Business Writing Style Guide

Enhance your clarity and efficiency with these simple rules

Business writing is any kind of writing that occurs in a professional setting. This category of communication includes emails, memos, proposals, reports, business letters, and performance appraisals, among others. Although each of these forms contain their own set of formatting and stylistic rules, all follow the same basic conventions outlined below.

Planning

As paradoxical as it may seem, planning what you intend to write before you begin will save both you and your reader time. By identifying the Five Ws and H (who, what, when, where, why, and how), you will know what information is absolutely necessary to include in your message and be able to map out the most logical way to deliver that message.

You will need to take into careful consideration who your audience is before you begin drafting. Businesspeople are very busy and will only spend a limited amount of time reading your message, so get to the point quickly and clearly, making it easy for readers to scan and find the information they need. Furthermore, your familiarity with the audience will determine the level of formality you should use. Make sure to adjust your jargon and language for the intended audience, using metaphors and analogies you know they will understand. Recognizing how receptive your audience will be to your message will help you to determine the best way to organize your writing.

Organization

Direct Approach

The direct approach aims to arrive at the purpose quickly, usually in the first couple sentences. The most common form of business writing, this up-front organization saves your reader time and makes the rest of your message easy to follow. These messages should be structured so that the main idea and implications of your topic are identified in the first paragraph, with the body paragraphs — all beginning with a summarizing topic sentence — providing details or supporting evidence. This form of business communication should be used for conveying good news or routine information to receptive or neutral audiences.

Indirect Approach

If the message is persuasive or negative, immediately presenting your purpose can seem abrupt or even insensitive to your reader. Therefore, when addressing a skeptical or resistant audience, you should gradually build up to the purpose and only reveal it once you have established your supporting evidence. By presenting the reasoning before reaching conclusions, you are more likely to overcome your audience’s reservations. In this kind of approach, the introduction should include relevant and engaging statements, with the body paragraphs presenting your reasoning. Once the reader has been informed of why, deliver the bad news or action request in a brief, succinct way. Quickly pivot to focus on future opportunities or close with a courteous and optimistic tone.

Business Writing Style Pillars

Tone

Always maintain a respectful and helpful tone. When writing full reports or messaging someone for the first time, you should default to formality; however, it is best to be flexible and adapt your tone to meet your recipient’s style in an ongoing correspondence. Furthermore, you can look to the style of communication among the organization’s leaders and model your tone after them.

Clarity

Keep your writing as simple as possible. If your reader is unable to understand your message after one read-through then you need to do some revising. To enhance your clarity, minimize jargon and use simple vocabulary — you’re not going to impress your audience with big words. In addition, try to limit passive voice. When passive voice is used by a writer, the message can become lengthy and convoluted. You should only use passive constructions to convey negative messages or to be purposefully ambiguous, and even then, use it as sparingly as possible.

Concision

The shorter your message is the better. Wasted words are wasted time for your reader, so get to the point quickly and clearly. You can work on limiting words by removing unnecessary prepositions, using active voice, and replacing abstract -ion nouns with action verbs.

Coherence

Keep your writing organized and consistent. Planning before you start writing can go a long way in keeping your writing consistent and logical. Present only the necessary facts your reader will need to understand your topic and do so in a chronological order.

Readability

To prevent fatiguing your reader, utilize plenty of white space. With generous margins and spacing between paragraphs, you can break up your writing into less daunting, digestible sections. Moreover, try to keep your paragraphs short, usually no more than eight lines. Bulleted lists, charts, and diagrams are great ways to break up the prose and create visual stimulation. In longer forms of business writing, utilize descriptive subheadings that allow readers to quickly locate the information they need.

Dos and Don’ts

Do:

• Double check that recipients’ names are spelt correctly and have the correct form of address (Mr. Ms. Mrs. Dr. etc.). If you are unsure of the form of address, use the recipient’s full name.
• Sign off using your full name and contact information.
• Use APA for citations and references; however, APA style should not be used for document formatting and page headers.
• Vary the length and structure of sentences to prevent boring your reader.
• Feel comfortable using contractions and personal pronouns, but don’t oversaturate your message with them.
• Present facts chronologically.
• Designate one member of the team to act as an editor when working with a group on a single report. This will give the writing a more unified, professional voice.
• Proofread before you send anything.

Don’t:

• Use acronyms. These might confuse your readers who are not familiar with the phrase.
• Write when you feel angry or frustrated. Take a step back and give yourself time to detach. Only resume writing once you can respond calmly and have given the matter adequate reflection.