When everything goes wrong — Stripo.email

With so many teams, processes, and responsibilities in play, it’s inevitable for some businesses to eventually go wrong and cause a crisis. 

Crises are inevitable in business. That makes it all the more important to be prepared when a crisis does strike. However, surveys have found that up to a whopping 95% of business leaders are unsatisfied with their businesses’ crisis management capabilities. 

Businesses can start improving their crisis management systems by starting with how they communicate about the crisis — and that can begin with the humble email. 

Email has always been the cornerstone of virtually all business communications. But with its directness and reliability, sending an effective email is even more crucial during turbulent times. 

Your initial email during a crisis can prove to be the difference between taking the right steps to solve the problem and emerging with your reputation intact or exacerbating difficulties, causing confusion, and even completely eroding stakeholder confidence.

In this article, we’ll go through the importance of an effective crisis email, as well as common pitfalls and best practices when writing one.

The role of email in crisis communication

Emails should be at the center of your crisis communication strategy for the following reasons:

1. Global reach: With emails, you can connect with stakeholders anywhere at any time. Not every stakeholder is on social media or physically present for meetings or verbal announcements. However, anyone involved in a business has an email. 
2. Professionalism: Emailing as a communication method is also more direct, organized, and professional as a platform. There are no public reactions, comments, or shares to be wary of in the more casual sphere of social media. After all, your business needs to seem completely serious about the problem.
3. Written records: Emails also provide certified official records of these communications, which are necessary for accountability and future reference. 

Of course, you should still consider communicating via other channels. They have their own advantages, and emails also have their limitations:

1. Lack of immediacy: This makes them less suitable for urgent minute-by-minute updates. 
2. Misinterpretation: Due to the straightforwardness of the platform, poorly crafted messages with an inappropriate tone can be easily misinterpreted. 
3. Lack of engagement: Furthermore, during crises, emails can often be overlooked, as stakeholders receive an influx of other messages about the problem. As such, they may not always engage in or reply to emails.

However, such limitations can easily be overcome and are not an excuse for not sending out crisis emails. Through consistent follow-ups, proper segmentation to send relevant data only to each stakeholder group, and the adoption of easily digestible writing styles, you can ensure that your emails remain effective.

Common mistakes in crisis communication emails

Crafting effective crisis communication emails can be tricky. There are three common pitfalls when writing one:

1. Lack of transparency

Many companies try to conceal critical details or downplay the severity of the issue, all in the name of damage control. However, this approach can, in fact, worsen the situation.

In the eyes of stakeholders, doing so equates to dodging responsibility — or even outright trickery. This can severely erode trust and lead to further backlash. If people uncover the details you didn’t reveal, it can even lead to yet another crisis.

2. Overwhelming audiences with details

On the flip side, diving too deeply into the nitty-gritty of the problem can also lead to stakeholders being confused and overwhelmed. People want a complete yet succinct explanation — not a play-by-play account of events.

Depending on how you word things, such an approach can also make it seem like you’re making excuses. By explaining in laborious detail how the problem came to be, it can sound like you’re placing the blame on external events rather than mismanagement on your part.

3. Inappropriate tone

However, even if you get what to say right, how you say it is just as important. Word choice and phrasing are of the utmost importance.

While remaining professional, readers need to feel that you take full responsibility for the problem and that you empathize with stakeholders’ negative experiences due to the problem.

Generic messaging may show people that you are not serious about the issue and treat it as a passing problem. Additionally, technical and grammatical errors also make you seem unprofessional and uncaring about the issue.

Best practices for crisis communication emails

After going through the three most common pitfalls, let’s now move on to the best practices for writing crisis emails:

1. Preparation

Your business should always be ready for a crisis. Establish a clear crisis communication plan, which should include creating email templates in advance. 

These can save valuable time. After all, the more quickly you put out a statement regarding a crisis, the more credible and professional you will seem.

These templates have placeholders for critical information, such as the nature of the crisis, the steps currently being taken, and resources for stakeholders. Some companies even have multiple templates for different kinds of crises.

2. Transparency

As already mentioned, being transparent is absolutely non-negotiable. Be upfront, specific, and accurate about what has happened, the potential impact of the event, and what your organization is doing to address the issue.

