Why do we need rules for business email correspondence? Try to write briefly and to the point. Business communication style

A business letter is a kind of psychological portrait of the sender, his business card, as well as part of the company’s image and reputation. How to protect yourself from the prospect of giving up on all this is in our article.

Tatiana Nikolaeva,

leading expert on business etiquette at the Negotiation Training Center, Moscow

Rules email correspondence for business people, it is a kind of tool that allows you to “hold the face” of the company and reflect its image in communication with partners. What are the key rules of business email correspondence that merchants need to take into account? Let's take a closer look, because this really plays a huge role.

Rule 1: Indicate the subject of the email

It is by this criterion that a busy person decides which letter to open first. In addition, this rule of electronic correspondence allows the interlocutor to find the right letter amidst a stream of correspondence. For example, it is convenient to receive emails whose subject lines reflect different organizational aspects of the same process.

For example: “Package of participant documents”, “Invoice for payment for participation in the exhibition”, “Memo to the exhibition participant”, “Layout diagram of exhibition pavilions”, etc. If all correspondence was conducted with the subject “Participation in the exhibition”, find the required letter in extensive correspondence it would be much more difficult.

Rule 2. Don’t forget about address and greeting

This is where the letter should begin. It is better to do this in the following form: “Good afternoon, first name (patronymic) of the addressee.” The bulky design of “Good day!” It's better not to use it. It is also incorrect to indicate the following wording: “Hello, Mr. Ivanov.” IN business environment They don't talk about health. If the letter is addressed to a group of people, you can use a collective word: “Dear sirs!” or “Colleagues!” You can do without contacting only in case of intensive correspondence in question-answer mode, as when communicating on Skype.

Phrases that should not be used in correspondence

If email is an important lead generation channel for your organization, here's 11 phrases, which the editors of the “Commercial Director” magazine recommend urgently getting rid of.

Rule 3. Remember that brevity is the sister of talent

If the subject of the letter requires explanation and detail, please indicate required parameters. However, do not pour too much water on this; write specifically. The ideal option would be a small letter in which you agree with the addressee about telephone conversation or a meeting where you can discuss all the details.

Rule 4. Writing style – business, tone – neutral

Unlike face-to-face communication and telephone conversations, where you have a script, your recipient not only does not see you, but also does not hear you. You cannot supplement your words with facial expressions, intonation, or other nonverbal signals. Therefore, strictly adhere to this rule of business email correspondence. For example, in a conversation, the phrase “what else do you need from me?”, pronounced with a certain intonation, will express a desire to know the entire list of responsibilities or actions. And in written form it can be read like this: “How much can you load me with? Have a conscience!”

Therefore, if you are ready for further action, it is better to always use this rule of email correspondence. Write it like this: “how else can I be useful/useful?” If you have no desire to participate in the further process, you need to say so correctly. For example, like this: “Colleagues, in view of my high workload on another project, I would be grateful if you ...” and then describe your wishes: “free me from further work on this project,” “describe to me the full range of responsibilities so that I could plan my work." At the same time, it is important to take into account the subordination: if you correspond with your manager, check with him the priority of this work.

Rule 5. Dose the number of emoticons in the text

This is a fundamental rule of electronic correspondence between business people. Some companies strictly prohibit the use of emoticons. If your organization is not one of them, use these icons, but very carefully. After all, “emoticons” are symbols of emotions that need to be dosed in a business environment. One icon in a letter is enough to let the interlocutor understand your emotions. This rule for email correspondence also applies to business communication on Skype and ICQ.

Rule 6. Don’t forget about the electronic signature

At the end of any (not just the first) letter there must be a signature containing the name and position of the sender, his work contacts, and the company logo. This is good form and an indicator of the presence of a corporate culture.

Rule 7. Re-read the letter before sending. Correct errors and typos

Negligence is not best quality for a business person.

Rule 8. Reply to correspondence within 24 hours

If you need more time, you should write about it within 24 hours. After sending, it would be a good idea to contact the recipient of the letter and make sure that he received it and when to expect a response from him.

Rule 9. Confirm receipt of emails with attachments

Check if they open correctly. Please note that company executives should not send any promotional offers or links to them (unless they are the subject of the discussion).

It is better to send such letters on behalf of the sales manager with the appropriate notification in the body of the letter.

Rule 10. Correspondence ends with the one who started it

The last letter is sent by the initiator of the correspondence. Even if all the issues have already been discussed, write to your partner words of gratitude for effective cooperation and prompt responses. At the end, you can wish you a good mood and a productive week. However, only if you have a close and long-term relationship with the recipient. In all other cases, it is better to indicate: “With best wishes.”

