How to write official letters: sample text and design rules

How to write official letters so that the opponent correctly understands the essence of the request and the tone of presentation? There are tacit ways to convey the same information in a business and familiar style. This is evidenced by many textbooks on business ethics, they are told in US institutes and higher schools. The most important thing to understand before drawing up a business appeal is the status of the addressee and sender. After all, you can not contact suppliers and intermediaries in the same way as the president or owner of a large corporation. All differences invisible to the naked eye are so open that they can be read and compared. So how to write official letters to one or another category of recipients? All key points are described in detail later in the relevant sections.

How to write a letter to a legal entity?

In today's Internet and email-based society, the need to write a letter is less common than in the past. However, it is still sometimes necessary to submit a formal request for information, apply for an academic program or work, write a complaint paper, or simply express your opinion in an efficient and consistent manner. In order for an official letter of request to be accepted for consideration, and a complaint is answered, several principles of forming a business language must be followed. It is simple, clear and informative:

1. Be brief. Indicate the purpose of the letter to the official so that it is accepted for consideration or registered in the journal of receipt of letters.
2. Try to avoid adverbs and epithets that do not carry a semantic load, long words and complex sentences, a few lines long. If a letter is being written to the president, try to state the essence of the issue directly at the beginning of the letter without deviations about the recognition of the person’s activities.
3. Use the right tone. A business or formal letter should be written in a tone that is slightly more formal than your regular language. Avoid the following: slang or jargon, abbreviations, vague words such as good and pleasant. An official letter of request will sound better if the problem is stated immediately without derogation about how the company treats customers well and works for the benefit of consumers. This flattery is not needed. Add more specifics so that the person understands what you want to say. Do not write covertly, hinting at something abstract. If you are misunderstood, things and further communication will not start.
4. Be polite and respectful even if you complain. Take a look at the draft of your official letter from the side. If the tone seemed too harsh, change a few words to create a respectful “timbre”. A business letter should also be written with restraint, especially if the company has violated the terms of the contract. Threats to the ethics of communication between business partners are not welcome, although they do not affect the outcome of the transaction.
5. Adjustment is also important. After you have written your formal letter, carefully check the grammar and spelling. Use the spellchecker on your computer, and then read the letter in front of the mirror, as the system check will not tell you every error. If necessary, if you are writing a letter to the president of the company, use a dictionary or thesaurus. Check punctuation and make sure sentences are complete. It’s a good idea for someone else to check your text. If this official letter is important enough for you to take the time to write it, do not rush to complete it. Mistakes can change the perception of you as the addressee, as well as the opinion of your request or complaint.
6. Use the proper format and presentation. Remember that the first impression is that it lasts the first 8 seconds. Use good quality paper and an appropriate envelope for your official letter. Make sure that the recipient is spelled correctly and that his or her name is spelled correctly. Equally important - do not forget to sign the letter!
7. Formatting a formal letter. Submit your ideas correctly. Compliance with the standard rules of good writing and an attractive presentation will ensure that your thoughts are seriously considered by the recipient, and that enough attention has been paid to the foregoing to concentrate and understand things.

Thus, you know how to write a letter that you will not only pay close attention to, but will answer as soon as possible.

Filling the letter heading on the left

Write the sender address and phone number at the top left of the page. If you represent a company, write the address of the company. If you are a private sender, write your personal home address. Duplicate your address on the second line so that the recipient understands that it is extremely important for you to indicate this point in the letter.

Also, such an ethics is considered too formal, because the sender considered it necessary to repeat his coordinates twice. This is not a moment of impoliteness, but only a fraction of scrupulousness and concern so that the recipient of the letter does not return to the header to re-clarify who the letter came from. Write your city, county and zip code in the line below. Enter the phone number at your address so that the recipients can get through. According to the rules of etiquette, the contacting party that sends letters by mail will wait for a call to the address where, in theory, the appeal was drawn up and written.

In cases where you represent a business, you can place your logo and company address right in the middle of the page. Be sure to center it so that it looks uniform.

