Four Considerations of Business Letter

The four areas you must take into consideration for each business letter are listed below. If you do not consider each one of them, your letter will be ineffective.
1. Subject
2. Audience
3. Purpose
4. Style/Organization

Subject
Every piece of writing — from the business letter to the novel — revolves around a subject. Luckily, in the business world the subject is usually specific. Quite often it is supplied for you by someone else, such as a boss or colleague, or demanded by a situation such as hiring or congratulating an employee. It’s a fact: The more specific your subject, the easier it is to write your letter. For example, let’s say that you need to request information about an order that did not arrive when it should have.

If you are in charge of the account, writing the letter is easy. If you are not in charge of the account, it is harder for you to write the letter than it is for the person who knows all the particulars. Regardless of the situation, stick to one or two subjects in your letter. Including more than two subjects clouds your message.
Write another letter if you have more than two subjects.

Audience
This area is tricky because you may not know your audience. If you do, you can tailor your letter to that audience. Many times, however, your audience is larger than you expect. Your letter may be addressed to Terry Smith but may be read by several other people in Terry’s firm to receive the action you wish. If you are
unsure of your audience, assume they are educated, reasonable people until you find out otherwise. Don’t assume they have as much knowledge of the subject of your letter as you do, or you may overgeneralize or forget to include important details.

Purpose
Many letters are sent with a specific subject and audience in mind but are not clear in their purpose. Know why you are sending the letter. Is the letter to inform? Is it to request information? Is it to offer congratulations? Condolences? Is it to get the recipient to act on a request? All of these are very different purposes. You have probably received a letter that, after reading it, left you confused because you didn’t know exactly what it said. The purpose was not clear.

Style/Organization
The first three areas dictate the content, direction and emphasis of the letter.
1. Know WHAT you’re writing about — SUBJECT.
2. Know WHO you’re writing for — AUDIENCE.
3. Know WHY you’re writing — PURPOSE.

Now you are ready to be concerned with HOW you are going to write the letter. The first three areas can be determined in a matter of minutes if you are familiar with the ideas that need to be communicated. The fourth area — style and organization — takes more time.