There is nowhere in business without business correspondence, regardless of whether you write on behalf of a company, or on behalf of yourself as a private entrepreneur. Or rather, how you follow its rules. Your potential business partners or clients will largely judge you by how you communicate with them. A business letter is, one might say, the “face” of a businessman. And in order not to lose it, it is important to know about the golden rules of communication in this format.

Rules for business correspondence by email

Since e-mail is now used much more often than regular mail, we decided to pay attention to how to properly conduct business correspondence online. Here are a few recommendations that, if followed, will prevent you from losing face in front of your interlocutor.

Mailbox name

The first thing that catches our eye when we open a new message is the address from which it was sent. Many people underestimate the importance of this point and send business letters from personal email accounts. There's nothing wrong with this as long as the email address only contains your name in a human-readable format. But if there are various nicknames like “kissa1988” or “pupsik-26”, then sending a message from such a mailbox is simply unacceptable. Imagine what emotions a person will have when he receives a business proposal from a “babe” or “sweetie”.

Also, postal addresses that begin with info@, inbox@ and the like are not welcome in business correspondence. They simply aren't taken seriously, and there's a good chance the email won't even be opened. Most the best option– is to conduct business correspondence from a mailbox [email protected], where name is your first and last name, company is the name of the company.

Recipients

In email correspondence, it is possible to send a letter to a direct addressee and copy other recipients. Recipients in the copy of the message are not expected to respond to it. They are like invited observers. Therefore, before sending, determine in advance who exactly you want to receive an answer from and arrange the recipients correctly. However, if possible, do not list multiple people as direct recipients of your email. A situation may happen that none of them will answer you if everyone mentally decides to “shift” this responsibility to another addressee.

If you yourself find yourself in a copy business letter, then, as you already understand, the sender is not waiting for your response. But if it becomes necessary to respond specifically to you, then you can do this, but it would be polite to apologize at the beginning of the message for “interfering.”

Formatting a letter

Official business style. In business correspondence, of course, the formal style is used. It lacks adjectives, unnecessary qualifications and details. Only specifics, clarity and logic. After writing a business message, it is useful to read it again and remove all phrases that do not carry any special meaning and do not change the essence of what is being stated. Only when you are sure that all such words and phrases have been removed, then you can say that this rule of writing a business letter has been followed.

Literacy. Saying that it is important to write a message correctly and without errors is the same as saying “a snowman must be made of snow.” However, this rule cannot be ignored. Literacy is the basis of any correspondence. A person writing a business letter with spelling errors is unlikely to be taken seriously by anyone.

Letter subject. It is a must to write it. Try to make it short but succinct, so that the recipient can immediately understand at one glance what the letter will be about. The topic should not consist of one word. “Information”, “Question”, etc. – incorrect business letter topics. “Proposal from Company X” is the right topic. If the information in your letter is especially important, then you can mark it with a special “importance” flag, which is available in almost all e-mail services.

Font. The text of the message must, first of all, be readable. Therefore, use the font Arial or Times New Roman, select a medium size (for example, in mail.ru the optimal font size is 3). Don't experiment with fonts or colors. This is inappropriate in business correspondence. Do not use Caps Lock, exclamation marks or any special characters (including emoticons). The only thing that is allowed is highlighting some phrases in italics or bold. But try to use this only when absolutely necessary.

For ease of reading and better communication of ideas, you can use subheadings throughout the text of the letter. But there should not be too many of them - no more than 3-4.

One paragraph should not be longer than 4 lines. When we read very long paragraphs, the text blurs together and the main idea can be lost.

Any enumerations and lists should be drawn up using special markers.

Corporate template. It would be great if you developed a branded email template in your corporate style. And you will send all business messages only with this template. This will allow you to stand out from the rest and maintain the formality required by a business message. However, you should not overdo it with “branding” - excessive creativity will only do harm. Still, we are talking about business communication, not entertainment. Don't forget also that recipients can read your messages not only on their computer, but also on mobile devices. Therefore, the template must be optimized for different screen resolutions.

One letter should contain only one news item. And accordingly, only one target action should be expected from the recipient. It is considered incorrect to place several questions, suggestions or requests to the recipient in one message at once.

It should be broken down into the following parts:
- introduction;
- main part;
- conclusion.

In the introduction, briefly state the purpose of the message and the reasons for writing it. The main part is the very essence of the letter. In conclusion, you need to summarize the above - these can be conclusions, requests, instructions, suggestions, and so on. It is highly undesirable to use any “postscripts” in business correspondence. Also avoid aphorisms, metaphors, proverbs, and so on.

