Most apology templates are written by instinct: say sorry, say it warmly, promise it won’t happen again. A very large field experiment suggests the instinct is wrong about the last part.

The Uber experiment

Basil Halperin, Benjamin Ho, John List and Ian Muir worked with Uber on riders whose trips arrived later than the app had estimated. Riders were randomly assigned to messages like these, some carrying a $5 credit toward a future ride, or to no message at all Published:

PublishedExcerpts from each message, as reported in the paper. Outcome: riders’ net spending over the next twelve weeks.

Three findings matter. First, an apology in words alone had little effect, and was sometimes counterproductive. Second, “money speaks louder than words”: the messages that came with a credit did best, and the credit alone raised riders’ net spending by about 1.5% over the first week and about 0.8% over twelve weeks. Third, apologizing repeatedly to the same rider after repeated bad trips reduced their future spending. By the third late trip, an apology with a credit had a significantly negative effect Published. The authors’ advice: use apologies sparingly, and ideally only after outcomes that were unexpectedly bad.

The commitment apology deserves its own warning. The paper names apologies that promise to do better, with repeated ones, as cases where apologizing can be worse than sending nothing Published. A promise to improve is another promise, and a rider who’s late again has now seen two broken.

An apology is a promise about the future. Don’t make one you haven’t already kept.

Seven rules for an apology

1. Lead with the failure, in plain words“Your order arrived damaged,” not “sorry for any inconvenience.”
2. Take responsibility without excusesName the cause in one sentence, if you know it.
3. Say what’s already been done“A replacement shipped this morning.” The fix before the feelings.
4. Attach the remedy from the gridWords alone did little at Uber.
5. Promise only what you’ve already fixed“We’ve changed how we pack glass” is fine if you have. “It won’t happen again” isn’t.
6. Check the history before you sendIf this customer got an apology in the last few months, escalate to a person instead of repeating the template.
7. Keep it shortFour or five sentences. A long apology reads as a performance.

Rule 6 needs the failure history that the grid in chapter 11 records. Templates are in Appendix B.

Do this

• Rewrite your apology templates against the seven rules. Delete every “won’t happen again” you can’t back up.
• Add a failure count to the customer record in your help desk, visible on every ticket, and a rule that a second failure in 90 days goes to a senior agent.