BW-301f · Module 1

The Difficult-News Email

4 min read

Delivering difficult news by email is uncomfortable, and the discomfort produces predictable writing failures: burying the news in context, hedging the language until the message is unrecognizable, or being so direct that the email reads as clinical rather than considered. The difficult-news email is a high-stakes genre because it is remembered — the recipient will recall not just the news itself but how it was delivered. The email that delivers bad news with clarity, empathy, and respect for the reader's time is rare enough to be noticed.

Do This

  • Deliver the news in the first or second paragraph — not after a screen of context
  • Use plain language — "we are not renewing the contract" not "we have made the difficult decision to explore alternative arrangements going forward"
  • Acknowledge the impact on the recipient without manufacturing emotion you do not feel
  • Provide the next steps immediately after the news — what happens now, what the timeline is, what the recipient should expect

Avoid This

  • Open with positive news or pleasantries before delivering the difficult message — it reads as a setup and damages trust
  • Use passive voice to obscure agency — "a decision has been made" instead of "we have decided"
  • Send the email and then go silent — the difficult-news email requires availability for follow-up
  • Let the email sit in drafts for three days while you gather courage — information asymmetry, where the recipient does not yet know something that affects them, is its own harm