If you need to submit in a letter graphic image, then do not insert it into the text of the message itself, but attach it as a separate file. Images may not display correctly on different devices or be completely disabled in the recipient's email program interface. In the text, where necessary, simply indicate “information is in the attached file.” If there are several such files, be sure to write their names.

If you use abbreviations and abbreviations of words, you must be 100% sure that the recipient will understand what is meant by them. In general, it is better to play it safe and not use such things.

Lack of emotions. Business letters should not contain any emotional overtones. At all. Even if you are writing a complaint and you really want to show the fullness of your indignation, or, on the contrary, you sincerely thank your partner for a successful transaction. The message should be restrained and even somewhat cold-blooded. Each person values ​​his individuality, but business correspondence does not The best way manifest it. An official letter from a cheerful or sad person, a janitor or a CEO should be the same.

Use of vocabulary. To link sentences in business correspondence, the following stable expressions are used:

1. for that reason;
3. based on what;
4. by virtue of (something);
5. in accordance with;
6. based;
7. pay attention to;
8. considering;
9. what served.

And so on. Also in business letters it is allowed to use abbreviations and abbreviations that are generally accepted in the industry within which the message is written. If you doubt whether the addressee will understand a specific abbreviation, it is better to write the phrase in full.

Greetings. Please never use the cliche "Good day." This, one might say, is bad form not only for business correspondence, but also for emails in general. The optimal greeting is “Hello, First Name/Middle Name.” By the way, it’s good to address the recipient of the message by name not only in the greeting, but also further along the text. If you are writing to a person you do not know personally, you must indicate at the very beginning where you got the recipient’s address from.

Letter size. This is not a work of fiction and not your personal thoughts “on the topic.” The message should be as short as possible to convey all the information in it. It is optimal if the text of the letter fits into one “screen”. Reading long letters is tiring, and many people find it annoying.

Replies to letters. When you reply to a message you receive, always click the Reply button, not the Write button. With the first option, your entire correspondence history will be automatically included in your response. This is correct, because a person may not immediately remember who you are and what you want from him if he does not see the background story. Especially if more than five days have passed since the last correspondence. Feel free to quote your interlocutor while responding to his message. This will give him a chance to remember what you talked about before.

Always thank the other person where appropriate. For example, you can write “Vladimir, thank you for your letter” or “Irina Alekseevna, thank you for such a quick response.” Such nuances will show your respect for the interlocutor and soften the mood of electronic communication.

If the interlocutor sent you a message in which he expressed his dissatisfaction or even was openly rude to you, try not to answer him in the same way, no matter how much you would like it. Situations vary, but always respond politely and with restraint.

Of course, the sooner you respond, the better. It's great if you can respond within a few hours. This period is optimal. But let's say we get a response within a few days. Psychologists say that a comfortable time for a person to wait for a response to an email is 48 hours, that is, two days. If you have to wait longer, this may already be perceived as disrespect or ignorance. If the question raised in the message requires more time from you to respond, then be sure to write that you received the letter, accepted it for consideration and will respond as soon as you can. This way the sender will at least not feel ignored.

Conclusion of the letter. You should not write phrases that could be perceived as an attempt at manipulation: “I really hope for a profitable cooperation,” “Thank you in advance for your answer,” and so on. It is better to say goodbye in email correspondence with the phrases “With respect,” “My sincere wishes,” and the like. Yes, such phrases are cliched, but they are perfectly suited for business communication. In the signature, write your first name, last name, position and company name. Also leave contact details where you can be contacted, except Email.

Dispatch time. Certainly, emails do not imply that they should be read immediately upon receipt. But in business ethics of email correspondence it is considered incorrect to send mail messages on the weekend, holidays, late in the evening or at night. Try to stick to standard working hours.

And of course, before clicking the “send” button, carefully check the correct spelling of the recipient’s name and his email address. Re-read the entire text of the message and check it for typos or incorrect phrases.

Communication between people is a natural and vital process. Once upon a time the epistolary genre was the only in an accessible way communication between people located at a distance from each other.

Postal service has existed since ancient Rome, if not earlier. People corresponded. In literature, even novels and stories in letters are known.

Modern advances in technology offer new and better ways to communicate.

At the same time, mail correspondence is saved. This is an old but reliable way of communication that has its own unique qualities. The modern format of postal correspondence is electronic mail, otherwise E-mail.

E-mail, unlike regular mail, allows recipients to communicate almost instantly. I pressed the “Send” button (letter), and after a few seconds the recipient sees this letter in his mail, in the “Inbox” folder.

