Students Of Success

Congratulations letters are a form of personal correspondence and are typically sent personally from you to another person. Although personal in nature, these are routinely sent to co-workers and associates within one’s profession. It’s not uncommon to send congratulations letters even to competitors. This type of correspondence conveys respect and professionalism that earns the sender a professional reputation and keeps doors open for future dealings, whatever they might be.

Format
1. Use the Friendly format arrangement for congratulations letters:

a. to the right side of the letter header place the return address
b. make two carriage returns
c. directly below the return address, place the date
d. make three carriage returns
e. do not include a reference line
f. begin your letter
g. indent the body paragraphs five spaces each
h. center the closing and signature so that the left-most character of each are justified to the center of the page if the paper were folded.

Wording
1. Congratulate the reader for their achievement, accomplishment, promotion, etc.
2. In an upbeat tone, tell the reader where you learned of the news.
3. Add a personal note or personal comment of praise in a separate paragraph.
4. Restate your congratulations and wish the reader good luck.

Tone
1. Keep your tone warm throughout the letter regardless of any personal feelings you may have to the contrary.

Email
1. With time being more and more critical, sending a congratulations letter via email, once considered a faux pas, is now becoming increasingly more accepted.
a. Send your letter in the same format as you would for snail mail - this conveys to the reader that you took the time to create a professional correspondence.
b. Depending on the circumstances, send the message from the appropriate email account: personal email account for a personal congratulations, professional email account for professional congratulations.

Printing
1. Before printing, decide on what paper to use. For Letters of Recommendation, it is best to use heavy, card stock, bond paper.
2. Make three carriage returns between the closing and your typed signature. Inside this space, sign your name for professional correspondence. For personal correspondence, there is no need for a typed signature. Simply, sign your name.
3. Print your letter and envelope on the same printer using the same font and an envelope that matches the stationery.

For samples of Congratulations Letters, take a look at…

LetterRep.com.

Rob Noyes owns and operates the Internet’s premiere Personal and Business Letter-writing site. LetterRep.com. Contact Rob at admin@letterrep.com for answers and solutions to common letter-writing situations.