A template for business email does not save you the writing, it saves you the structure. What you reuse is the scaffolding: the subject line, the order of the paragraphs, the next step with a date, the sign-off and the signature block. What you write fresh every time is two or three sentences in the middle: the reference to what actually passed between the two of you, and the number, the date or the decision. Below are eight templates: answering an enquiry, confirming a meeting, cancelling a meeting, sending a quote, following up, quoting a price, turning work down, chasing an unpaid invoice. Each one says which part is scaffolding and which line you have to rewrite. Because a template that goes out unchanged is one the recipient spots, not from the wording, but from the fact that nothing in it is about him.
In my business the personal part now comes from Sonja, who writes the email in my voice, as a draft in my inbox, and all I decide is whether it goes out. How I build my roles in general lives on the AI employees page. If the structure interests you more than the templates, start with Writing Business Emails: With or Without AI.
Scaffolding and personal part: the split that matters
Templates have a bad reputation, and deservedly so when they get copied whole. The fix is not a better template, it is a clean split:
The personal part is smaller than most people fear, in my experience one to three sentences, and it almost always sits in the second paragraph. That gives you a rule: if you can delete the second paragraph without the email feeling incomplete, you have not written it. In the templates below it appears in square brackets, spelled out as a constructed example.
Eight templates for real situations
1. Answering an enquiry
Subject: Your enquiry of [date]: yes, I can do it
Hello [name],
thanks for getting in touch. What you described is something I can take
on, and I have capacity for it in [month].
[You wrote that your previous supplier walked out mid-project. So the
first thing I will do is look at what already exists, before I name a
price.]
To price it I still need [one item]. Send me that and you will have a
quote by [date].
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the yes in the subject, capacity, exactly one question back, a date for the quote. Your part: the bracketed paragraph. Rewrite for certain: the single question. Several at once are, in my experience, the most common reason an enquiry stalls.
2. Confirming a meeting
Subject: Confirmed: [weekday], [date], [time]
Hello [name],
the meeting is set: [weekday], [date], [time], [place or link]. I have
allowed [duration].
[So we can use the time: please bring the login details for the current
hosting, otherwise we will not get past point two.]
The calendar invitation is on its way. If something comes up, tell me by
[date] and I will move it without any fuss.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: all the details in the subject, duration, invitation, a way to cancel. Your part: what the other side should prepare. Rewrite for certain: that preparation, otherwise the email is just a receipt.
3. Cancelling a meeting
Subject: [date], [time] is off, two alternatives below
Hello [name],
I have to cancel our meeting on [date]. [Reason in half a sentence.]
Instead I have [date, time] and [date, time] free. I will hold both for
you until [date].
Just tell me which one suits. If neither works, suggest something.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the cancellation in the subject, the reason in half a sentence, two alternatives with a hold deadline. Your part: that half sentence and the slots you genuinely have free. Rewrite for certain: the hold deadline, or the alternative stays a statement of intent.
4. Sending a quote
Subject: Quote [number]: [service], [amount] plus VAT
Hello [name],
attached is my quote for [amount] plus VAT for [service]. It is valid
until [date].
[You wanted to know whether the training also works without the two
apprentices. Both versions are on page 2 so you can compare.]
Not included: [item]. Anything you might need on top is listed with its
price on the last page.
Let me know by [date] and I will keep [period] free for you.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: amount and deadline in the subject, what is not included, a date for the answer. Your part: the reference to the question from your conversation. Rewrite for certain: the "not included" line, which heads off the argument that otherwise follows the yes. How the document itself is built is in How to Write a Quote That Convinces.
5. Following up
Subject: Quote [number]: one question, then I will leave you alone
Hello [name],
my quote from [date] is valid until [date]. I am attaching it again so
you do not have to go looking.
[One thing I can take off your plate in advance: you were weighing up
whether to do the rebuild in one go or in two stages. Tell me the
direction and I will recost the matching version by Friday.]
One word back is enough. And if the timing is wrong, say so and I will
not come back to it.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the reference plus the deadline, the attachment, exactly one question, a way out at no cost. Your part: the paragraph with whatever you are bringing. Rewrite for certain: that paragraph. If you cannot think of anything the recipient did not already have, the email is not due yet. A fully worked follow-up email template without pressure is in its own post. When to follow up and when to stop is in How to Follow Up on a Quote by Email.
6. Quoting a price
Subject: [service]: [amount] plus VAT
Hello [name],
for what you described I am at [amount] plus VAT. That covers [two or
three points], finished by [date].
[You mentioned a smaller budget. Without [item] it would be [amount],
which is the honest smaller version, not the same scope for less money.]
If that sounds right I will send the written quote, with everything set
out line by line. A short yes is enough.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the number in the subject and in the first sentence, scope, date, the quote as the next step. Your part: the smaller version and its price. Rewrite for certain: that the smaller version really does contain less. The same scope for less money turns your first number into an opening bid.
7. Turning work down
Subject: [project]: I have to say no
Hello [name],
I have to turn your job down. [I am booked out until the end of
February, and your January date cannot be held.]
I am saying so now rather than in three weeks, so you still have time to
find someone else.
[Two firms who can do this are [name] and [name]. Do say I sent you.]
