Written Communications

Learn a formula for writing clear, concise, and professional business correspondence.

The Goal of Any Written Communication and Why It’s So Often Missed in Corporate America

The goal of written communication is the same as face-to-face or telephone communications: to focus on your audience. Specifically in written communications, your goal is to produce reader-centered writing. Remember: it’s not all about you. It is all about your audience.

How well do you rate in writing reader-centered documents? Let’s find out. Pull out your last written business communication — a memo, e-mail, or letter — and answer YES or NO to the following questions about your document.

1. Does the content concentrate on the reader’s needs more than your own; i.e., is it formatted in an easy-to-read style?
2. Is your main message clearly stated?
3. Are your requests for actions, next steps, or deadlines highlighted with headlines or bolding?
4. Did you design for visual impact, using headlines, sidelines, white space, or bulleted lists?
5. Is your most important message strategically placed to match the reader’s needs and attitudes?
6. Does each paragraph focus on one topic?
7. Are most paragraphs a maximum of five to six lines in length?
8. Are most sentences limited to 15 words maximum?
9. Did you keep your words simple, specific, and known to your readers?
10. Did you proofread for grammar, punctuation, and spelling?

How did you do? Count the number of YES responses. Then, multiply your YES responses by 10 to get your percentile score. If you scored 70 percent or higher, CONGRATULATIONS! You’re already a pretty effective written communicator. If you scored 69 percent or less, this lesson may help you improve your writing.

Xerox Corporation found that managers spent 50 percent of their time reading and trying to decipher what was meant by employee communications such as memos and letters. The time wasters weren’t caused exclusively by grammatical errors; it was more of an issue of style and sentence structure.

Keep Your Writing Current

Dear Sir or Madam is outdated. To whom it may concern is cliché. If you are writing to a vendor, use the name of the company or the title of an individual, e.g., “Dear Human Resources Director.”

Business Writing Blunders

Thank-you notes should not be typed. When writing thank-you letters, remember: Thank the person for the specific gift or occasion. Acknowledge the effort and thoughtfulness that went into picking out the gift. Report how you have used the gift or how you are looking forward to using it in the future.

A Formula for Writing Clear, Concise Letters and Memos

This lesson section won’t deal with the parts of a business letter or memo. That’s covered thoroughly in The Etiquette Advantage in Business. Plus, many Web sites offer business letter template downloads.

Besides, most people have little trouble with the actual format of a business letter. What they struggle with is the content. That’s what this section addresses.

Four Things to Consider Before You Start Writing

1. Decide on the true purpose of the written communication:

• Why are you writing?
• Why is the reader receiving the letter, e-mail, or memo?
• What specific action do you want the reader to take?

2. Identify your audience:

• Who should be on the distribution list?
• What is the reader’s role in responding to the communication?
• What is the reader’s likely reaction to the communication?
• How do you want the reader to react?
• Why should the reader even bother to read this?
• How well does the reader know the subject?

3. Identify your bottom line:

• What is the single most important point of the communication?
• If the reader were to forget everything else, what one key point do you want them to remember?

4. Identify your strategy:

• Are you clear about deadlines and actions requested?
• What is the best method of transmission — letter, memo, or e-mail?
• Should you be writing this communication now, or are you too late, or too early?
• Is someone else communicating the same information and if so, should you check with that person first?

This four-point checklist also serves as a good way to evaluate memos and letters you have already written to see if they meet all the criteria for effective business communications.

Making Your Written Communications “Reader-Centered”

Here are some tips to consider when writing business correspondence. These tips will make it easier for your readers to understand what they are to do with the communication:

• Start with your bottom line. It should be the first thing you write. Remember BLT: Bottom Line at the Top. State your purpose and attach supporting evidence and data as a separate document, never part of the main message.
• Group information under headlines. Imaging that you are writing a news story. Use headlines and sidelines to grab the reader’s eye. Using headlines also helps direct the reader to information that is most important.
• Have an action statement. Be very specific about the action you want the reader to take.
• Include the next steps for you. Let the reader know what you will be doing next.

