50+ Sample Thank You Letters

What Is a Thank You Letter?

For sure, you must have heard about a thank you letter—a written document that contains your message of thanks for someone, something, or a certain cause. This detailed letter is more than just saying the words “Thank you,” as it contains other elements may it be a formal or informal document, depending on where you plan on using or giving this letter. And thank you letters have been used in schools, charities, businesses, and other examples to spread your message of gratitude in the best way possible.

Based on a survey, 82% of working Americans feel that their contributions weren’t appreciated by their managers.

Why Is a Thank You Letter Important?

A thank you letter is essential to express your gratitude for varying reasons, may it be to a friend who visited you frequently while you were sick, to an employee who recommended you a job promotion, or to a customer who has been loyal enough in trusting your brand. Nonetheless, just think about writing such a letter when you really need to say thanks properly. And by saying thank you, you can help strengthen your relationship with the recipient, expect a positive outcome, and make your recipient feel good in general. Write a thank you letter frequently and you will eventually notice the advantages of how people react when they are appreciated and you show how grateful you are for their help or presence.

What Are the Parts of a Thank You Letter?

You can express your message of thanks in a thank you letter for any format or design. But, there are common elements usually noticed per example. And it is crucial that you get to know the parts of a thank you letter to ensure that your next letter is wholesome enough and you won’t miss the significant details.

Date: Always begin your thank you letter with the date of when you are actually writing it. The full date mentioned leaves an impression of how quick or late you said thanks to your recipient. If you compare an applicant who sent a thank you letter a day after a job interview acceptance and another applicant who said thanks a few weeks later, then the one who replied punctually left a better impression than the latter.Recipient’s Details: What follows after the date is the receiver’s details. Ensure that you got the correct name, address, or contact list in the letter to address the appropriate person. Otherwise, sending it to the wrong person automatically fails your letter’s purpose.Salutation: A salutation marks the introductory statement of your message. This is where you write “Dear Mr./Ms.” followed by the recipient’s first name or last name. If you know this person too well, then addressing the first name is appropriate. Also, be careful with your pronouns, especially when you might offend others in being too gender-specific.Your Thank-You Message: A quick message of thanks is how you start off your message after the salutation. When that thank-you message is given, the reader would understand immediately what the letter’s purpose is. And you can make a general statement of what you are thanking for.Specifications: While a thank-you message is simply a brief statement, you can write the body of your letter with the specifications. This part is where you enumerate what specific things the person did that made you appreciate him/her or why you said thank you in the first place. An example is someone who gave you helpful health advice. Hence, explain or make a background statement of what specific advice you found to be the most helpful and how it changed you.Complimentary Close: Say thank you one last time before you sign off your letter. The complimentary close is where you reiterate to the recipient about the letter’s intention so he/she won’t forget it. And don’t forget that closing statements should be respectful, like in using the words, “Sincerely yours.”Sender’s Details and Signature: Lastly, write your details at the end of the letter so recipients would know who wrote the message. Forgetting this crucial element might have recipients not know who thanked them. And the formal way to do it is by mentioning your full name and your signature on top of it.

What Are the Types of Thank You Letters?

You can say thank you for a special gift, scholarship, event, donation, work experience, and so much more. But these letters are usually divided into two types only—the formal and informal thank you letters. So what are they and what is their difference?

Formal Thank You Letters

Formal thank you letters are known as business-appropriate letters. So if your reasons for thanking all lead down to professional or business-related purposes, then a formal document is the way to go. Think of this type as a thank you letter where the letter is necessary to be created, like most business letters. Hence, you really need to make them for formal matters like a customer referral, project approval, business partnership, etc.

Informal Thank You Letters

On the other hand, an informal thank you letter is the type where there is no strict format and structure for your letter. You can use this example when you just need to say thanks shortly or you insert some personal messages as well. Hence, non-business matters lead to informal thank you letters, like thanking a friend, family member, partner, or anyone outside your corporate life. In some cases, you can just send a thank you postcard for this type rather than having the complete parts of a thank you letter.

