How to Apologize for a Late Email Response | Miss email reply
Raiseyourhandif,atthisverymoment,youhaveatleastoneemailyoushould’vealreadyrespondedto—adayago,aweekago,even(eek!)amonthago.Andyes,myhandisraisedtoo.Iknowthere’smorethanonemessageIkeepforgettingaboutuntilrightbeforeIfallasleep—atwhichpointIpromisemyselfthatI’llreplyfirstthingtomorrowmorning.ButIdon’t.Thentimepasses,andpassessomemore,andbeforeIknowit,I’mfacingasituationwhereit’salmostmoreembarrassingtorespond.Isn’titjustbettertopretendthatitgotcaughtinspam?No,it’snot!Buttomakefinallywritingtha...
Raise your hand if, at this very moment, you have at least one email you should’ve already responded to—a day ago, a week ago, even (eek!) a month ago. And yes, my hand is raised too. I know there’s more than one message I keep forgetting about until right before I fall asleep—at which point I promise myself that I’ll reply first thing tomorrow morning. But I don’t.
Then time passes, and passes some more, and before I know it, I’m facing a situation where it’s almost more embarrassing to respond. Isn’t it just better to pretend that it got caught in spam? No, it’s not!
But to make finally writing that email[1] a little easier, we’ve written out a few steps and example emails that’ll both salvage your professional reputation and make your recipient more understanding of the delay.
How to apologize for a late reply to an email
Once you’ve decided to actually send that email (and you should), here are three basic steps to follow:
1. Acknowledge and apol...