Use These Email Templates to Say No in Any Situation

Whether in person or via email, saying no to other people and their requests comes easily to some. But for others, having to decline an invitation or turn people down — in both their personal and professional lives — is a source of anxiety.

For many in that category, saying no via email (or text) is easier than doing it face-to-face with the person whose offer or request you’re declining. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze. Fortunately, there’s a website chock full of email templates you can use to say no in several different situations. Here’s what to know.

Email templates for saying no

The website is called How to Say No, and we first learned about it from a recent issue of the Recomendo newsletter — specifically, from Claudia Dawson. Built by Pigeon for Gmail, the website provides several email templates that you can use to decline a variety of events, offers, and requests, either copying and pasting them into emails as you need them, or downloading and installing them on Gmail.

Some of the templates come from companies like The Muse, OfficeNinjas, and Freshdesk, while others were written by big names like Steve Jobs and Tim Ferris.

A few examples of the site’s offerings include email templates for:

• Saying no to a project at work
• Saying no to something on principle
• Saying no to a phone call (to keep things going via email instead)
• Turning down an invitation to an event
• Saying no to doing work for free (including someone’s request to “pick your brain”)
• Saying no to meeting for coffee
• Saying no to donating money
• Saying no to someone asking if they can introduce you to one of their contacts
• Saying no after you’ve already said yes

Plus, anyone who has developed their own canned email response for saying no can submit it for potential inclusion on the site, so others can reap its benefits.