4 Ways to Make a Bad-News Letter Less Painful

Notifying someone of bad news is never easy. Even the most heartfelt sentiments can often be misconstrued when they are sent in a letter. Sometimes writers can over apologize for the bad news. Similarly, they can over-alert the recipient to the bad news: no one wants to hear they are evicted multiple times throughout the letter! However, there are tricks that you can use in order to make your bad-news letters more professional and less offensive.  Here are 4 ways in which you can make bad-news letters less painful.

1. Start your letter by clearly notifying the recipient of the bad news. Make sure to mention the bad news only once. No one likes to hear bad news multiple times.
2. Let the reader know how the incident happened. The explanation must be reasonable and clear. Avoid putting in erroneous or unimportant details as they will detract from the explanation.
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3. Offer the reader an alternative and/or a solution to the bad news. Offering the reader a solution can help detract from the problem and an alternative can help resolve the issue on both ends.
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4. Close with a goodwill statement and avoid referring to the bad news again. Do not leave the reader with an afterthought or an arbitrary closure.
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Bad-news letters are difficult in nature because they require the writer to be both informative and sympathetic. Striking an accurate balance is between those two components is key. The main goal of the letter should always be to let the reader know what is happening, why it happened and what can be done about it. Any information that is superfluous can disrupt the aim of the letter and can cause sentiments in your audience that can be undesirable.