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Business Email Template: Subject, Ask, Close, with Example

A business email has one purpose and makes it easy to act on: the reason for writing in the first line, the facts the reader needs, the ask with a date, and a courteous close. Long emails are skimmed; short ones are answered.

Get these right before you write

  1. 1The subject line says what the email is about and, if there is one, what you need.
  2. 2One email, one ask; a second ask gets its own email.
  3. 3Facts as short paragraphs or bullets, never a wall of text.
  4. 4Make the reply easy: offer options or a yes/no question.

Structure

The document opens with these headings and blanks.

Subject: [subject]
Dear [name],
[Why you are writing, in one sentence.]
[The facts they need: two or three short paragraphs or bullets.]
[The ask, and by when.]
[Name]
[Title, company]

A complete example

Written by the AI from this brief, exactly as the workbench would write yours:

An email from Wang Fang, customer-support lead at an e-commerce company, to the account manager at their payment provider, about a rise in payment-failure tickets (31% of volume in Q3, mostly declined cards at checkout): she attaches the weekly figures, asks for a technical review call next week and for the decline-reason codes to be passed through to her team, and proposes Tuesday or Thursday afternoon.

Subject: Rise in payment-failure tickets โ€” request for technical review call

Dear Mr. Okafor,

I am writing to flag a sharp rise in payment-failure tickets reaching our support team and to ask for your help in getting to the root of it.

The facts

  • In Q3, payment-failure tickets made up 31% of our total support volume, up from roughly 12% in Q2.
  • The majority relate to cards declined at checkout, with customers reporting that the same card works on other sites.
  • The increase has been steady week on week rather than tied to a single incident. The weekly figures are attached (Q3-payment-failures.xlsx).
  • At present our agents see only a generic "payment failed" message, so they cannot tell customers whether the issue is insufficient funds, a fraud rule, a 3-D Secure step, or something on the gateway side.

What I am asking

  1. A technical review call next week with someone from your integrations or risk team to walk through the figures and identify what has changed. I can offer Tuesday 14 October or Thursday 16 October, any time after 2:00 pm (UTC+8); please let me know which suits.
  2. Pass-through of decline-reason codes to our support dashboard, so my team can give customers an accurate explanation and reduce repeat contacts. If this requires a change on our side, a short note on what is needed would be very helpful.

Could you confirm a slot and whether code pass-through is feasible by Friday 10 October, so I can brief the team before the call?

Thank you for your support with this. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Wang Fang Customer Support Lead, Meridian Goods Ltd. [email protected] | +86 21 5555 0142

Attachment: Q3-payment-failures.xlsx

Names, figures and dates in the example are made up for illustration.

How it works

  1. 1Open the template: a document with the skeleton and the brief appears.
  2. 2Add one line about your case to the brief, or attach your notes as sources, and press First draft.
  3. 3Edit directly, or ask the AI to tighten, expand or translate any passage; every AI change is reviewed before it lands.
โœจ Write one from this template

Questions

Can I use the example as it is?
The example shows the shape and tone; its names and figures are made up. Open the template and give the AI your own facts, and it writes yours in the same shape.
Does it work in English and Chinese?
Yes. The document is written in the language of your brief, and any passage can be translated afterwards.
Is it free?
Writing is billed by the tokens used, usually a few credits per draft; the template, the skeleton and the editor cost nothing.

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