How to Write an Acknowledgement Letter

Definition of an Acknowledgement Letter

An acknowledgement letter is a type of letter that is made when there is a need to confirm receipt of any documents, goods, or services. A letter can also be sent to confirm any facts, actions, or telephone conversations. Usually, acknowledgement letters become a guarantee that the verbal agreements or promises reached remain valid. In addition, with the help of such a letter, you can express respect and show courtesy towards the partner.

How to Write an Acknowledgement Letter – Structure

The acknowledgement letter can be both business and personal. A letter can also confirm the booking of a hotel room, respond to an invitation, report on receipt of goods or services, agree to a meeting, and accept conditions for participation in an event. When writing an acknowledgement letter, we recommend sticking to the following scheme.

• Greeting

If you are writing a business acknowledgement letter, it is advisable to use official form for writing your name and address. You can send a letter via email while observing all the formalities. It should start with a greeting corresponding to the content of the letter. Sometimes in business correspondence it is necessary to use the greeting form “Dear Sirs” or a similar appeal. If the correspondence is informal or if the business partner is your friend, less formal forms of greeting are acceptable.

• Details of agreement

In the letter it is advisable to confirm the details of the agreement that was reached – the date, time, and place. Be as specific as possible. List all details that relate to the agreement. The data may indicate responsibility for failing to perform specific tasks or indicate cases that require completion. If you are asking someone to take some responsibility, ask for confirmation. You can indicate in the letter exactly what confirmation you are waiting for, in writing or verbally.

• Acknowledgement

If necessary, confirm receipt of the information or item. For example, “I was glad to receive.”

• Gratitude to the recipient

The letter should be finished by expressing gratitude to the recipient. For example, “Regards” or “Best regards” work well. Write your name and put a signature. In business correspondence, only the full name is used. Reread the letter. This recommendation is especially important when it comes to business arrangements.

Steps on How to Write an Acknowledgement Letter

These steps can be used, for example, for writing a request letter, a reminder letter, and other business letters.

1. Take a letterhead for writing your letter. This will eliminate the need to specify separately the details of the organization. If you use a regular sheet, then as a rule, in the upper left corner, write the details of the organization: name, address, and telephone.
2. In the upper right corner, write the name of the organization of the addressee and the name of the person representing this company.
3. In addition, put the date and the title.
4. In the body of the letter, present confirmation of receipt of values, documents, information, etc. For example, “We have received from you an offer of cooperation and confirm …”
5. In addition, add words at the end with the hope of further fruitful cooperation.

Acknowledgement Letter Sample

For receipt of any important information, documents, or goods, the organization can confirm the fact of receipt by writing an acknowledgement letter. An acknowledgement letter sample can be found in this article below. A sample plays a definite, important role in writing your own letter. By using it as a template, you can easily acknowledge the receipt of any values, documents, or information in a proper way.

Click on the image to see its full size.

Advice on How to Acknowledge Emails

• In business correspondence it is necessary to observe a business tone, even if you are well acquainted with the recipient of the letter, and avoid conversational language.
• Before sending a letter, ask someone to reread it. Your own mistakes are always harder to find than others.
• Use appropriate vocabulary in business correspondence. Avoid academic terms, but try not to use expressions like “by the way” and “actually.”
• When deciding on the appropriateness of writing a letter of acknowledgement, refer to common sense. The details of the oral agreements may eventually be forgotten, and then a written statement will prove the agreement reached.
• The key phrase of the acknowledgement letter should include words derived from the verbs “acknowledge” and “confirm.” A letter may end with a request, wish, suggestion, etc.

In such letters it is customary to use the following expressions:

• We received your letters.
• We inform you that we have received your letter on …
• We confirm receipt.
• We gratefully acknowledge receipt of your order and proceed to fulfillment.

When confirming agreement with the date of the negotiations, price, terms of delivery, etc., and when certifying any fact, the letters traditionally use the following wording:

• We confirm.
• We send you a confirmation.
• We are pleased to confirm.
• The enterprise (name) considered the letter of the director of the enterprise on … and reports.

When to Use an Acknowledgement Letter

If you want to learn how to write an acknowledgement letter, you should know how to use it properly. Using an acknowledgement letter, one of the parties can notify the other of the following:

• their consent of concluding a treaty;
• consideration of any issue;
• decision making;
• receiving documents, goods, money, etc.

In other words, the reasons for the writing of such letters in the daily practice of commercial companies are many.

Why Write an Acknowledgement Email?

To understand how to acknowledge emails, you need to know the reason why you should do this. This question is quite reasonable, especially taking into consideration the variety of forms of modern communications. Any question can be solved by phone, Skype, or even social networks. Why should we write a letter? A written message becomes evidential.

