Quotation Email to a Client: How to Send It

A quotation email looks like the simplest sales document you will ever send, and it is where most small businesses lose money silently: an unnumbered figure, a forgotten expiry, a scope line nobody wrote. The craft is treating the email as a record both sides can rely on. This guide builds that record, then gives it the follow-up cadence that closes.

The Quote Is a Record, Not a Price

A quotation email is a record the client can accept, compare and forward, so the number, the scope and the expiry date matter more than the prose around them. An unnumbered quote is a conversation, and conversations get renegotiated. The record discipline starts with a quote number, Q-1041 with a date, continues through itemised lines with their assumptions, and ends at a validity expiry that both sides can see. The client who forwards your email internally, to a procurement officer or a finance approver, is forwarding your record-keeping, not your prose. The number, the scope and the date survive the forwarding chain; the adjectives do not.

The Anatomy of the Send

The send runs five parts: a subject with the quote number and project, the recap of their enquiry in one line, the itemised summary or attached quote, the validity and payment terms, and the single next action.

1. Subject: Quotation Q-1041, website revamp, valid to 30 June.
2. Recap: as discussed Tuesday, here is the quote for the six-page revamp with the booking module.
3. The quote: three lines itemised in the email body, or the attached PDF for the full breakdown.
4. Terms: valid fourteen days; fifty per cent on acceptance, fifty on delivery; GST shown separately.
5. Next action: reply with your acceptance and I can start the week of the 15th.

Totals in the email match the attachment to the cent.

Validity, Terms and Scope Lines

The validity line sets the expiry, the terms line sets payment timing, and the scope line states what the price includes and excludes, because all three are where unquoted expectations go to become disputes.

State GST treatment where applicable; assumptions belong in the quote, not in memory.

Attaching Versus Inlining the Quote

Simple three-line quotes live in the email body, while anything with options or project phases belongs in an attached PDF, because the medium signals complexity before a word is read. The inline quote suits the client who asked one question and wants one answer; the PDF suits the approver who needs to see the breakdown behind the total. Whatever the medium, the total appears in both email and document, identical to the cent, because a mismatch between the two is the fastest way to restart pricing from zero. Naming the file with the quote number ties the attachment back to the thread.

The Follow-Up Cadence

Quote follow-ups run on a three-beat cadence: a confirmation check two days after sending, a value-added nudge a week later, and a closing note on the validity date, never a bare bump. The confirmation check is one line, did the quote reach you intact, and doubles as delivery proof. The value-added nudge brings something new, an answer to a likely question, a small adjustment option, an available start date. The closing note states that validity ends Friday and offers the simple path to acceptance. Each beat adds information; repeated empty bumps train clients to wait you out, because silence becomes a discount strategy. Aggressive cadences, three chases in five days, convert a professional quote into pressure that closes nothing.

Transactional Writing as a Growth Register

Quotes, proposals and invoices share the transactional register where precision is persuasion, and small-group practice with correction turns that register into a reflex. The discipline transfers directly: the same validity-scope-terms habit that protects a quotation protects a proposal and a service agreement. Keep accepted quotes as the seed of the next engagement's pricing, since the second quote to a happy client starts from the first one's record. iWorld Learning's Business English small-group classes mark sales and transactional writing with tone and structure together, the register where a corrected draft is money.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the client asks for a discount after the quote?

Respond with scope, not just price: options that adjust deliverables or timing keep the quote honest while giving the client room.

Should I send revised quotes as new numbers?

Yes; a new quote number with the old one referenced keeps the audit trail that protects both sides.

How do I state GST in a quotation email?

State the amount as stated exclusive or inclusive of GST in the same line as the total; ambiguity on tax is the least forgivable quote error.