Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): How to Write Emails People Act On

Why the first two lines decide what happens

Many people do not read work email from top to bottom. They see the subject line and the first line or two in an inbox preview, decide whether the message matters now, and often read the rest on a phone between other tasks. A message that saves its point for the last paragraph makes the reader work through everything else first, and many stop before they get there. The result is slow replies, missed deadlines and follow-ups asking what you actually need.

BLUF, a convention borrowed from military writing, reverses the order many of us learned at school. Instead of building from background to argument to conclusion, you state the conclusion first and support it afterwards. A reader who stops after the first sentence still knows what to do, and a reader who continues gets the reasons in the order they need them.

Find your bottom line

If the first sentence is hard to write, you may not yet know what you are asking for, which is better discovered before you send than after. Finish one of the starters below and make the result your opening line, usually with a deadline or a key number. “Please approve the 6,200-euro stand booking by Thursday” is a bottom line. “I wanted to give you an update on the trade show” is not; it only announces that a message exists.

• “I need you to…” for requests
• “I recommend…” for proposals
• “We have decided…” for decisions
• “The result is…” for findings
• “No action is needed, but you should know that…” for updates

Structure everything after the first line

After the bottom line, follow a simple pattern: bottom line, why, what happens next, detail. Give the reason in one or two sentences, the main options if there is a choice, and the risk of doing nothing if it matters. Then say who does what by when. Background, figures and attachments go last, where readers who want them can find them and everyone else can stop.

Make the subject line carry the same message, with the action and the deadline where there is one: “Approval needed: trade-show stand by Thu 22 Oct” tells the reader what to do before they open the email. Keep paragraphs to two to four sentences, and keep to one purpose per message, so the request you care about is not lost among three others.

Rewrite 1: a request for approval

The rewrites in this guide use fictional teams. In each one, the “after” version is about the same length as the original, but the reader learns what is needed, by when and why within the first two sentences. Notice that the deadline arrives with its reason, which makes it much harder to ignore than a bare date.

Rewrite 2: a status update

Status updates are where buried points do the most damage, because a vague “making good progress” can hide a slipping date until it is too late to help. Lead with the status and the decision you need, then give the evidence. A reader who only sees the preview should know whether to worry and what, if anything, they need to do about it.

When to soften the opening

Some messages need a gentler opening, not a hidden point. When you deliver bad news to a client, or write to someone whose culture expects more context first, open with one sentence of courtesy and state the point plainly in the second. What to avoid is burying the news in the fourth paragraph, which reads as evasive and makes the reader hunt for it.

A ten-second check before you send

Before you press send, read only the subject line and the first two sentences, as a busy reader would. If they do not say what you need, by when and why, rewrite them before touching anything else; then run the checklist below. The Clear Business Writing course applies the same approach to memos, meeting notes, decision records and feedback, with editing passes and templates for each.

• The subject line names the topic, plus the action and deadline if there is one
• The first sentence states the request, decision or conclusion
• The reason fits in one or two sentences
• The next step says who does what by when
• Detail comes last, and every attachment you mention is attached