Business Letter Writing – Writing a Business Letter, Offline or Online II
Whenever you write about an action that the company, or a department, as a whole, is taking, use ‘we’, and whenever the action is being taken by you personally, use ‘I’. In the examples above, the first is an action on behalf of the company and the second is an action taken by you personally. “I will talk to my colleagues” is correct in that case.
When you write in a business style, you should write in such a way that there is no possibility of ambiguity and that your message is clear and easy to understand. Don’t make the mistake of believing that senior staff at your company, or any other, are educated and can understand the nuances of vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. Most can’t. Most business leaders do not have a major in English. All they want is clear writing that they can understand without having to look up a dictionary. They also want clear information, and never make excuses: give reasons.
For example,
“Dear Mr. Customer, I’m sorry your order is late. It will be here shortly” is not acceptable, while “Dear Mr. Customer, We apologize for the lateness of your recent order. It was delayed due to a problem with our production unit, but will be with you on the 17th of this month” is more acceptable.
Business letters should never tell lies or prevaricate. They should be short and to the point, and make an honest statement of fact. Lies and prevarication have a habit of biting you later, so leave them alone. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are writing to and write accordingly.
Business letters relevant to Internet business are no different, just don’t assume that just because it’s the Internet, then it doesn’t need to be as formal. Many internet entrepreneurs are highly educated people who run their internet business the same way offline businesses are run.
The best approach you can take when writing a business letter related to a conventional online or offline business is to keep it formal, don’t use too many long words, and stay on point. Indicate what needs to be said and nothing else. Businessmen want the facts, not the cookie.