When you have received donation from any source then it is extremely important that you write an acknowledgment letter. Letter of Acknowledgement For Cheque Received When your customer makes the payment in form of a cheque, you are suppose to send a formal acknowledgement of payment received which can be a payment received confirmation letter.
Modernization has resulted in a profound change in human civilizations. Earlier, people use to write letters to communicate, and the hard copies of those letters were delivered to the desired recipient in person.
However, in the Digital Age, people use varied type of communication methods to get connected to the person with whom they want to communicate.Even if the email is an offshoot of letter writing, many people are yet to master the art of emailing.
The difference between writing emails and letters is similar to that of driving a car with automatic gears, and manual gears. One need not learn how to drive a car using manual gear system before driving a car with automatic gear system.
Letters vs. Emails:
For business communication, one should write effective emails which can used both for intra-company and inter-company communication, for marketing purposes, and for coordinating with suppliers, customers, and business partners. Some important differences are:
- Emails are much shorter and simpler, and faster.
- Emails require a much-elaborated sign-off, unlike letters.
- Addresses above the email body isn’t required, unlike letters.
Being Responsive to Email:
When people send email, they wish to receive reply or acknowledgement, or else they get unsure whether their email has been received and read by the recipient or not. Thus, by getting a reply they know their email has been read. Individuals should act professionally, and give prompt replies, especially when the email is:
- addressed to you in the “to” line.
- your name is mentioned or is directed to you
- Asks for a comment, pose a question or feedback from you.
- Requires a response from you in response to another sender.
Reply, Acknowledge, Answer:
A key measure of professional success is communication. Email is considered as one of the primary mode of communication, professionals use today. One should make sure that they adopt proper email practices early on. You can respond to email in three ways, they include
- Reply: Reply can be as simple, something like this, as I received your email and I am on deadline and will look at this next week. Thus by replying the receiver is letting the sender, know that they have received the email.
- Acknowledge: An acknowledgement of an email means that you received it, read it and the recipient acknowledges the content. Acknowledgement can be simple, like thanks, got it or I am not sure or we will have meeting about this next week or you can write I will circle back after that.
- Answer: an answer to an email is the most thorough and responsive communication. An answer gives the sender the information they seek or provide them with a place or person to get that information.
Tips to Remember:
- Write brief, actionable subjects
- In explaining, be thorough but succinct
- Trim the fat; keep the meat of the email body
- Reply your business to business emails in time
- Ensure you copy your email recipients judiciously
- In attachments, highlight all the important messages
- Requesting for something? Ask a direct question instead.
Tips for Acknowledgement Emails:
Acknowledgement emails play a significant role in business as well as professional communication. One should bear in mind some of the important points while writing acknowledgement emails, such as mentioning the agenda and vital points clear.
One should try to reinforce agreements or revise the terms of agreement, promptly notify clients and partners that you have seen their email, and let your client or partner know urgently if any changes in the agreement are needed.
Acknowledgement Email Samples:
A customer has ordered for your product, but you require some more information before shipment or you require to guide the customer on what next to do. Please check the acknowledgment email below:
Dear Ms.xxxx
Thank you for your order of two containers of nitrocellulose thinner. Your goods will be ready in seven (7) working days and will be shipped in exactly eight (8) working from now.
Before that, we would like to know if you want us to include our souvenirs for your customer as well as sample products from other units. You may choose the sample products you would like to receive from the catalogue we sent earlier.
Our recycled nitrocellulose thinner is made to offer best results at very low cost. We are sure your customers will be very happy with this product.
Thanks again for your order. We look forward to receive your firm instruction to include our souvenirs and other sample products.
Sincerely
Name of the sender
Head of operation
Company Name
Q. I've recently learned that a colleague who sends me regular reports is upset with me because I never acknowledged receiving them. What's considered appropriate when it comes to acknowledging receipt of an email? Should recipients always reply to let senders know you received their email?
A. I'm certainly not an email etiquette expert, but I like this question because I do find it a little frustrating when I send someone important information and the recipient doesn't respond to let me know he or she has received it. Without acknowledgement, I grow concerned that perhaps the email did not go through, and if so, it may appear that I'm not doing my job timely or properly. A simple reply stating 'got it,' 'received it,' or 'thank you' might relieve my worries. So, yes, I do think it is polite and appropriate to acknowledge receipt of valid emails as soon as possible. Following are a few additional comments.
1. Automated reply setup by the recipient. Perhaps you could mitigate the worries discussed above simply by setting up an automated reply to acknowledge all email received (which may not be the best idea because it lets spammers know that your email address is valid). Perhaps a better approach might be to acknowledge all email messages received from the person who sends you those reports. Such a reply can be set up by selecting an email from that person and then from Outlook's Home tab, selecting Rules, Create Rule, Advanced Options, reply using a specific template, as shown in the image below, and then following the instructions to create the automated reply whenever you receive email from that person.
You will then need to navigate to the location of your reply template and open and edit the template as necessary. For example, as shown below, I created a reply template that reads, 'I received your email, thank you.'
Sample Email Acknowledgement Of Response
This reply template will now be sent to the email address included in the rule I created each time I receive a new message from that address.
2. Receipt request setup by the sender. As an alternative, the sender could possibly address this issue by checkingRequest a Delivery Receipt, Request a Read Receipt, or both, from the Outlook message's Options tab on the email message screen, as circled below.
A drawback to using the Request a Read Receipt function is that the recipient has to respond to the pop-up question confirming it's OK to send the sender a read receipt notification, which may annoy the recipient. In addition, not all email applications support read receipts, and even when they do, the recipients can disable the functionality.
3. Prioritizing email messages. If you receive an urgent or highly important email that you plan to respond to right away, an immediate acknowledgement is unnecessary. But when you receive email that you can't respond to right away, I believe the correct thing to do is to let the sender know you have received his or her message, and perhaps advise the sender of your anticipated response time frame. For example, you might reply, 'I have received your message requesting a copy of the report, and I will send it to you when I return to my office on Monday—will this work for you?'
4. Text messaging. If you communicate via text messaging and send a time-sensitive message, such as 'I am confirming our lunch plans for 11:50 a.m. at Seasons 52 located at Perimeter Mall, and I plan to head that way in a few minutes,' it can be worrisome if your lunch partner fails to acknowledge your communiqué—you don't want to waste your time if that person's plans have changed. In this situation, I believe a simple 'yes,' 'confirmed,' or 'K' (abbreviation for OK) may be considered a polite way to acknowledge such a communication.
How To Ask For Acknowledgement Of Email Sample
5. Spam. Of course, if the email is spam or suspected spam, I'd advise you not to waste time replying; delete it immediately and move on with your day. Generally, if you don't recognize the sender or subject, or if your correct first name is not used to begin the email, then blocking the sender and deleting that email may be the best actions to take.
About the author
J. Carlton Collins (carlton@asaresearch.com) is a technology consultant, a CPE instructor, and a JofA contributing editor.
Note: Instructions for Microsoft Office in “Technology Q&A” refer to the 2007 through 2016 versions, unless otherwise specified.
Submit a question
Do you have technology questions for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a better solution? Send them to jofatech@aicpa.org. We regret being unable to individually answer all submitted questions.