Having become accessible and widespread among users, e-mail has certain rules for conducting correspondence. Such rules allow you to organize and conduct correspondence within the framework of accepted cultural and business norms. The set of systematized rules for “e-mail” correspondence is called the unspoken “E-mail Etiquette”.

Etiquette of electronic correspondence includes features of design, composition of letters, as well as principles of communication between recipients. First, let's announce the entire list of rules:

Rule 5. Fill in the recipient's mailing address last.

Rule 7. The text of the letter must meet certain requirements.

And now more about each of the ten rules.

Rule 1. Fill out all fields in the email.

For clarity, we use (Fig. 1), which shows what a new letter looks like in Yandex mail (after clicking on the “Write” button):

Rice. 1 Email Etiquette Basics

In almost all email services (Yandex mail, Mail ru, Google, Rambler, etc.), the email contains the following information:

1. Postal address (e-mail) and sender's name (possibly also a surname) - number 1 in Fig. 1.
2. The mailing address (e-mail) of the recipient of the letter is number 2 in Fig. 1.
3. The subject (title, title) of the letter is number 3 in Fig. 1.
4. Contents of the letter (number 4 in Fig. 1), which includes:
   • greetings,
   • main text,
   • conclusion,
   • signature.
5. Attachment to the letter (attached files or attached files) – number 5 in Fig. 1.

All listed items are required to be completed, except for the last one (number 5 in Fig. 1) – attachments to the letter. If you do not need to attach any files to the letter that explain the text of the letter, then you can forget about this point.

Rule 2: The mailing address and name of the sender must be clear.

Correspondence involves two parties, so attention should be paid to personal data. Personal data should be understandable and as complete as possible, so as not to cause misunderstanding, wariness and mystery among the addressee.

The most trustworthy postal address is one that contains your first and last name, for example, [email protected].

If the sender has a blog, then it will be useful to indicate an address with the website domain, for example, info@site. The fact is that by going to the site (site) indicated after the @ sign, you can learn a lot about the author of the site from the materials presented on it.

If the postal address is of the form [email protected], then not every recipient of a letter from such an addressee will decide to open this letter. What if there is a virus that blocks the computer, or spam that, after opening such a letter, will flow in an endless stream?

Rule 3. The subject (title, title) of the letter must always be indicated.

The header of the letter is the only thing that the recipient of the letter sees when it arrives to him. Very often, the title of the letter determines its future fate:

• the recipient will open it
• or delete it without looking.

Therefore, letter headings should be treated with special reverence (that is, with reverence).

Options for the fate of the received letter depending on its title:

• the letter will not be noticed among a heap of other letters,
• they will consider it useless and therefore will not even open it,
• without hesitation, they will immediately send it to the “ ” or “Deleted Items” folder,
• read partially or completely,
• perhaps they will even answer.

The title of the letter is the key to getting the recipient interested in opening the letter, or rather, “hooking” it, attracting attention. This is especially important if you are writing a letter to someone for the first time. To paraphrase the words from the book “The Adventures of Captain Vrungel” (“whatever you name the ship, so it will sail”), we can say that “whatever you name the letter, that’s how it will reach” the recipient.

Thus, the title of the letter should be short (no more than 50 characters), interesting and to the point (express the essence of the letter).

Moreover, during the correspondence, if the recipient of the letter responds to the author, the header of the letter should not change. It also should not change during repeated correspondence, when the letter is sent many times in one direction or the other.

If during the correspondence the topic of discussion changes, then it makes sense to change the subject of the letter or, perhaps, create a new letter with a new topic for further correspondence.

Rule 4. When replying to any letter, think about whether you need to change the subject of the letter.

In the vast majority of cases, there is NO need to change the subject of the letter; I will explain the reasons below. But, as you know, there are some exceptions to the rules. However, first things first.

How to write a letter response

Many novice users respond to letters incorrectly, namely, having received the letter, they read it and click on the “Write” button to respond. This is fundamentally wrong.

When replying to a letter, you should click on the “Reply” button in order to understand where you started the correspondence and where you came to. For this:

• You need to open the letter. In this case, the “Reply” button will appear above or below the open letter (number 1 in Fig. 2).
• Click on “Reply”.
• “Re: …” will automatically appear in the subject (header) of the letter (number 2 in Fig. 2). The letters “Re” are a sign that this is a response to a letter.
• Write your answer at the beginning of the letter so that the answer comes first, and below is the text of the previous letter.

Rice. 2 How to write a response letter

In many services technical support When emailing about any problem, they ask you to click on the “Reply” button. And at the same time, do not change anything in the correspondence in previous letters. More precisely, any technical support asks to “save the citation when answering.” Because it’s easier to understand where we started to solve the problem and what we came to.

