Characteristics of Letters

CHARACTERISTICS
OF
EFFECTIVE LETTERS
BUSINESS LETTER
Any letter written for business use is a business letter.

It is mean to exchange information in a written form. It
is the most formal method of communication in a
business relationship.
For example:
A customer writing a letter to a supplier.
A job seeker writing a job application.
Cover letters are some of common business letters.
A business contract. etc
ESSENTIAL QUALITIES of
BUSINESS LETTER
A person should always maintain the
quality of the business letter. The qualities
of a business letter make it presentable.
It becomes easy for a person or
organization to imprint an impression onto
the others. The qualities of a business
letter can be classified as
• Inner Quality
• Outer Quality
INNER QUALITY
refers to the quality of language used and the presentation of a
business letter.
They are:
 Clear
 Simple
 Concise
 Concrete
 Accuracy
 Coherent
 Complete
 Relevance
 Courteous
 Neatness
OUTER QUALITY
It is the quality of its outer appearance
They are:
Size of the paper

Quality of the paper
Folding of letter
Envelope
CHARACTERISTICS
SIMPLICITY A business letter should be
simple. It should be
written in a lucid ( easy)
language so that it is clear
to the receiver. The
language can be similar to
that of social letters as
long as formality is
maintained. The letter
should make an instant
appeal to the reader.
CONVERSATIONAL
STYLE An effective letter is one
that gives an impression
of face to face
communication. Letters
are the written media by
which sender of the
message speaks to the
receiver. Hence a letter
should be written in a
conversational style is
interactive in nature and
is more or less informal
CLARIFY OF The writer should be clear
GOAL about what he wishes to
convey. He should keep all
the facts and figures of the
information handy. The
letter should be written in
such a way that it reflects
the goal clearly and easily.
There must not be any
ambiguity.
PUBLIC Business letters reflect
RELATION the image of the
organization. All
business letters should
therefore be drafted
keeping in mind the
objective of enhancing
the organizations
goodwill, image and
public relations
THE “YOU” The business letters should
ATTITUDE be written keeping in mind

the reader’s point of view. It
should be able to convey the
sender’s interest in the
reader. For this the “you
“attitude should be adopted.
The “T’s” and “ ‘’ We’s ” should
not be avoided and more of “
You’s “ should be included.
This will show the sender’s
interest in the reader.
The business letter
COURTEOUS should be
courteous. Courtesy
implies that the
letter seeks favors
done. Thus the
language of the
letter should be
polite and
appealing.
The basic idea behind
PERSUADING every business
correspondence is to
persuade the reader be
it a sales letter, letter
of inquiry or letter of
complaint. Thus, to
persuade the reader in
an effective way the
piece of
correspondence should
be well written. To
persuade the reader in
one’s favour.
SINCERE
The business letters should be
sincere. This means that the
letter should be written in
such a way that the readers
believe what the letter says. It
should not hide reality. It
should also be free from
hypocracy making tall claims.
The matter should be stated
erectly and genuinely.
POSITIVE
LANGUAGE The word of the letter
should be chosen with
care. As far as possible the
language of the piece of
letter should be positive.
The use of negative words
should be avoided as it
gives an impression of
negative outlook and
approach.
Proper emphasis should be put
on the content of the piece of
DUE EMPHASIS correspondence. This requires
logical thinking on the part of the
writer. The writer should himself
be clear in his mind what he
wants to convey.
Only then he can emphasis
properly. Proper emphasis is to
be given according to the
message conveyed. Proper
punctuation aids to this. It
should also be noted that the
short sentences are better than
long sentences.
The information present in
COHERENCE the letter should be arranged
in a logical way. This is done
by using carefully the linking
devices, pronouns, and
reputing the key words.
Unless arranged in a logical
way the information will lose
its meaning and thus the
objectivity of the
correspondence will be lost.
CARE FOR All business correspondence
seeks to be written keeping
CULTURE in mind the reader’s point of
view. As such no words
should be used which
offends the cultural
background of the reader?
The best way is to avoid use
of culturally derived words,
slangs, colloquialisms. Etc .
harmless and in offensive
words should be used.
TACTFUL The writer should adopt a
tactful approach while
APPROACH writing a business letter. It
can be direct approach
letter, an indirect approach
letter or a middle approach
letter depending on the
message to be conveyed.
Generally good news is
conveyed directly whereas
a bad news or a complaint
indirect or middle
approach
A business letter reflects the
ETHICAL image of an organization.
Therefore, all business
STANDARD correspondence should
maintain certain ethical
standard. Although business
correspondence should be
persuasive and tactful,
without ethics they will be
persuasive and tactful,
without ethics they will be
fruitless. It may pat in short
run but it will not reap
harvest in long run.
Brevity is the soul of
BREIF BUT correspondence. In short,
the receiver must know
COMPLETE what the sender wants to
transmit. But briefness does
not fulfill its objectives. All
necessary matter should be
incorporated in the letter.
Thus the quality of brevity
and completeness should be
there in business letter.
THANK YOU !

Characteristics of Letters

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CHARACTERISTICS

Any letter written for business use is a business letter.

Size of the paper

ATTITUDE be written keeping in mind

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