Business Skills - Bad news via email - How to write an email with bad news

How to write an email with bad news. Writing emails is part of day to day work, but some emails are easier to write than others. If you have to tell someone something that you know, they don't want to hear, then that could be hard. Listen to these useful tips for telling someone bad news via email. They could be useful one day whether you're the boss or an employee, you will almost certainly have to give bad news to someone at some point. Obviously delivering bad news is not fun, but it is a fact of life. There are many reasons why you might have to do this, including minor things like reminding a colleague about something they've forgotten or informing a customer that they can't have what they want. But also very stressful situations like telling someone they're going to lose their job. In March 2022 the boss of a British ferry operator fired 800 employees without notice via video call. The media called him the most hated man in Britain. Clearly, some ways of delivering bad news are better or should I say worse than others, how to do it when you're giving someone bad news first decide whether email really is the best way. Maybe a face to face meeting is more appropriate. Even if it's harder sending an email has the advantage of creating a written record of the exchange. However, and it gives you time to gather your thoughts and express them in the right way. Imagine you must inform a customer that you cannot complete an order by the specified deadline because of a technical problem in production. We'll create an appropriate email step by step before you start. Make sure you have all the relevant facts and details to hand you want the message you send to be accurate and you want to be able to answer any questions from the customer. Next. Decide on the tone. How well do you know the person you are writing to? How formal or informal should you be? In this case, we've never met Mr Jones, the purchaser in person. So the tone will be quite formal. Let's now follow a six point plan for the email itself. One start with the bad news be upfront. Make sure the recipient knows immediately what the situation is. If you leave the bad news to the end, it could be misunderstood or misinterpreted order number 789076. Dear Mr Jones. I'm afraid it will not be possible to dispatch the above order in time to meet the May 17th deadline to explain the context. Tell the customer how and why the problem occurred. Normally, technical details won't be necessary. Just a brief, simple description of the situation. We have had some technical problems with our production line that have caused the delay. The problems have now been resolved with the installation of new equipment. Three, apologize when necessary if you or your organization is at fault. Now is the moment to apologize professionally. Do not use overemotional language, simply say you're sorry and that steps have been taken to make sure it won't happen again. I'm very sorry about this. I have been assured by our technical people that this will not happen again. Four offer a resolution, try to find some kind of resolution to the situation or at least something to minimize the impact of the bad news. We would be able to arrange delivery of your order on May 21st. Please let me know if this is acceptable. Five provide a quick contact option even if the customer knows your contact information include the quickest way to reach you for any follow up. The best way to contact me is on my mobile. 0776584635 six. End positively try to end with a few positive words. This may help reduce the stress of the situation and might even help keep the business relationship intact. Our recent investment in state of the art production equipment will ensure that any future orders will be trouble free. Here's another example of an email with bad news. In this scenario, the recipient is a client who has requested information from a management consultancy dear Miss Mason. Thank you for your email, requesting the detailed results of our research into the commercial applications of Blockchain technology. I'm afraid the information you have asked for is confidential and for our internal use only this means that I cannot provide you with the full report. The participants in the research were promised total anonymity and that only a general summary of the research would be published. I'm sorry if this causes you some inconvenience, I would be happy to provide you with a copy of the generalized summary of the Blockchain technology report. If you think it would be of help, please give me a call on my direct number which you have. If you wish to discuss this further best regards. When delivering bad news, it is important to be clear. So there can be no misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Honesty goes a long way too, accept fault and apologize when necessary.