Many novice users cannot find the previous letter, or for some other reason they often DO NOT respond (that is, they do not use the “Reply” button), but write a new letter (click on the “Write” or “Create” button). Receiving a new letter every time, it can be difficult for the recipient of a new letter to remember “from scratch” all the details of the previous letter, which makes correspondence very difficult.

And professional technical support may not respond to incorrectly formatted letters at all.

Note that “Re:” is an abbreviation for the English “Reply:” or “Response:”, which translates as “My response to:”. If the subject of the letter has changed, you should delete this “Re:” and write new topic letters reflecting the essence of the new turn of events.

Rule 5. Fill in the recipient's mailing address (To) last.

The “To” field is best filled in last, after the letter has been written and checked. This will allow you to avoid frequently recurring mistakes when the sender of a letter sends it to the recipient unfinished, accidentally clicking on the “Reply” button.

And if you click on the “Reply” button, then before clicking, check first of all whether you are sending the letter to the right addressee. It can be very offensive when a letter, especially if it contains personal or confidential information, goes not where you intended to send it.

Rule 6. Save the text of the letter in a separate file before sending the letter.

Unfortunately, this rule is remembered only when

• There was an unexpected failure when sending a letter,
• or when a letter is asked to be sent again because it was not received for some reason.

When sending important emails with a "wall of text" typed by hand rather than copied from somewhere, this is very good rule. It makes life a lot easier.

Rule 7. The text of the letter must meet the following requirements:

1) The text of the letter must contain a greeting.

At a minimum, “Hello.” or “Good day.” If you know the name, then “Dear Name (possibly Patronymic).” The greeting “Good day” is often used when communicating on the Internet instead of “Good morning”, “Good afternoon” or “Good evening”. This is due to the fact that the sender of an email can never know exactly when his email will be opened by the recipient. The sender and recipient may be located in different parts of the Earth, in different time zones. And the sender never knows exactly when the recipient will open and read his letter.

2) The text of the letter must be correct and free of errors.

For some reason, literacy is not given much importance. Errors can be found on the official websites of serious companies, not to mention letters, in which it is sometimes difficult to understand not only individual words, but also entire phrases, they can be formulated so illiterately and with errors. It's important to remember that poor writing is bad culture and has no place on the Internet.

3) The text of the letter must be clear in content.

The sender always knows what he is writing about, but the recipient can only understand this from the text of the letter. The sender does not always write about his problem in a way that is understandable to the recipient. Letters that are unclear in content can only cause irritation and frustration in the recipient, since he spent time reading the letter, but did not understand what the sender wanted to tell him.

4) The text of the letter should cover the scope of one topic.

If the sender has something to say to the recipient on different topics, then it is better to send one letter on each topic. This will make it easier for the recipient to perceive the information and allow him to give you an accurate and comprehensive answer.

5) The text of the letter must be structured in terms of content and external perception.

Structured text is easy to read. And it is perceived as intended by the author of the letter. An unstructured text with leaps of thought, with a predominance of emotions rather than facts, with incomprehensible connections, etc. may be perceived by the recipient of the letter in a completely different way than the sender intended. As a result, communication by email will not work. It will not take place at all, or you will need a telephone, Skype and other means of communication.

6) The text of the letter must be of optimal size.

Very short letters of 5-7 words are, of course, pleasant to read, but you need to be understood by a very talented writer in order to put the main idea into these words. It is better for an inexperienced letter writer to write more in order to convey the information or information sent to the addressee as accurately as possible.

At the same time, an excessively long letter, replete with repetitions, additional explanations, unnecessary off-topic information, etc., is perceived by the recipient as a “wall of text,” tires him and causes a negative reaction. Everything needs moderation;

7) The font of the letter text must be a common type that will be displayed in all mail services.

Fans of exotic fonts, for example, those resembling handwritten text with a quill pen, should remember that the recipient may end up with unreadable gobbledygook instead of the text of the letter. Exotic lovers should ensure that the exotic font they use is sent in the letter along with the text.

8) The font size in the text of the letter should be uniform.

You can write any minor notes in small font; everything else should be done in the same font size. Some email services generally use a single universal font. This should always be remembered, since all the sender’s efforts to decorate the text with fonts different sizes Ultimately, the recipient will see the text as monotonous. So is it necessary to try so hard?

9) In the text of the letter, you should not abuse the use of capital letters.

It is difficult to read letters where all the letters are small, even at the beginning of a sentence, or vice versa, where all the letters are CAPITAL. Remember that a LETTER WRITTEN WITH Caps Lock ON AND CONSISTING OF CAPITAL LETTERS IS PERCEIVED ON THE INTERNET as A SCREAM and means only a scream and nothing else.

