What each kind of message has to contain
A message that cannot be traced to an account, dated, or matched to a figure is not much use in an argument. This page sets out the fields each kind has to carry, and counts how many of them the samples actually do.
- fields required
- 20
- avg per kind
- 4
- present
- 14
- missing
- 6
A message has to identify the sender and the account, name the event or state it is about, carry any figure it relies on, give the time it was sent, state any condition attached to it, and say how to object. The samples carry fourteen of twenty required fields across the five kinds; the six absences are the ones readers most often need later.
Four fields per kind, twenty in all
The fields are not the same for every kind, which is why a single template cannot satisfy them all. A receipt has to carry the amount and the time; a legal notice has to carry the date it takes effect and the route to object; an alert has to say what changed and when it changed.
| Kind | Must carry | Required | Present |
|---|---|---|---|
| receipt | sender, account, event, amount and time | 5 | 5 |
| marketing | sender, account, conditions, and the switch | 4 | 4 |
| service note | sender, account, the state described, and the reference | 4 | 2 |
| security alert | sender, account, what changed, when, and the route to object | 5 | 2 |
| legal notice | sender, account, the term affected, the date, and the route to object | 5 | 1 |
| five kinds | twenty required fields overall | 23 | 14 |
The route to object is the field that goes missing most
An alert that says a change was made but not how to challenge it leaves the reader with the one thing a message cannot supply: a decision. The samples carry the route to object on none of the two alerts and on none of the two notices, which is one of the six absences above.
What a reader can ask for instead
When a required field is missing, the message is not evidence of nothing - it is evidence that is incomplete, and the gap itself is the request.
- Check the sender against the licensed entity on the account, not against the brand in the subject line.
- Check the account: a message that does not identify the account it refers to cannot be tied to yours.
- Look for the figure: an amount in a receipt, or the condition attached to an offer.
- Look for a time: the moment sent, and for a notice the date the change takes effect.
- Look for the route to object. If it is absent, ask for it and keep the message.