If the timing works out later on, just get in touch.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the refusal in the subject and the first sentence, the reason, an early date, an open door. Your part: the reason and the referral. Rewrite for certain: the referral, and only if you mean it and the firm you name is happy to be passed on.
8. Chasing an unpaid invoice
Subject: Invoice [number] of [date], still outstanding
Hello [name],
my invoice [number] of [date] for [amount] has not shown up as paid at
my end. It was due on [date].
[My guess is it got lost in the shuffle, you had stocktaking on. I am
attaching it again so you do not have to go looking.]
Could you transfer it by [date]? If something about the invoice is wrong
or you need to pay in instalments, drop me a line and we will sort it
out.
Best regards
[first name]
Scaffolding: the invoice number in the subject, the amount and the old payment term, a new date, a route for objections. Your part: the charitable assumption. Rewrite for certain: the new date, which replaces "when you get a chance".
The law behind it removes the uncertainty. Under section 286(2) no. 1 of the German Civil Code (BGB) no reminder is needed at all where the time for performance is fixed by the calendar, meaning a payment date that was agreed rather than written onto the invoice afterwards; otherwise default sets in under section 286(1) BGB through a reminder after the due date, and at the latest 30 days after the due date and receipt of the invoice under section 286(3) BGB, though against a consumer only if the invoice pointed that consequence out specifically. From default onwards it is five percentage points above the base rate, or nine where no consumer is involved, under section 288(1) and (2) BGB. That is the wording of the statute and not legal advice; in a first reminder I do not claim those amounts, I use the new date.
The signature: the part that really is a template
The signature block is the one part you may leave unchanged. Mine goes under every business email, including the third reply in a thread, because individual messages get forwarded.
[first name last name]
[company as registered]
[street, postcode town]
[phone] · [email] · [website]
[legal form, registered office] · [register court, register number]
[management, if your legal form requires it]
[VAT ID, if you have one]
If you are on the German commercial register there is not much room for choice. Section 37a(1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB) requires a merchant's business letters "in whatever form" addressed to a specific recipient to state the registered name, the legal form designation, the place of the commercial establishment, the register court and the commercial register number; the phrase "in whatever form" covers email on its wording. For a GmbH the equivalent is section 35a(1) GmbHG, which adds all managing directors with their surname and at least one full first name, plus the chair of the supervisory board where there is one. Neither provision asks for a VAT identification number, which is why the last two lines in the block above are conditional. Subsection 2 of both provisions exempts communications within an existing business relationship for which pre-printed forms are customarily used. Anyone not on the register, which includes many small traders and freelancers, is outside these two provisions. That too is the wording of the statute and not legal advice.
Where a template collection runs out
Eight templates cover my everyday, but they do not solve the real problem. The scaffolding costs you almost nothing once you have it. What costs time is the personal part: looking up what was said last time, digging out the amount, working out the deadline. That is exactly why templates so often go out unfilled.
So the next step is not a ninth template, it is a role that knows the scaffolding and fills in the personal part itself. In my business that is Sonja. Her tone does not come from a questionnaire but from 50 of my genuinely sent emails, and before every draft she checks name, address, link and price against the source file rather than carrying them over from the template. During a campaign of 15 new-client emails in July 2026, seven drafts were in my inbox within about two minutes, with every demo link in them checked the same day. One thing went back to my website colleague: one template still ended with the placeholder for the sender, exactly the kind of mistake a template collection produces.
Three limits hold throughout. She invents no message: she improves language, tone and form. She never guesses, and asks when something is missing. And she does not send, "looks good" is not an approval. How to write your tone down so someone else can hit it is in Can AI Write Emails in My Voice?, the rest of the roles in My AI Workforce. And before you paste your own emails anywhere: what of the names, addresses and amounts in them belongs in a model is in AI and Privacy: What the AI Gets to See.
Frequently asked questions
How many business email templates do I actually need?
Eight cover my everyday: enquiry, meeting confirmation, meeting cancellation, quote, follow-up, price, refusal, payment reminder. More rarely help, because the effort does not sit in the scaffolding but in the two or three fresh sentences each case needs. Eight maintained skeletons beat thirty nobody can find.
How does the recipient know an email came from a template?
From the fact that nothing in it is about him: no reference to the last conversation, no specific date, no figure that is true only in his case. One sentence with a genuine reference usually does it.
What has to be in a German business email signature?
It depends on the legal form. Registered merchants need the registered name, legal form designation, place of establishment, register court and register number on business letters "in whatever form" under section 37a(1) HGB, and a GmbH additionally its managing directors under section 35a(1) GmbHG. Neither provision asks for a VAT ID. Unregistered small traders and freelancers fall outside. Not legal advice.
Can I hand the templates to an AI instead of filling them in myself?
Have it draft, yes, send unread, no. The scaffolding is exactly the kind of instruction a role holds to reliably. The details in the personal part, the names, amounts and deadlines, have to come from a source, and the decision to send stays with you.
How you keep going
Put the eight skeletons into your mail client as text snippets, not into a document in some other folder. Then go through the last twenty emails in your Sent folder and mark, in each one, the part that already looked like that last time and the part that is true only in this case. The first is your scaffolding, in your own words. The second shows you where your time actually goes.
If you would rather not go through those twenty emails on your own, bring your scaffolding into my community Claude Practitioners: Sonja is there as a finished package with exactly this split, along with the other AI employees and the course that goes with them.