10) The tone of the letter should under no circumstances be aggressive or irritable.

The text of the letter should not contain curses or insults. It is best to write a letter when you are in a balanced and reasonable state. Light playfulness and appropriate humor are welcome if the recipient supports a similar tone of communication and is able to appreciate it.

11) At the end you should always leave a signature (first name, last name, nickname, position for business letters) with possible wishes to the interlocutor.

Wishes include: With respect, With gratitude, etc.

Rule 8: Emails must be answered.

It is always customary to respond to a letter, so you need to find the time and opportunity to pay mutual attention and respect to the senders.

Email does not tolerate stagnation. Working with email largely depends on the discipline and organization of the recipient. This consists of regularly monitoring your mailbox, familiarizing yourself with incoming correspondence, studying it, systematizing it and writing responses.

One of the important points is the timely response, which in itself speaks positively about the recipient and characterizes his degree of responsibility and interest.

Email is not the usual paper mail with postmen, cars, planes, trains. Emails are delivered in seconds, and senders expect a quick response. In electronic communication, a completely different pace is adopted; one might say that it is “here and now.” Lateness in time may lead to the loss of relevance of the topic under discussion.

Rule 9: Do not send confidential information by email.

Unfortunately, email can be hacked and intercepted. And then the passwords and numbers written down in the emails bank cards, PIN codes, etc. may become accessible to unauthorized persons who can use them for personal gain. Therefore, such information should not be trusted by email.

Rule 10. Do not publish information from personal letters without the consent of their senders.

By respecting other people's confidential information, you respect both yourself and your right to privacy.

Communication via email without mutual visual and auditory contact requires adherence to the rules of etiquette, which in turn contribute to the establishment of competent and cultural dialogue between people.

In one of his letters, Antoine Saint-Exupery noted:

“Look for me in what I write.”

This is a very apt expression, including in relation to the above-mentioned principles of email etiquette.

For whom: sales managers; sales department managers; employees who correspond with clients.

Summary: Rules for business correspondence. Structure of a letter to a client. Formatting a letter.

Rules for business correspondence

1. It’s good to start a letter with gratitude or a compliment: “Olga, thank you for your answer!”
2. If you are writing to a client for the first time, tell him where you got his email or remind him of a previous interaction.
3. Write in simple, understandable language. Avoid using clericalism and speech cliches: “currently”, “I bring to your attention”, “cooperation on mutually beneficial terms”, “highly professional”, “to avoid”, “for reasons”, etc.
4. You should also avoid complex terms, highly specialized and foreign words, and incomprehensible abbreviations.
5. To focus on important points letters, start the sentence with the name: “Alexander, please send the reconciliation report...”.
6. If you answer several questions, quote them or briefly mention the content of the question so that it is clear what is being said.
7. React calmly to dissatisfaction or aggression on the part of the client, show your intention to help him resolve the situation.
8. Avoid sensitive or confidential topics. The letter may accidentally end up in the hands of another employee, which could put the client in an awkward position.
9. Let the client know that you have received his letter.
10. In business correspondence, it is customary to respond to letters no later than 3 hours later. If you are unable to resolve the issue immediately, let the client know when you will be able to do so.
11. Avoid writing to clients on weekends and holidays, as well as on Monday mornings or Friday evenings. Exception: if you have previously agreed on this with the client; if you have an urgent matter that cannot be postponed.
12. It is considered impolite to send many letters in a row. Exception: if you sent a letter and saw that the information in it is incomplete or irrelevant, you can follow up with another letter with additions and apologies.
13. Auto-reply about receipt of letters is not used in modern business correspondence.
14. Before sending, be sure to check that the recipient's name and company name are correct.
15. It is not customary to use a postscript in business correspondence.

Letter structure

1. Email
   The mailing address should be as short and memorable as possible. It is better to use a personalized e-mail (for example, [email protected]).
2. Letter subject
   Be sure to indicate the subject of the letter. The topic must correspond to the content. If you know the name of the person you are writing to or their position, indicate them in the subject line.
3. Notes
   For special emails, you can use the “Important” mark. It is better to request read confirmation only in exceptional cases.
4. Letter structure
   • greetings;
   • a brief description of the subject of the letter;
   • deciphering the question;
   • completion (call to action).
   Golden rule: one letter - one subject - one appeal.
5. Attachments
   If you are attaching files to the letter, please inform the recipient about this in the subject line of the letter. It is more convenient to transfer heavy files via cloud service(for example, Yandex.Disk).
6. Signature
   Include only basic and relevant contacts in your signature. Try to keep it to 3-5 lines.