Sender coordinates - where should they be located?

Place the date directly below the sender’s address. The latter should be indicated at the bottom of the page. Date is important for two reasons:

1. If you are trying to get a person or organization to complete a task in a timely manner (send a salary, fix an order, etc.), it (date) will give them a time frame for work. Or if you need to keep a copy of the letter for legal reasons, a date is absolutely necessary.
2. If you write in the style of a modified block, everything should be formatted to the left, except for the date. When putting down the date, go to the center of the page and put the date in the middle of the letter.
3. Place a comma between the month and the year.

All these nuances will indicate that the sender competently approached the task of notification or awareness of his request.

Recipient's coordinates - how to draw them up correctly?

Place the recipient name one line below the date. Be sure to contact the person according to their status (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Mrs., Monsieur). Under the name write the name of the company. The line below can duplicate the address of the recipient, so that it is convenient to read the letter. On the next line, write the city, area or county and the recipient's zip code.

If you don’t know the specifics of the recipient, for example, name or surname, make inquiries about this on the Internet in advance (on the company's website) or call the company where the person works. As a rule, this information is open and is not subject to concealment or withdrawal from public access to the corporation data. Always use abbreviations that apply specifically to women - miss or missus. Otherwise, when the recipient’s social status is not known, neutral appeals must be applied - Ms. or otherwise, which is provided for in the etiquette rules of the country where the appeal will be sent:

1. For example, an official letter to the governor or deputy should begin with the appeal "mister", and then the name and position are written. You can confine yourself only to the last name, if this letter of thanks. If this is a doctor, then the official appeal involves the use of not only the introductory parts of speech, but also the position, academic degree and last name.
2. Of course, if this is an email, and it is sent directly to the company’s data receiving department, then you can hide the fact of a direct appeal. So do some individuals who would like to thank the specific seller, doctor or other person through the name of the company. In this case, the design of the official letter must be strictly observed.

By the way, emails are increasingly being used as respectful communication between the parties and participants in a partnership agreement. However, if you do not know how to write the address in an official letter that comes via e-mail, it is best to leave a blank in the "heading", proceeding immediately to the statement of thought.

Welcome word - why is it needed?

Give the person you are contacting remotely the opportunity to feel important and necessary. “Dear Sir / Madam,” works well, especially if you know the person’s name. From a psychological point of view, when you name the recipient, you subconsciously make him “fall in love” with the address. He will want to read the text from beginning to end, reading several times at the same important moments for you. Place a colon after the greeting and add a line between the greeting and the body of the message.

If you know the recipient and, as a rule, contact him by his or her name, it is quite normal to use only the name, for example, “dear Cyril” or “dear Anna”. The language of business letters does not “reject” the use of personal names, on the contrary, it is considered a sign of long-term cooperation, when the parties can already switch to you, but comply with all the canons of business style.

The body of the letter - the goals and objectives of the sayings

Write the body of the letter first in a draft. It should be no more than three paragraphs. If you cannot tell about your thoughts within this size, then you are probably not concise enough. A single space needs to be aligned in the same way as the text itself - on the left side:

1. Do not use the alignment in the middle, as this speaks of an information style, not a business ethics of writing, where the essence is important, rather than the interpretation of news or a review of a new product. Knowing how to write an official letter to the organization, you can not only correctly state your thoughts, compressing them to the specifics, but also get the same clear answer in the near future.
2. In the second paragraph, use examples to emphasize your point, if possible. Concrete, real-life examples are always better than hypothetical ones. Suppose you bought a product, but there was no delivery. No need to talk about acquaintances or other customers to whom the company sent the goods faster than you. Only on the case and the merits: if there is a complaint, say so.
3. In the concluding paragraph, summarize your purpose in writing and suggest how to remedy the situation. Suppose you are unhappy with the quality of the product, as the box is defective. Indicate your solutions to the problem and suggest the most successful way for you, if you are, of course, in a winning position. In the response letter you will be offered either several options, or they will ask the conditions for translating your option into reality.

