How to Recommend an Option by Email

To recommend an option by email, state your choice, explain why it fits the recipient’s requirements and name its main tradeoff. Use comparable facts, distinguish an offered service from a confirmed arrangement, and finish with the decision you need.

“I recommend option B because it is better” gives your reader a conclusion without the reasoning. “I recommend option B because it avoids 30 minutes of preparation work, although it costs EUR 36 more” gives them something specific to evaluate.

This lesson is about choosing between alternatives for one workplace need. The people, prices and services in the exercise are fictional.

Find out what the choice needs to achieve

Before drafting, separate a firm requirement from a preference. A budget ceiling might rule out an option. A preference for less preparation work helps you choose between options that fit the requirements.

If the recipient has already told you what matters most, use that priority. If two priorities conflict and their relative importance is unclear, ask a focused question: “Is reducing the cost more important than avoiding the extra preparation work?”

The recommendation-report chapter in Fundamentals of Business Communication advises explaining the requirements, their relative importance and the evidence behind the choice. Here, we apply that principle to a short email rather than a full report.

Compare the same relevant facts for both options. If you mention one option’s total cost, give the other’s total cost too. Avoid choosing a favourite first and then listing only the features that support it.

Connect the facts to your recommendation

A price is a fact. Whether paying that price is worthwhile depends on the task and the recipient’s priorities. Make that connection explicit:

This option costs more, but it avoids the preparation work you asked us to reduce.

Also keep certainty visible. “The supplier offers delivery by 9 a.m.” reports an offer. “The supplier will deliver at 9 a.m.” sounds like a confirmed arrangement. Use the wording your evidence supports.

For a straightforward comparison, you can open with your recommendation, follow with the key facts and tradeoff, and close with the decision needed. If acting on the choice requires permission, the approval request email guide explains how to identify what approval would authorize.

Practice: choose how to prepare workshop packs

You are Mina. Your manager, Daniel, asks you to recommend how to prepare 20 printed workshop packs. The packs are needed by 10 a.m. on 18 November, and the maximum cost is EUR 70.

Daniel says that, within the timing and budget requirements, reducing the team’s preparation work matters more than finding the lowest price.

Use these supplied facts:

Detail	Internal print room	Outside print service
Total cost for 20 packs	EUR 24	EUR 60
Availability offered	Ready for collection at 4 p.m. on 17 November	Delivery by 9 a.m. on 18 November
Team preparation required	30 minutes to collect and assemble the packs	Delivered assembled

Nobody has ordered anything. Daniel decides whether to approve a choice; you do not have independent purchasing authority. Treat the timings as the supplied offers. You have no additional evidence about quality, reliability or cancellation terms.

Write your email before reading the model. Recommend one option, connect it to Daniel’s priority, compare the relevant costs and timing, and explain the disadvantage. End without implying that you have already booked the service.

Here is one possible answer:

Subject: Recommendation for the 20 workshop packs

Hi Daniel,

I recommend using the outside print service for the 20 workshop packs. Its offer includes assembled packs, which fits your priority of reducing our preparation work.

The total cost is EUR 60, within the EUR 70 limit. That is EUR 36 more than the internal option, but it avoids the 30 minutes we would need to collect and assemble the packs ourselves.

The service offers delivery by 9 a.m. on 18 November, one hour before we need the packs. The internal print room offers collection at 4 p.m. on 17 November, with assembly still needed afterward.

Would you like to approve the outside option? I have not placed an order.

Thanks, Mina

The recommendation follows Daniel’s stated priority. The email names the higher cost instead of hiding it, and the comparison uses the total price for the same 20 packs. EUR 60 minus EUR 24 is EUR 36.

The timing sentence describes the service’s offer. It does not claim the delivery has been booked or that the supplier is more reliable. The final question leaves the decision with Daniel.

The internal option is cheaper and available for collection earlier. Those are real advantages in the exercise, but choosing it solely because it costs less would not explain how you weighed Daniel’s preference for less preparation work.

Two useful patterns with “recommend”

The British Council’s verb-pattern handout shows recommend followed by an -ing form and confirms that a that-clause is also possible. For this situation, you could write:

I recommend using the outside print service.

I recommend that we use the outside print service.

These are two useful patterns, not the only ways to express a recommendation. Whichever you choose, the reason still matters: add what the option does for this particular task.

Change the requirement: the budget is now EUR 40

Before Daniel decides, he tells you that the maximum cost has dropped to EUR 40. All other facts remain the same, including the need for the packs by 10 a.m. on 18 November.

Write a follow-up that revises your recommendation. The outside service now exceeds the limit. The internal option fits the budget, but somebody still needs to do the 30 minutes of collection and assembly work. No one has confirmed that they are available for it.

Here is one possible revision:

Subject: Revised recommendation for the workshop packs

Hi Daniel,

With the new EUR 40 limit, I recommend the EUR 24 internal option, provided we can arrange the collection and assembly work. The outside service costs EUR 60, so it no longer fits the budget.

The internal print room offers collection at 4 p.m. on 17 November. We would need someone to spend 30 minutes collecting and assembling the packs before they are needed at 10 a.m. on 18 November.

Could you confirm who would be available for that work before deciding whether to proceed? I have not placed an order.

Thanks, Mina

The new budget changes which option is suitable. The email acknowledges the extra work rather than pretending the cheaper choice has all the same benefits. Its recommendation is conditional because staffing remains unresolved; it does not volunteer a colleague or promise that the packs are ready.

If finding those 30 minutes would displace another commitment, make that conflict clear. The guide to asking your manager to prioritize your work covers deciding which task should move.

Check the reasoning before you send

Read your draft as the person making the decision. Can they identify your choice, see which requirement or priority supports it, and understand what they give up by choosing it?

Then check every cost, date and status word. A quoted price is not permission to spend. An offered time is not a completed booking. If a key requirement changes, update both the recommendation and the explanation that supported it.

For more situations to write through, try the professional email writing exercises.

To practise building your own replies, start practicing for free. EmailBetter sends workplace scenarios tailored to your profile to your inbox. You write your reply in your usual email app, then review AI feedback in your dashboard.