Formatting a letter

1. Use easy-to-read sans-serif fonts in your email. The optimal font size is 12-14 point.
2. The optimal paragraph length is 3-4 lines. Sentence length – 12-18 words. It is better to break a longer sentence into two.
3. It is desirable that the entire letter fits on the screen.
4. To highlight important words and expressions, use bold font (no more than 4-5 words in a row). Refrain from highlighting entire sentences (especially if they are long), and especially entire paragraphs.
5. Do not overuse highlighting text with bright colors, capital letters, or italics. When in doubt, opt for restraint.
6. It is better to avoid underlined text – it can be confused with links.
7. Exclamation mark should be used with caution, only where it is really needed. It would be unnecessary to use three or more exclamation/question marks.
8. Numbered and bulleted lists improve the comprehension of information.
9. Pictures should complement the content of the letter, but in no case replace it (many recipients have disabled the display of pictures; letters where the text is replaced with a picture may be regarded as SPAM).

Develop corporate standards for business correspondence. This will help regulate the process of correspondence between employees and clients and avoid mistakes that could affect sales and the image of your company.

The rules of business correspondence and several tricky maneuvers for establishing good relationships using letters need to be known not only by those whose email is overflowing with incoming correspondence every working day, and whose plans include several correspondence and messages, the initiator of which should be you. Mastering the magic of beeches is useful for every modern woman. This will be useful, at a minimum, when looking for a job - sending a resume, cover letters, additional information about yourself upon request and test tasks, as well as sending messages to coordinate an interview time.

Literacy is the basis of business correspondence and your face

The fact that bloggers with dyslexia can be popular on the Internet should not be an excuse for your mistakes and slips. Don’t console yourself with the fact that things didn’t work out with the Russian language back in school (it’s high time to improve the rules for writing “not” with different parts of speech). Be as demanding of yourself as possible. It is especially offensive when conducting business correspondence to write words from your professional field incorrectly. The interlocutor may doubt your competence.

1. Keep the website gramota.ru in your internet browser bookmarks.

2. Do not use words for which you cannot give an exact definition (at least check Wikipedia).

3. Keep in mind that rare and specific words that may not be familiar to the interlocutor will confuse him or may be misinterpreted. If the interlocutor needs to be introduced to your terminology, then, according to the rules of etiquette, give an explanation of the terms and abbreviations used.

4. Try not to make sentences too long. Leave complex and ornate designs for writing a novel, not for conducting business correspondence.

5. We strongly recommend that you type the message not immediately in the body of the letter, but first in a file on your computer. First, word's built-in spelling and punctuation will help you. Secondly, you will eliminate the unpleasant situation of accidentally sending a business letter prematurely or losing it due to closing the browser, etc. (when typing text in Word, get into the habit of clicking on the “save” icon more often and set auto-save at short intervals in the settings) . Remember that predictive typing on tablets and mobile devices can provide some unexpected corrections to your words.

6. Before sending a letter, reread it several times. If time is running out (by the way, one of the important basic rules of business correspondence is not to delay deadlines, so it’s better not to start writing at the very last moment), then re-read the text you typed some time after typing - after half an hour or an hour, switching for some other business.

Competent business correspondence. Important Details

Attention to detail when conducting and executing business correspondence shows respect and saves time

7. Don’t neglect filling out the “subject” field of the letter . If you're sending your first cold email, the subject line can be eye-catching, unique, and intriguing. But if your letter is already expected or you have been in correspondence with the recipient for some time, then the topic should be stated briefly, clearly and succinctly. This will allow you to quickly find your letter (both for you and the recipient) in the mail if necessary.

8. Long chains of “Re: Re: Re:” give the impression of litter. Don’t be afraid to start a new chain with your interlocutor, quote only previous messages that are relevant to the issue (and yes, they need to be “pulled along” if you, for example, are discussing the details of a specific project, agreeing on a budget/prices/service packages and etc. - in this case, quoting is convenient and required by business etiquette).

9. If the incoming message contains several questions for you, then answer them, quoting each one separately. If you are sending a letter with several questions, then use numbering and break the text into paragraphs. Stick to a clear structure.

10. In the body of the letter, comment on all attachments to the message. Sign all files that you attach so that the recipient can immediately receive information about their contents .

