Formal letters are written communication for professional or official purposes, characterised by a structured format and formal language. They are often used in business, academic, legal, and official communications to convey information, make requests, provide feedback, or address concerns.
Letter of Enquiry
The agenda behind writing this letter is to collect information about something or someone. Here you should mention why you expect the sender to give you particular information.
Format: Collecting information.
- Always start with a brief introduction about yourself.
- Try including the name of the concerned organization.
- Mention relevant details about the area of inquiry.
- Include deadlines by which you need the information (including deadlines signifies the urgency).
Order Letter
Order letters are basically the purchase order letter, where the sender is ordering a particular commodity. Purchase order letters are usually drafted by the purchasing department of any organization.
Format: Booking orders.
- Details of the order must be stated clearly including complete information like the quantity of the goods, model number (if available), etc.
- Mention proper information related to the shipping like the mode of shipping, shipping location and the desired date for the goods to be shipped must be clearly stated.
- Payment Related inquiries must also be stated clearly including the mode of payment, date of payment, or terms and conditions regarding payment.
Letter of Complaint
Letter of complaint is usually written to make the receiver aware of the issues that you are facing and how you expect him/her to resolve those issues as early as possible.
Format: Registering complaints.
- Use polite yet assertive words regarding complaint issues.
- Mention the complaint in detail, the reader should be fully aware of the issue n order to address it.
- Specify the action you want the recipient to take, it would signify that you are just not pointing out the problem, you are providing a solution to it.
- Provide order information including the date of arrival, order number, or the details of the previous complaint (if any).
- Specify the expected response time, if you keep deadlines, it signifies the importance of the issue.
- Attach a copy or a specimen of the invoice or any other receipt.
Reply to a Letter of Complaint
This letter is written to signify that the letter is received and you will be taking the required actions as soon as possible. It creates a positive impact in the mind of the receiver that his/her issues were taken seriously.
Format: Reply to the letter of complaint.
- Apologize for the error from your side.
- Mention the course of actions you will take for the concerned issues and the time required to do so.
- Assure the customer no more future grievances and troubles.
- Be very clear and specific about every detail.
Promotion Letter
Format: Promotion of new developments and up-gradation.
- Use clear, error-free sentences expressing definite terms.
- Proper use of punctuation and correct spelling.
- Avoid slang, fancy terminologies of jargon.
- Clearly discuss the promotion.
- Avoid using abbreviations.
Sales Letter
Format: Sale intention.
The purpose of this letter is to make a sales pitch. You are informing the receiver about your new product which you have recently launched and how will it be beneficial to that person. Make sure you mention all the Unique Selling Points of your product in the letter.
- The language must be formal.
- Avoid slang and use of abbreviations.
- The content must be clear, concise and understandable.
- Pay attention to the targeted audience.
- Provide proper details, features, uses of a newly launched product.
Recovery Letter
Recovery letters are basically loan recovery letters, where you are requesting the receiver to clear off the debts if they have failed to clear them on time.
Format: Collect money from a client or a customer.
- The language of the remainder must be polite.
- The detailed information and the reasons must be clear and understandable by the client.
- The language should be formal.
- Provide the detail of legal action in case of non-payment or further delay in clearing the dues.