Here’s an example of an e-mail I recently received from a client:

SUBJECT: Training for the 16th and 17th

Vicki. I just got word that we have to cancel training for the 16th & 17th. There’s this client project that has come up and it’s taxing our resources. (Doesn’t it just figure? Murphy’s law!) So it looks like more than half the class will be gone on the 16th and 17th. Now it looks like it may be the 23rd & 24th. I’d hate to have you come all this way just for half the class, which means you would probably have to make the trip again sometime to do the other half. I was voted to be the bearer of bad news. I did advise Michele of the $75 fee for changing your airline ticket and its no problem. If you do change the airline tickets, please let me know and I know we will reimburse you for the added expense. Can you also change the hotel reservation? Thanks. As I mentioned, we’re really taxed here now and if you could help with that it would be great. Oh, and if you want to send the workbooks ahead of time, please send them to my attention. THX again.

Hmmm. I wasn’t sure at first read exactly what she wanted me to do. I assumed she wanted me to change the training dates to the 23rd and 24th. But I wasn’t sure. Let’s try rewriting the e-mail to a more reader-centered format:

SUBJECT: Please change training dates to Oct. 23 and 24

Vicki:

I hate to break it you but the October 16th and 17th training session has been canceled.

We have a client project that will require most of the training participants to be at the client site on those days. Rather than have you come all the way here for a half class, we decided to reschedule.

Action requested:

• Please reschedule the training dates from October 16 and 17 to October 23 and 24
• Please make the necessary adjustments to your airline and hotel reservations
• Send the workbooks to my attention, and I will make sure they are available on the 23rd and 24th
• Send travel expenses to my attention via e-mail so I can begin processing

Next Steps for ABC Company:

• I will reimburse you for the added travel expenses
• I will reserve a training room and the necessary equipment for the training session

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding. I look forward to seeing you at the newly rescheduled training.

Notice how the bold headlines convey the gist of the message. Imagine the time I would have saved had the original message been formatted this way.

Extra! Extra!

Don’t send anything in an e-mail that you wouldn’t want to see on the office bulletin board. Legally, your company owns and has the right to read all employee e-mail on the company computer system. And don’t think that they won’t! Also remember that deleted e-mail does not “go away.” It can be recovered and retraced.

E-Mail Etiquette

We have so many ways of communicating now: mail, fax, voice mail, cellular phone, and now — e-mail. But how do you know which method of communicating is preferred in which circumstances? A basic rule is this: use e-mail for informal messages.

When Not to Use E-Mail:

• Don’t even think of e-mailing a message of condolence to a colleague!
• Don’t use e-mail for thank-you notes or notes of congratulations to a colleague. A hand-written note is much more appropriate in these situations.
• If it’s at all personal or embarrassing in any way, don’t send it over the office e-mail system.
• Don’t send jokes over the office e-mail system.
• Don’t use e-mail as a substitute for a face-to-face meeting.
• Don’t e-mail serious information. It is too dangerous to rely on for truly important messages.

When to Use E-Mail:

• As a supplement to other forms of communication or as a substitute for paper
• As a follow-up to a meeting
• When it is the best way to get time-sensitive material out
• When exchanging computer files or data
• When you want to send informal messages

Use and Abuse

Just because many consider e-mail to be an informal means of communication doesn’t mean that your messages have to be disheveled. Try not to fall into the trap of being quick and careless while using e-mail — even though the medium is quick and easy.