11. Signature is a very important detail business letter. In the settings of email services, you can usually set an automatic signature for all your letters. A well-written signature is equivalent to printing business cards, good business cards. In addition to your first and last name, use the designation of your position, contact information (phone, skype), and company logo in your signature. Just as business cards that are creatively relevant (memorable and associated with the person or company they work for) are considered the best, a signature can be “with a twist” that indicates your connection to the company or speaks of your love for the business you do. For example, some employees of the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house use the additional sentence “Now I’m reading...” in their signature (and insert the name of the publishing house’s new product). Representatives of companies in the food industry can end their letters with wishes for a “delicious day,” etc. Sometimes such formatting of business correspondence should be agreed upon with management.

12. For business correspondence, NameWoman strongly recommends creating a separate mailing address. It is advisable that it reflects the name of the company or the domain of the company’s website, your name (full, without diminutive forms) and your last name. Do not use numbers in your email name that indicate your age or year of birth. Displaying your position in the email title is quite acceptable, but some people avoid this because they plan not to change Mailbox, moving higher up the career ladder.

You should also avoid using e-mail addresses that are playful or overly creative when sending resumes and similar business letters. Especially if you are a candidate for a serious position in a large company.

Business correspondence etiquette

13. The style of business correspondence does not have to be dry. But seriousness and a certain rigor of designs is a mandatory rule. Avoid diminutive suffixes, slang and colloquial expressions.

14. Emoticons can become pitfalls. In principle, they should not be in the first letters of a business acquaintance. With established contact, smiling parentheses are still acceptable, but do not overdo it and do not become the initiator of such “cute decorations” of the letter. Sad and any creative animated emoticons when conducting business correspondence (and especially in situations where you are “from below”) are strictly prohibited.

15. Be sure to use a respectful greeting and address by name, first name and patronymic at the beginning of the letter and further throughout the text, if appropriate. This is not only required by the ethics of business correspondence, it allows you to increase the interlocutor’s interest in your message and loyalty to it. Recipients are always more attentive to addressed letters, so try to find out in advance the name of the person to whom you should write, and what kind of address he prefers (by first name or first name and patronymic).

According to the rules of business correspondence, in normal cases the response must be sent within business days, maximum two. If you receive a letter in the last hours of the working day before a long weekend or vacation, then you are not required to provide a detailed response to a non-urgent letter. However, according to business correspondence etiquette, it would be reasonable to send a short reply stating that you have received the letter and a comment that you are currently away and will respond in detail after such and such a date or no later than such a period. You should do the same if, in order to answer, you need clarification of any information that you must obtain from a third party or after conducting thorough work on collecting data and preparing materials.

In turn, if you need a response letter from your interlocutor, then you can duplicate your request in 3 business days. If you need an urgent response, then write about this correctly in your first letter (explaining the reasons, if possible), also asking for confirmation of its receipt. By the way: check your spam folder regularly (every three days).

And a little more about what a beautiful business letter looks like. Formatting business correspondence

The letter should be easy to read and understand. Short sentences, a minimum of participial and participial phrases - simple designs- This is the basis of business correspondence. What else will help you present the perfect letter sample according to all the rules?

16. Paragraphs in your correspondence should be no longer than 7-10 lines.

17. The text of a business letter will be perceived better and look neater if the spacing between paragraphs is larger than the spacing between lines in one paragraph.

19. Words, and even more so phrases and entire sentences, written in capital letters are perceived as shouting, pressure and disrespect. This style is inappropriate for business correspondence. Don't allow yourself to do this even if you are a boss who is dissatisfied with his subordinate.

Business courtesy and networking techniques

20. Allow your interlocutor to agree to your proposal, reflect his opinion, give you advice, leave a comment or ask a question. The easiest way to do this is to use in a letter the phrases “what do you think about this?”, “if you have any questions, I will try to answer them,” “write to me about your decision.”

21. Be attentive to signals coming from the recipient. Pay attention to your interlocutor's writing style and how he addresses you. Remember the psychological rule of the mirror. It’s great if your letter reflects his style (but not misspelled, of course). If he mentions some personal information, take note of it. Be polite and correct, reflecting joy, sympathy, participation, and congratulations on the holidays.

22. Speaking of holidays. If your business correspondence takes place around the dates of official holidays, then congratulate your interlocutor on the past/upcoming holidays. Important clients and those with whom you maintain long-term business correspondence, according to the rules of etiquette, should be congratulated in a separate letter. It will be useful to find out when your interlocutor's birthday is - this information is usually easy to obtain from social networks.

Maintain your individual client base and professional contacts database. In addition to last names and first names, positions and telephone numbers, links to accounts on social networks and email, write down personal data, mark projects and issues on which you have already crossed paths in business correspondence.

23. The ethics of business correspondence and basic politeness say: do not forget about words of gratitude. For congratulations, advice, clarifications, invitations, informational certificates, prompt response from your business correspondent.

Milena Just