Do not use vague or evasive language. This will only breed suspicion and mistrust, further worsening your already precarious reputation.

However, you don’t need to go into deep detail. In fact, it’s also a good idea to send different emails emphasizing various aspects of the crisis to several stakeholder groups.

This makes your emails more personalized — and thus more sincere.

3. Tone

Your email should be professional yet still empathetic, calm yet still proactive. Be brave in acknowledging the full impact of the crisis, all while remaining hopeful and reassuring.

For clarity, structure your email clearly. Start with critical information at the top and use bullet points or numbered lists to break down more nuanced points. This will assure readers that you are putting in the proper effort to address the issue.

4. Precise wording

At the core of adopting the proper tone is choosing the right words and turns of phrase. Regardless of the facts you present, your disposition toward those facts is just as important.

For this part, it’s crucial to remember the differing connotations and denotations of words. A word’s denotation refers to its direct, technical definition, while its connotation refers to its implied definition.

For example, take these three words: 

• mistake;
• error;
• oversight. 

They all mean the same thing. However, saying that you committed an error sounds more professional than using the word mistake. Meanwhile, using the word oversight emphasizes the unintendedness of the wrongdoing, which may seem like you are not taking enough accountability for the crisis.

Potential real-life examples

Let’s put these theories about crisis emails into practice. Below is one well-written crisis email and another poorly written one from a hypothetical VPN provider.

Example A:

Subject line: Important Update on Service Interruption

Dear [Recipient’s Name],

You may have experienced being unable to access your account at [Company Name]. This occurred due to a server outage earlier today, which caused disruptions to our database.

At [specific time], a technical error occurred during a routine update, which caused an unexpected outage. We have since identified the root problem, and our technical team has resolved it fully as of 1:24 PM.

Rest assured that we are already in the process of implementing additional monitoring tools to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

You should now have full access to our VPN. If you are still experiencing any issues, please:

• visit our status page for real-time updates: https://stripo.email/blog/crisis-communication-via-email-when-everything-goes-wrong/;
• contact our support team at [email/phone number].

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We value your trust and are committed to keeping you informed and supported with your experience with us.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Warm regards,
[Name]
[Title]
[Company Name]

Example B:

Subject line: An Update from Our Team

Dear Customer,

We recently became aware of an issue affecting our servers. Unfortunately, some customers may have experienced disruptions. We are currently investigating the matter and will provide updates as needed.

We understand that this may be inconvenient and appreciate your patience. Please check our website for any announcements.

Thank you,
[Company Name]

Key differences:

Email A is a significantly better crisis email. The key differences are clear:
 

 

Following up post-crisis

However, don’t be mistaken — crisis communication doesn’t end once the immediate issue is resolved. Follow-up is crucial to ensure that not only have you fully resolved the issue but also to show your stakeholders that you remain committed to improving.

In your follow-up emails, be sure to:

• provide updates on how the crisis was managed;
• share any new preventative measures implemented to avoid recurrence;
• expand on any further outcomes of the situation.

Note to always employ a tone of gratitude when following up after the crisis. Thank stakeholders for their patience and understanding. If needed, make amends to your consumers by giving them refunds, discounts, or expansions to the products or services they are receiving. After all, actions speak louder than words.

Additionally, seek feedback to identify ways to improve. Use surveys or even look at other public channels (such as your business’s social media account) to see popular sentiments from consumers and stakeholders. Then, integrate these into your crisis management strategies.

Remember, businesses are all about maintaining relationships. Continuous effort is a must-have to maintain loyal customers and re-strengthen your reputation.

Wrapping up

Navigating a crisis is complicated and stressful. However, successfully overcoming it all begins with how you think and communicate with your staff, stakeholders, and consumers.

Remember to be professional, transparent, and empathetic when sending out crisis emails. Your reputation depends on it (and the success of your business largely hinges on its reputation!).

All this is made easier if you simply prepare to encounter crises in the first place. Unfortunately, too many companies think that their business processes are pristine and foolproof or that they are too big to fail. 

Once they encounter a crisis, they are left scrambling and unable to deal with the consequences. Often, they even exacerbate the problem. Perhaps rather ironically, preparing to fail at least some of the time is a crucial aspect of long-term success.