Some Tips on Style:

• Use proper grammar.
• Use proper punctuation.
• Avoid writing in all lower case. It makes the message look trivial and is more difficult to read.
• Don’t write in all capitals. This is like SHOUTING AT SOMEONE. Use capitals to emphasize individual words.
• Keep sentences short.
• Don’t repeat.
• Use bullet points and headlines.
• If it’s a long message, break it into paragraphs.
• The main message of e-mail should be no more than one screen in length. If it’s longer than that, take most of the supporting material and put it into an attachment.
• Check for tone. (See next lesson page.)
• Use a spell checker!
• Never forward e-mail without the original author’s permission.

What’s In a Name?

In business correspondence, it’s important to get a person’s name and title correct. Name and title identify a person — particularly if ego is involved — and this shows concern on your part. The best way to do this is to call the business and ask for the correct name, spelling, and title.

Watching Your Tone in All Your Writing

For some reason, the written word doesn’t communicate sarcasm well — nor humor, nor jokes. There’s something about black-and-white that makes it more important — more formal, more meaningful — and more likely to come back and haunt you. After all, if it’s in black and white, it’s there for the world to see. When you write something there’s no saying you didn’t.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to be aware of your tone in all of your written communications. You see, when you write something, you know what you mean, but the recipient can’t always read what you mean.

For example, I have been charged of an accusatory tone in messages or just a negative tone when, in fact, I did not mean to be accusatory or negative. I have had people reply defensively to me and become unnecessarily upset. The first time I heard this, I was dumbfounded. A coworker of mine finally cleared things up. She said:

“Vicki, when you’re on that computer, you’re in an all-business, no-nonsense mode. And when you write e-mails, you are still in that same mode. Because of that, most of your e-mails come off very direct and very cold. Some people could interpret that approach as an accusatory tone.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized my coworker was right. I do get very task-focused when I’m on the computer. My e-mails are often curt. Buy, hey, I don’t intend them to be curt, I’m just productivity-driven. So what’s the problem?

In any communication, your intent is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the perception of the receiver. Perception is reality. So, here are some suggestions to help communicate the right tone:

1. Avoid phrases that irritate. Use the following substitutes:

• You’ll have to or I need you to (Replace with “It would be helpful if” or “Could you please?”)
• Where is your report/information, etc.? (Replace this with, “Please update me on the status of your progress.”)

2. Avoid writing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

3. Use the smiley icons or vocabulary symbols at the end of sentences that could be confused.

4. Have someone else read your written communication before you send it to make sure your tone is appropriate.

5. If it’s not possible to have someone else read the communication — set it aside for a few minutes, then come back and reread it. I cannot tell you how many times I have come back to a draft and felt mortified that I was seriously considering sending that e-mail!

6. Hit THINK before you hit SEND.

The Subject of Subject Lines

Use upper- and lowercase letters on an e-mail subject line. Using all capitals is an advertising gimmick and your message may go unread.

Remember Your Reader

The average reading comprehension level of the average American is an eighth grade level. Most newspapers write to a sixth grade reading level.

A Quick Lesson in Grammar

One grammatical, spelling, or punctuation error can ruin an otherwise effective business communication. If you have access to spell-check, use it!

Once again, The Etiquette Advantage in Business can cover grammatical concerns much more deeply than we have the time or space for here. But below are some of the most common grammatical errors:

1. Leaving the apostrophe out of it’s when it’s a contractor for “it is.”

2. Using less instead of fewer. Less refers to quantity; fewer to individual things you can count.

3. Using irregardless for regardless. There is no such word as irregardless, regardless of how many times you’ve heard it!

4. Using, “I, myself” or “you, yourself.” (Use only myself for emphasis.)

5. Misusing imply and infer. The speaker implies; the listener infers.

6. Failing to have the number of the noun agree with the verb. Some examples:

• Everyone is (not are) eligible.
• The group of writers is (not are) waiting.
• Either Alex or Amanda is (not are) qualified.
• Both Alex and Amanda are qualified.

Assignment: written communications

• Please read Chapters 24-27 in The Etiquette Advantage in Business.
• In the next memo, e-mail, or letter you write, check your communication against the Four-Step Pre-Planning Checklist.