Professional Letters: Types & Formatting
Professional Letter Types
Personal business letters are written to a business or organization on your own behalf. In other words, you are writing as a person/private citizen – not as a representative of the company you work for or the organization your associated with. For example, if I write a letter of complaint to the “quality standards” division of whole foods markets to report finding a cricket in a bag of prewashed kale, I am writing as a private citizen (not as a representative of FAU). Thus, my letter is a personal business letter.
Business letters are written to 1) other businesses/organizations or 2) individuals on behalf of the business/organization to which the writer belongs. For example, if Jane Smith, Director of Quality Standards at Whole Foods, writes a letter of apology to me in response to my complaint, Jane Smith is writing on behalf of the company she works for (not as a private citizen). Since she is writing as the voice of the company, her letter is a business letter.
Professional Letter Formats & Punctuation[1]
Block Format: The entire letter is left aligned with a ragged right margin.
Modified-Block Format: All lines except the date, closing, and signature block align at the left margin. The date, closing, and signature block begin at (or to the right of) the center of the page.
Spacing: Paragraph text should be single spaced with an additional space between paragraphs.
Indentation: Block and modified block letter formats may use first-line paragraph indentation or may left align all text (with no first-line paragraph indentation).
Open Punctuation: No punctuation following the salutation or closing.
Mixed/Standard Punctuation: A colon follows the salutation and a comma follows the closing.
Closed Punctuation: A comma follows the salutation and closing.
Additional Pages: If a letter extends to a second, third, etc., page, the second and subsequent pages have a header indicating the page number. The header may also include the recipient’s name and/or date, though opinions vary on whether this information is required and how it should be formatted. For personal business letters, it’s a matter of personal preference and consistency. For business letters — when you write as a representative of a company you work for or organization you belong to — check to see if your business/organization has a style guide or editorial guide that indicates preference.
Block Format
Block vs. Modified Block Format
Signature Block
If you’re writing as a representative of—or on behalf of—a business, organization, club, or other group, you can (and probably should) include your role or title and the name of your organization on separate lines after your name.
| email signature block | letter signature block |
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Avoid Redundancy
It’s almost always redundant to begin professional correspondence with “My name is…” or “I’m the [ role/title ] at [ organization ]…”
There’s no need to introduce yourself—your name, role, or organization at the beginning of your correspondence because that information (your name, role or title, and organization) should go in the signature block of letters and emails or in the heading of memos.