Writing an internal business letter involves understanding your audience and focusing on a particular goal. No matter the topic, considerations of audience and tone are crucial to avoiding conflict, confusion and misinformation. To ensure success, follow a structure, include all necessary details, and proofread thoroughly. It can often help to give yourself time between the drafting of the letter and the final review to maintain objectivity and produce the most effective piece of writing. Therefore, careful planning and time management are both important aspects of the writing process.

Create a Proper Salutation

Create a proper salutation to open the letter with an appropriate tone. Use "Dear," "Greetings" or "Good morning/afternoon" to open the letter and show respect and empathy for the reader. For example: "Dear Colleagues."

Create an introduction. In the introduction, include information about the topic of the letter so that the reader understands what to expect. Your introduction might look like this:

Many of you have been wondering when the construction will be finished on our new parking garage. I am pleased to inform you that construction is scheduled to be completed by the first week of April.

Write an effective body paragraph and organize it visually to keep the reader engaged.

The body paragraph contains the most information, so organization is especially important. Use bullet points, bold text or other techniques to highlight crucial information.

Close the letter with a goodwill ending. This involves establishing a proper tone with the reader by thanking them for their time. It also involves the inclusion of necessary information in case the reader has further questions. For example:

Thank you for your time and patience. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact management at the e-mail address listed below.

Print the letter and proofread it for errors. Find any misspellings, punctuation errors or grammatical mistakes. Use the dictionary and thesaurus to revise awkward words or passive voice, and to avoid repetition.

Warning

Even if you know your business partners or colleagues well, avoid an informal or colloquial tone in the writing. Producing a document with longevity is important in written communication, and casual words and phrases are easily misinterpreted.

Tip

When writing internally, remember that your document may be seen and read by anyone in the company. Therefore, keep the information balanced, objective, accessible and gender-neutral.