---
title: "Send only what the message needs · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy/email-data-minimisation
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Send only what the message needs

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Email privacy](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy)
- Rule: Put only the data each message needs into it, and keep sensitive data out of subject lines and previews.
- How: A subject line shows on lock screens and in notifications. Never put health, money, passwords or account numbers there. Mask what you must show, such as the last four digits of a card. Link to a signed-in page for the full details instead of copying them into the email.
- Check: Read the subject and preview of each template on a locked phone. Nothing shown would harm the recipient if a stranger saw it.

Example:

```text
Bad subject:   Your test results for HIV are ready, Anna
Good subject:  A new message is waiting in your account
```

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers email playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy/email-data-minimisation`.

- Previous: [Keep personal data out of links](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy/private-links)
- Next: [Keep proof of consent](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy/consent-records)
- [Email privacy](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/email/email-privacy)