Lecture 8

The Appearance and Design of

Business Messages
 Business Letters
• The medium used most often for written messages to
persons outside your organization is the business
letter. Your letter’s appearance conveys nonverbal
impressions that affect a reader’s attitude even before
that person reads the letter.
• The many type styles and formats of modern word
processing systems and printers can enhance the
appearance of your message and create a positive
impression.
• Elements of appearance that help produce favorable
reactions are appropriate stationary and correct letter
parts and layouts.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Stationery and Envelopes

• Stationery:

– Keep the following guidelines in mind if you have an opportunity to suggest or

change your organization’s stationery.

– Quality, Size, Color: Good company stationery is most often at least 25

percent cotton content, 20 pound weight and white cream or light gray in
color.

– Letterhead: Modern letterheads usually occupy no more than 2 inches at the

top of the page. The firm’s name , address, ZIP code and sometimes telephone
number, cable address, fax number, internet address, nature of business and
name of the department or branch office sending the correspondence are
printed, embossed or engraved.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Stationery and Envelopes

– Letterhead:

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF BALOCHISTAN, QUETTA
Tel: 92-81-9211534, Fax: 9211535
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Stationery and Envelopes

• Envelopes:

– The receiver’s information should be written, printed or typed in the center at the back of the
envelope.
– The sender’s information should be written, printed or typed in the front of the envelope or at the
upper left corner at the back of the envelope.
– Information should be listed in the following order:
• Name and title of receiver
• Name of department
• Name of organization
• Name of building (if relevant)
• Street address and suite number or post office box number
• City, state and ZIP code or city, province and postal code
• Country (if letter is being sent out of the country)

– Mail notations such REGISTERED or SPECIAL DELIVERY should be typed in capital letters below the
postal area. Any instructions, such as CONFIDENTIAL, PLEASE FORWARD or ACCOUNT NUMBER
should be typed in capital letters below the return address near the left upper edge of the envelope.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
Mr. Mohsin Kamal
Institute of Management Sciences
University of Balochistan
Box 333
Sariab Road, Quetta 87300
CONFIDENTIAL

Mr. Ayaz Qadir, Student

Institute of Management Sciences
University of Balochistan,
Sariab Road, Quetta (87300),
Pakistan
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Standard Parts of the Letter

1. Heading: Letterhead and date (should be at the top of the letter before the date and
before the name and address of the receiver)

2. Inside address (courtesy title and name, e.g., Mr, Ms or Miss and executive or professional
title, e.g., name, address, company name)

3. Salutation (Dear)

4. Body

5. Complimentary close (sincerely, truly, obediently)

6. Signature area

7. Reference section (it may include information about the message composer, the typist and
sometimes word processing data.)
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Letter Layout

– Punctuation Styles: Open and Mixed punctuation are the two

forms most used in American business letters.

• Open punctuation, no line of any letter part (except the body) has any
punctuation at the end unless an abbreviation requires a period.

• Mixed punctuation, a colon (:) follows the salutation; a comma follows

the complimentary close.

• Foreign writers, especially those in Asia and Great Britain, use a

comma (,) in place of a colon after the salutation. They argue that
colons are too formal.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Letter Layout

– Letter Styles: Business letters are usually arranged in one of the letter styles
described briefly below:

• Full-block, every line begins at the left margin. This is a common format because it is
quick and easy to set up.

• Modified-block, the date, complimentary close and signature sections begin at the
horizontal center o the page or are placed so that they end near the right hand margin.
Attention and subject lines may be indented, centered or begin at the left margin, where
all other parts begin. This letter style is used often and is attractive on the page.

• Modified-block with paragraphs indented.

• AMS (Administrative Management Society) simplified style. AMS has been in use since
the 1950s but is not widely used.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
• Letter Layout

– Tips for Letter Placement: Software packages permit instant formatting (indents,
spacing, margin width, type style) of material according to the length of the letter or size
of the paper. The following suggestions are helpful for setting up your message on A-4
(8.5 by 11 inch) paper.

Letter Length Words in Body Side Margins Line Length Lines between
(inches) (inches) date and
inside address
Short Under 100 2 4.5 4-10
Medium 100-200 1.5 5.5 3-8
Long 200-300 1 6.5 2-6
 Business Letter (cont’d …)
• Optional parts of the Letter

1. Attention Line: It is useful when you want your message to go to a certain department or
when someone other than the addressee will take care of your message. When you do not
know an individual’s name but want the message to go to a particular title (sales manager)
or department. When the writer knows only the person’s surname and therefore, does not
want to use that name in the salutation. When the writer expects that the addressee
travels often an wants the letter to be attended promptly by whoever takes care of the
addressee’s business. Placement of the attention line is usually between the inside address
and salutation, with a blank line before and after it. It may be flush with the left margin,
indented with the paragraph or centered.

2. Subject Line: Considered a part of the body of the letter, the subject line helps tell your
reader at a glance what your letter is about. It helps in filing. The subject line may include
or omit the word subject. It is usually placed on the second line below the salutation and
centered or it may be placed flush with the left margin. The typing may be capitals and
lowercase and underlined.

3. Enclosure Notation: An enclosure or attachment notation is included to remind your

reader to check for additional pages of information.
 Business Letters (cont’d …)
4. Copy Notation: When persons other than the addressee will receive a copy of
your message, you note by writing “c,” “copy,” or “cc” followed by the
names of those persons just below the reference initials or the enclosure
notation.

5. File or Account Number and Mailing Notation: To aid in filing and quick
retrieval for both the sender’s and reader’s company, some firms require
that file, loan or account number be typed above the body of the letter.
Mailing notation words such as Special Delivery, Certified or Registered
Mail, when applicable may be typed a double space between the date line
and at least a double space before the inside address.

6. Postscript: To emphasize a point already in your letter or to include a brief

personal message unrelated to the letter, a postscript, typed or handwritten
(with or without “P.S.,” “PS,” or “PS:”) may be added below everything else
typed on the page. But with today’s rapid word processors, the postscript is
falling into disuse.
Special Timesaving Message Media
• Electronic Mail: E-mail formats have similarities to both memo and letter
formats.

• Facsimiles (Faxes)

• Telegrams, Mailgrams, Telexes: Telegrams and Mailgrams are sent using

telephone lines. The difference is that telegram is sent to one person and
mailgrams might be sent to a group or more than two persons at the same
time by contacting a toll free number. Telexes use telegraph line for
transmission. A telex is a keyboarded on a word processing system and then
sent over telegraph lines to compatible receivers.

• Teleconferencing:
– Audio
– Video
– Computer