Email Negotiation Guide: Tips, Common Challenges, and Effective Communication Strategies

This is the last lesson in our module on negotiations. Usually when we think of negotiations, we think of face-to-face discussions. However, because sometimes people are too busy to meet in person or on the phone, it is also possible to negotiate in writing. So that's what we'll be looking at in this lesson. As always, here are the learning objectives. At the end of this lesson, you'll be able to identify guidelines for negotiating by email, list ways to make information clearer in an email conversation, list ways to conclude an email negotiation, and finally write one email making a proposal and another summarising an agreement. So, let's get started. First of all, let me ask you a question. What do you think are the challenges of negotiating by email rather than face-to-face? Think about this for a moment. Well, the main challenge is that some important ways of communication aren't available to us when we are negotiating by email. First of course, we can't communicate using body language. Things like facial expressions, eye contact, and what you do with your head or body can communicate a lot of information in a face-to-face negotiation, but we can't use it in email. Second, we can't hear the voice. The tone of what someone says is important. If we are negotiating on the phone, we can hear if the other person's voice shows a positive or not so positive reaction to a proposal that we make. For example, hmm, let me think about that. Said like this, it shows that I am more positive about your proposal. Whereas, hmm, let me think about that. Sounds like I'm not that happy about it. Those two specific challenges, no body language and no voice, contribute to the most common problem with email negotiations. Misunderstanding what the other person is saying. This is why we'll talk more about the importance of being clear in emails later in this lesson.

The next challenge is time. The delay between sending an email and waiting for a reply can be frustrating. It may give the impression that the other person doesn't think we are important enough or worse is ignoring our email. The time delay can also mean that it takes longer to check our understanding if something is not clear. On the other hand, this delay can also be an advantage because it gives you the time to make sure your email is clear and to check information or consult with someone else. It also helps avoid giving an immediate reaction, especially a negative one. For example, if the other person proposed something that makes me a little angry, using email gives me the time to think about how to react instead of immediately saying something that I might regret later. Finally, the relationship might be harder to establish through email because it can be less personal. It might be harder for people to establish trust if the communication is only through email. For example, we often use small talk to build a relationship before negotiating, but that's going to be difficult in an email.

So, with all these challenges, it's important to make sure we follow a few guidelines for negotiating by email. First, let's talk about when to use and when not to use email to negotiate. First, it's better to negotiate simpler topics by email. If it is something more complex, it might be better to pick up your phone or arrange to meet in person. Although it might not always be possible, if you can speak to the person face to face or on the phone when you are first in contact, it allows you both to establish a relationship. After that first meeting, it might be easier to continue the conversation over email when you negotiate specific details. If you want to keep working on building the relationship, you can include some more personal, positive expressions in your emails. For example, I'm looking forward to working with you on this. Or if you were negotiating an agreement with a caterer, I heard from my colleague that your grilled salmon was very good. A positive personal expression can even be about something unrelated to the topic of the negotiation. Like, I hope you're enjoying this great weather. If the email conversation in your negotiation starts to break down because of misunderstanding or because the other person takes too long to reply, then again, picking up the phone and calling the other person can get the negotiation back on track.

Let's talk a little about the content and organization of emails in negotiations. You learned some general guidelines about email in earlier in the course. For example, including all the necessary information and not including unnecessary information. Having a clear subject line and using a professional greeting. These guidelines are also generally true for emails in negotiations, however, we'll elaborate on them a little. Remember, we also covered writing emails in detail in our first course of the specialization networking. So you might want to review those lessons if you took that course. If you're writing an email as your first contact and you're trying to negotiate a deal with the other person, you want the other person to understand what you want. Choose what information that person would need. Otherwise, you may end up exchanging a few emails, making sure that you have all the details.

Now, you're going to read an email where the writer wants to hire a catering company. What details do you think are missing from her email? If you were the recipient, what information would you need to ask for so that you could answer the email? Here is the information you probably thought was missing. Mr. Zanetti would need to know the date and time of the event, how many people are attending and where the event will be located. Sue should have included those details in the email. Now Mr Zanetti will need to send a reply asking those questions before saying whether his company could provide the catering for the event. We've talked about including all the information in the email, but sometimes in negotiations, not giving all the information or not being too specific is useful. For example, if you tell the other person the lowest price that you can offer his $10 per unit, right at the start of the email conversation, there is no room for negotiation. Instead, you might write something like this. Normally, our price is $15 per unit, but we might be able to offer a discount depending on how many units you order.

Okay, let's move to later when the discussion is going back and forth over email. We're going to first talk a little about organization. When replying to an email, you should always refer to the previous email in the conversation. Here are some common things to write. Thanks for the reply. Thanks for getting back to me. Thank you for the information. You usually do this in the first sentence of your email. A second guideline, and this is probably true for all email communication, the reader's attention gets less and less the longer the email. So keep the email short and to the point. In fact, in the US, it's better to make your main point near the start of the email and less important information at the end. One more thing about organization in negotiating by email. Take a look at these two sentences. Which one would you prefer to read? We can offer a 10% discount on orders over $1,000, but unfortunately we are unable to offer 15%. Or unfortunately, we are unable to offer a 15% discount, but we can offer a 10% discount on orders over $1,000. The sentences mean the same, but most people would prefer to read the second because it's bad news followed by good news. In the first sentence, it is good news followed by bad news. The effect of putting the good news first and the bad news last is to make the good news sound not as good as you maybe had hoped. So it's better to do it the other way around.

Finally, one more guideline about negotiating by email. We mentioned that the time delay can make it challenging. The important thing is to reply as soon as you are comfortable and have the information that you need. Waiting too long to reply can show disrespect to the other person and could damage the deal and the relationship. Okay, so let's summarize the guidelines for negotiating by email. First, decide if email is the best form of communication depending on what you are negotiating and how the negotiation is going. Sometimes using the phone or having a face-to-face meeting is better. Don't forget to sometimes add positive personal sentences to build the relationship, but don't do it a lot just from time to time is good. Include all the necessary information so that the other person doesn't have to ask for it. Refer to any previous email in the conversation in the first line of your email. Put the important information near the start of each email. Give negative news first followed by something positive instead of the other way around. And finally, make sure you respond to an email as soon as possible.