Advantages and Disadvantages of Business Letter

Here you will get about Objectives or Importance or Advantages and Disadvantages of the business letter.

The advantages of Business letter are given below:

1. Exchange business-related information: Letter is the best media of exchanging information. Businessmen can easily exchange information related to business activity.
2. Convey information: The basic purpose of any business letter is to convey information regarding business activities. Information can be transmitted through business letter to customers, suppliers, debtors, government authorities, financial institutions, bank and insurance companies and to any other parties related with the business.
3. Find the new sources of product: A b letter can help to find the sources of a new product in home and abroad.
4. Expand markets: By means of a business letter, a producer can easily create market of his product. Through goodwill messages and through circular letters existing market can be expanded.
5. Establish business relationship: Another important purpose of business letter is, it helps to establish mutual relationship with the customers, suppliers and with the other interested parties.
6. Low cost: As a media of communication writing a letter is very cheap than those of others. The other forms of communication are too expensive for a small firm to bear.
7. Building goodwill and image: An excellent business letter increases the goodwill of the business organization. In this electronic era, messages can be sent within a few seconds through electronic media but a well-decorated business letter has its own importance in creation positive image of the company.
8. Maintaining records and references: Business letters are also used to maintain documentary evidence. A business letter acts as a proof document which is completely absent in other means of communication. Letters can be preserved for future reference.
9. Maintaining the secrecy: A business letter maintains the secrecy of both the buyers and the sellers on business affairs.
10. Save time: A business letter saves the valuable time of both seller or sender and buyer or receiver.
11. Easiest: Business letter is the easiest, safest and the most convenient means to transmit at any place.
12. Credit business: It is quite impossible to contract credit business without business letter. A business letter plays a vital role in credit trade which is a common figure in business world.
13. Creation of demand: Business letters especially circular letters used to create demand for new products. Circular letters can communicate many people in the same time.
14. Placing order: It is a very common purpose for using business letter. Both trading and manufacturing concerns need to place orders for finished goods or raw materials to run the business.
15. Conclude transaction: This is one of the specific purposes of business letter. To conclude in completed transactions business letters are frequently used.
16. Others: Preventing misinterpretation, Reducing the probability of distortion, Preventing tendency of non-acceptance, Giving instruction, Decision making, Overcome misunderstanding etc.

Disadvantages of business letter

We can see a few limitations of letters as a written document. They are as follows:

1. Formal structure: Some rules must be followed in drafting a letter. To follow the rules is a limitation of the business letter, because experience is necessary of the letter, as experience is necessary to write it.
2. Old media: Business letter is an old written means of communication. But there are many modern forms of written communication.
3. Complex language: Sometimes business letter is written in complex language for lacking of sense. If it occurs, business letter becomes meaningless.
4. Missing: Business letters may be missed. But it is impossible for E-mail, fax, telephone etc.
5. Taking time: In this modern era of communication, letter is considered as a slow-moving tool of communication. It takes more time than any other form of communication. But modern devices take no time to send written document such as e-mail, fax etc.
6. Secrecy: Sometimes business letter fails to maintain business secrecy.
7. Costly: In comparison to another form of the communication business letter is costly.
8. No immediate response: There is no immediate feedback in business letter.
9. Others: Red-tap-ism, lack of flexibility etc.