to bring it to the attention of a particular person in the company. It can be written
in two formats:
Attention Jollie Grace Mendoza
Attention: Jollie Grace Mendoza
Salutation - It refers to the writer’s greeting to the reader. It can appear in different
formats:
Dear Sir:
Sir:
Dear Mr. John:
Madam:
Body - It contains the message of the letter. Paragraphs are single-spaced internally but
double-spaced to separate paragraphs. If the letter is too short, the body can be double-
spaced or tripled-spaced to separate the paragraphs.
