Most organizations fail to grasp how readers will react to even minor adjustments in organizations, prices, or services they rely on. As a result, many organizations send out routine emails or letters to convey information readers will invariably perceive as unwelcome. (See Document 1, below, for a real-life example.) Even worse, most organizations deliberately conceal negative information, believing clients will never discover it—despite the well-documented backlashes that have followed organizations concealing bad news from clients. In contrast, when organizations deliver the negative news, consumers regain their trust in them.

On the other hand, for most writers, delivering bad news is as welcome as a root canal. But you can minimize fall-out from negative news by understanding how your audience will perceive your email. Or, if you’re Old School, and the news is nuclear-meltdown-negative, send a print letter. However, regardless of which medium you choose, the PROP Method (priming and positive, rationale, options, placement) will minimize fallout and preserve company-client or even parent-teacher relationships.

Dozens of studies document the impact of affective priming, or how the first items we read bias our recall of even unrelated items. When you expose readers to positive news, they recall more positive details from subsequent news stories or, in this case, paragraphs. Conversely, when exposed to negative content, readers overwhelmingly recall negative details.

In addition, readers approach email differently from other text, focusing on the identity of the sender and then the topic, before skimming the opening paragraph. After that, if they’re interested, readers typically scan the beginning of the second paragraph—potentially missing any upside you mention in the email.

Finally, primacy effects in memory ensure that this first paragraph’s content makes an outsized impression, trumping any........

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