Sign your letter with the appropriate word, for example, “Regards,” “Best Regards,” if appropriate. Leave a space under your name for signature. If you write in the style of Modified Block, do not forget to put down the date and time, as it should be in the case of an official letter for companies not through Internet circulation.

Add the word “Application” below the signature. Do this only if you attach other materials, such as a resume or schedule, along with the letter. If there is more than one additional element, it would be nice to list the names of the nested elements. This indicates the structure of the letter, and it will be easier for the recipient to figure out what and where is on the list, what does this have to do with it and the letter as a whole.

Layout of adaptive letters

Responsive letters are compiled only in e-mail, where there are not enough tools for editing text. However, here it is also necessary that the letter format be respected to preserve ethics. Write the sender address in the upper left corner. If you use a ready-made form, you do not need to specify the sender address. Similar forms are available in the arsenals of mailboxes, where you can choose the style for the corresponding type of letter. Instead of the standard format, run an email with a date in the upper left corner:

1. Put the date directly below the sender’s address. Do not leave a blank line between the address and the date of departure. This is not the only point that distinguishes a registered paper letter from an electronic one.
2. The addressee should be the one that is personal (home) or work, if the sender is a company.
3. Write the recipient address one line below the date. Thus, the recipient or the person who opened the letter will understand from whom and to whom the contents of the letter are intended.
4. Write the subject of the letter in all “topics”. This allows the recipient to know what will be in the letter.
5. Next, an empty space is filled with text where the reasons and goals of the appeal are indicated. Here you discuss your question. Be concise, but thorough in your discussion of the topic.
6. Write your name under the body of the letter. Do not make any concluding remarks such as “sincerely”.
7. Leave a place for your signature under your name - it can be in electronic form as a surname or symbol.
8. Under your signature, write the name of your company or position if you are not the owner of the business.

Add any separators to enclose the text. Complete the letter with some footnotes, if appropriate, and if you attach additional catalogs, documents, or other materials to it. Write the word “Appendix”, and then list the names of the attached materials.

Sending a letter

Choose an envelope. It should be simple, square or rectangular. It should not have complex structures. However, it can be styled to order. Fold your letter so that it enters the envelope:

1. Try to make it fold up once - too many bends will indicate your lack of professionalism.
2. If you use a rectangular standard envelope, fold your letter horizontally three times.
3. If you are using a square envelope, fold the paper vertically and then horizontally to form a rectangle that can fit in a square envelope. Seal the letter and write your name in the upper left corner, and below it is the address.

In the bottom right part of the envelope write the name of the person to whom you are sending the letter. It will not be superfluous to indicate the name of the company in the line below (if any).

Important nuances: personal, business or business letter?

Is there a difference between writing official letters? There are few significant and strict rules, but everyone needs to know them. There can be many examples, but consider the main points - the differences between a personal message, a business letter, and a business letter:

1. A personal letter will always differ not only in the wording of the statement of thoughts, but also in the presentation. It is permissible to use phrases like "dear", "respected", "kindly" and "sincerely". Here, personal feelings are expressed regarding the same cooperation with the person. If you want to give a compliment on the creation of a wonderful company with which you have a good strong relationship, the sender has the right to "cross" the border of formality, but only subject to personal acquaintance.
2. The business letter includes various kinds of messages regarding all working moments. These may be promotions and press releases.
3. Business letters involve the preparation of notifications about all the binders - partnerships, deals, and more.

The main thing is not to mix up all the nuances. It is important to distinguish between the second and the third - business and business letters differ only in content. Although it is important that the addresses are correctly formatted.

Examples of official letters. How to write official letters of a universal sample?

Any official letters begin with a heading and heading. Next, the text itself should begin with simple phrases. How to write official letters for other companies so that a relationship starts? Follow the right beginning: “I ask,” “I wish,” “I express gratitude,” and other words will help to establish contact with a person representing the interests of the company with whom you want to establish business cooperation.