When Is It Best to Write a Letter Instead of an E-mail?

Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz

Even in the digital age, businesspeople use letters for building client relations, proposals, references, invitations, and all the other formal occasions of the business world.

Of course, the line between an e-mail and a letter can be pretty blurry. We’re not necessarily defining a letter as a hard-copy document that is snail-mailed. It might be e-mailed, sent as a whole message or as an attachment. Regardless of the delivery system, you need to consciously decide when you are writing a letter and think it through as a letter for it to achieve your goal.

“Can We Meet?”

Let’s turn to a classic business situation: writing a letter to request an appointment ...