How to Send a Quotation Email to a Client (With Templates)

The quote and the email are two different things

The quote itself is a document, usually a PDF, with the details: items, prices, tax, terms. The email is what makes someone open it and say yes.

Send both. Put the full quote in the attachment and the short version in the email: what it covers, the total, how long the price holds and what happens next. Many people decide from the email alone and only open the PDF to check.

What the quote document should include

• A quote number and the date
• Your company name and contact details, and the client's
• What is included, line by line, with quantities
• What is not included, if there is any doubt
• The total, the currency, and whether tax is included
• How long the quote is valid (30 days is common)
• Payment terms, like "50% upfront, 50% on delivery"
• How to accept: sign and return, reply to the email, or pay a deposit

What the email should include

• One line reminding them what they asked for
• The total price, in the body, not just in the PDF
• The valid-until date
• One clear next step
• An offer to talk it through, if the deal is big enough to need it

Keep the subject plain and searchable: "Quote #1042: website redesign for Northwind". When the client looks for it in three weeks, they will search for your company name or "quote".

Templates

Sending a first quote

A quote with options

A revised quote

Say what changed. The client should not have to compare two PDFs line by line to find out.

Following up on a quote

Holding your price when they ask for a discount

Asking a supplier for a quote

The small mistakes that lose deals

Quotes are often built from the last quote. That is where the mistakes come from.

• The old client's name. You copied last month's email and left "Hi Michael" in it. Or the PDF still says Acme.
• No attachment. "The quote is attached," and it isn't.
• The wrong version. You attached quote 1042 when you meant 1042-B.
• A discount nobody approved. It is now in writing and the client will hold you to it.
• No expiry date. Six months later they want last year's price.
• The wrong currency. A client in London reads "$" and assumes you meant pounds, or the other way round.

Read the email once as the client would before you send it, and open the attachment.

Presend catches the missing attachment for you, and you can add your own rules in plain English for the rest, like "Warn me if I offer a discount over 10%" or "Flag a quote that doesn't say how long the price is valid." It checks every email when you click send, and you choose whether a rule warns you or stops the send.