In some cases, it may become an analogue of an agreement of intent or, for example, an act of receiving goods, etc. (in this case, in no way replacing these documents, but complementing them). In addition, such letters help to establish business contacts, form a trusting atmosphere in relations between organizations, strengthen loyalty, and emphasize a special attitude to the addressee.

The Compiler of an Acknowledgement Letter

In organizations, the obligation to write acknowledgement letters usually goes to the specialist or manager of the department in charge of a particular issue, as well as the secretary, HR specialist, or lawyer.

Regardless of who exactly will be writing the document, it is important that this employee has a clear understanding of how to form such letters, and to comply with all the norms and requirements of business correspondence.

The Main Features of the Formation of the Letter

If you need to notify the counterpart about the confirmation of any fact on your part, we recommend that you carefully read the tips below and see a sample document. First of all, let us say that the acknowledgement letter does not have a unified form, so you can compose it in an arbitrary form or, if your company uses some kind of unique template for this document, compose it according to its model.

Writing a letter by hand (in the modern world this option is not widely used) or typing on a computer is allowed. An ordinary sheet of paper of any convenient format (preferably A4) and company letterhead will also be suitable for writing (the second option will give the document greater solidity).

When writing a letter you need to consider a few important points:

1. All sums of money must be entered into it in numbers.
2. Dates should be written in the format “month-day-year.”
3. Documents are indicated by the date of their writing and number.

If any additional papers are attached to the letter (photo or video materials), their presence should also be noted in the text of the letter as a separate item. The letter must be signed by the sender (the person on whose behalf it is written) and the head of the company, and if the organization uses stamp products for sighting papers, the letter can be verified with their help.

The copy of the acknowledgement letter is usually one – the original one, which is recorded in the log of outgoing documentation. The text of the letter should contain a set of standard data:

• information about the sender (name of the organization, its address, telephone, e-mail);
• information about the addressee (the name of the company, its address, position, and name of the manager or other employee to whom the message is sent);
• the number of the letter (in accordance with the log of outgoing correspondence) and the date of its writing.

Then in the middle of the line, the name of the document and appeal to a specific person are written (“Dear Mr./Ms.” and then the surname). After this, the main part is presented. This includes information about what you are going to confirm:

• When it comes to cooperation, you need to specify exactly what it concerns.
• When it comes to contracts and projects, here it is necessary to enter their name, number, date, and other identification characteristics.
• When the confirmation concerns the receipt of some inventory items, cargo, parcels, or cash, it is advisable to indicate, along with the date of receipt, the documents with which they were accompanied.

In general, the more this part of the letter is described, the better. If necessary, the letter can be supported by reference to laws and regulations, if they are directly related to the issue addressed in the letter. At the end of the letter, depending on the purpose of writing, you can express a wish, request, question, or make an interesting proposal.

How to Send an Acknowledgement Letter

There are several ways to send an acknowledgement letter:

1. A rather reliable and simple method is to forward the message via regular mail by registered mail with a return receipt. Why so? This way allows the sender to make sure that his message has been delivered to the addressee, and there is only one minus here – a letter can be sent for several days, or even a week.
2. If the letter is written on a computer, it can be sent via email (with a request for confirmation of reading) or fax.
3. But the most effective is the use of two options at the same time: for example, sending copies of letters via email and regular mail.

Typical Mistakes in Acknowledgement Letters

Unfortunately, the compilers of acknowledgement letters often make a lot of mistakes. The errors can be divided into the following main types: grammatical, structural, and syntax errors.

• Grammatical errors.
• Structural errors. The source of structural errors is the incorrect construction of the business letter, and the disproportionate position of its parts. It is important that every aspect of the content occupies a specific place in the logical structure of an acknowledgement letter and does not coincide with another aspect. Failure to comply with this condition leads to long introductions and not understanding the essence of your letter as a result.
• Syntax errors. Often there are errors associated with the wrong word order in the sentence. For example: “To determine the payment fund at the end of the year, prices for products are specified.” In writing, the informational role of word order increases by the end of the sentence; therefore, it is not clear in a given phrase – the prices are specified at the end of the year, or the prices are specified to determine the payment fund. This proposal should be drafted as follows: “To determine the payment fund, prices for products are specified at the end of the year.”

Often, the compilers of acknowledgement letters unnecessarily complicate the text. Although the specifics of a business letter require close attention to the details of the presentation, not all details are appropriate in the text. Therefore, unnecessarily complicated syntax constructions should be simplified. This can be done both by direct abbreviation of the text, and by its processing: for example, by breaking a complex text into separate, simple phrases in composition and construction.

You can use the guide you have read to write your own acknowledgement letter easily and quickly. It should be borne in mind that samples can also help you, but you should adjust them according to your own purposes in writing. Moreover, you can learn how to write other types of letters if you check out our blog.