Email Structure

---
name: email-structure
description: Structure an email so a skimming reader gets the point, the context, and the ask in the right order. Use when an email has more than a line or two and the layout decides whether it is understood.
---

# Email structure

Readers do not read emails top to bottom; they skim for the point and the
ask. Structure is what lets a skimming reader still get everything: the
bottom line first, context in the middle, action clear at the end. The
same words in the wrong order lose the reader.

## Method

1. **Open with a one-line bottom line.** After the greeting, the first
   sentence states why you are writing and what you need or are telling
   them. The reader who reads only that line should still get the gist (see
   exec-one-pager's bottom-line-up-front, clear-emails).
2. **Give context in the middle, only as much as needed.** The background,
   the details, the reasoning: after the point, so the reader who needs it
   finds it and the reader who does not can skip it. Do not make the point
   wait behind the context.
3. **Break out multiple items.** If there are several questions, points, or
   action items, use a numbered or bulleted list, not a dense paragraph.
   The reader can then respond to each without losing track, and nothing
   gets missed. Numbered items are easy to reply to point-by-point.
4. **Put the ask and deadline at the end, clearly.** Close with exactly
   what you need, from whom, by when, as a distinct line. The end is where
   readers look for the "so what do I do"; make it unmissable (see
   clear-emails' explicit action).
5. **Use formatting to aid scanning, sparingly.** Short paragraphs, a bold
   phrase for a key deadline or decision, white space between ideas. Just
   enough to guide the eye (see visual-hierarchy); over-formatting (all
   bold, many colors) is as hard to scan as none.
6. **Scale the structure to the length.** A two-line email needs no
   structure; a long one needs a summary up top, clear sections or
   headings, and the ask restated at the end. The longer the email, the
   more the reader depends on structure to navigate it.

## Boundaries

- Structure serves clarity; a rigid template on a one-line note is
  overhead. Match the structure to the email's actual complexity.
- Structure organizes; it does not shorten. A well-structured overlong
  email is still overlong: cut first, then structure what remains (see
  concise-writing).
- The greeting and sign-off carry tone and relationship, which structure
  alone does not; keep them warm and appropriate (see email-tone,
  email-etiquette).