How to Make a Streamlined Thank You Letter

Now for the main crux of the matter, are you ready to make a thank you letter? Ensure that you won’t just make a generic thank you letter but rather an easier and more efficient example in high-quality output. To accomplish that, you simply need to follow these six steps:

Step 1: Review the Whole Situation First

Ensure that you know what to say before even writing a thank you letter. First of all, are you sure of your purpose in writing it? And do you have an idea what to say already? The key is to assess the situation properly. It is a good start to identify what to thank for from your recipient’s moral support, guest speaking contribution, or maybe an employee attendance record. There should be records that prove how true their achievements or contributions are to ensure that the recipients are deserving.

Step 2: Download a Sample Thank You Letter

Once you are confident about the whole matter, you can begin downloading a template from the many enlisted sample thank you letters in this post. Each sample is pre-formatted so you won’t have to deal with tedious tasks in managing the letter’s content, structure, format, and design. And if you are unhappy with some factors, feel free to change them since these templates are editable as well. There is always room for improvement in perfecting your letter here.

Step 3: Organize Your Content Based on the Basic Parts

You can’t have a thank you letter with jumbled data. You should know how to organize them for a more understandable presentation. And a tip is to follow the parts of a thank you letter discussed earlier. That way, your discussion flow gets arranged accordingly starting with the date down to the sender’s details and signature. Bear in mind that a hard-to-read document could make your letter a total fail already.

Step 4: Give Life to Your Statements

Incorporate a personal touch to your statements in the thank you letter. People wouldn’t just feel appreciated by using the usual words stated in formal letters. Instead, you keep it heartfelt by having a sincere tone and a cordial reflection of yourself. This tip is basically the challenge with writing letters because people can’t easily tell if you are kind, sarcastic, or upset with your given message. But, you can give a hint of your kindness by making the statements more personal.

Step 5: Decide the Thank You Letter’s Output

How should the thank you letter turn out like for the final product? Should you print and deliver it to the recipient personally or send it thru email instead? The decision is up to you. For the format, you can even use the PDF or MS Word version. What matters the most is you have a final plan for the output because it might not turn out as how you expected it to be.

Step 6: Evaluate Everything before Sending the Letter to the Recipient

You better not send poorly written letters to your recipients. Otherwise, you might end up offending the receiver or that the message you planned to give gets misconstrued due to the errors. Hence, conduct evaluations until the result is eventually error-free. So once you are confident with the spelling, correct data, and other considerations, you can freely submit the thank you letter without doubting its content.

FAQs

What are the advantages of a thank you letter?

Some of the highlighted advantages of a thank you letter are:

  • Your thank you letter reflects a lot on your character as an individual.
  • The letter grants the opportunity to stay on good terms with your network.
  • This letter helps lessen the intimidation in asking for potential favors at some point.
  • A thank you letter can uplift a recipient’s mood, confidence, or performance.
  • Lastly, studies suggest that saying thank you leads to a more joyous life and not just for the recipients.

What should you avoid doing in making a thank you letter?

It is discouraged to write generic thank you letters. Don’t just use a one-message-fits-all type of letter as you should give a more personal message than an automatic or basic message. Putting effort into your statements would be more appreciated by recipients than some cliched statements anyway. Also, you can’t include irrelevant information in the letter. State only what you thank about the person or matter rather than losing track of the subject. Lastly, don’t use bad language. Writing letters cordially is encouraged as you might offend recipients rather than making them feel appreciated.

What is the standard format of a thank you letter?

Thank you letters are often just a single-page document so it is best to keep it concise as much as possible. Conventionally, such letters have the Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial font with a font size of between 10 and 12.

Thank you letters certainly help you build relationships, stay in contact with your network, and many other ways. But what you say in the letter and how you wrote it makes a whole lot of difference as people will either be impressed or unimpressed by it. So the next time you plan any content for a thank you letter, simply take advantage of the downloadable references listed in this post. Each sample thank you letter is ready for customization until you can eventually make others feel appreciated with your genuine gratitude. Download now!