You made a mistake. You messed up. But now, it’s time to own up to it and clean all the clutter. We’re all humans and humans tend to err. It’s okay to screw up sometimes, what matters is how you take the responsibility for it and sincerely apologize for your wrong. It is natural to look at yourself as the worst person in the world when you commit a mistake but you should remember that one misstep doesn’t reveal your personality as a whole. You may get defensive, but defense and apology don’t go together. You may also end up feeling that because of your one slip, you may open the food for more charges, but not apologizing in the first place, Marrs your professional and personal relationships as well. Here is the guide for How to Write Apology Letter For Mistakes?
Apology Letter For Mistake is a letter that you send to the person wronged, owning up to your mistakes and asking for his forgiveness. While writing an apology letter, you must abstain from sounding defensive, stating excuses, or blaming the error on anyone or anything else. The best way to write an apology letter is to take full responsibility for the mistake, sincerely apologizing for it, asking for forgiveness, and vowing not to repeat the mistake.
To find out more about writing an apology letter, keep reading!
Apology Letter Examples
Personal Apology
It happens all the time. Humans are largely flawed creatures and at the same time most sentimental too. Hence, while you as a human, tend to make mistakes, the wronged person can be very hurt because of your simplest mistakes. You should always apologize in the most polite way possible, making no excuses and showing that you will make sure not to do that again.
While making a personal apology, you can write something like:
Dear Phillip,
I apologize for not showing up for the concert. I have no excuses at all for keeping you waiting on me and wondering when I would come to accompany you.
I know that you took the time out from your busy schedule just so you could spend that time with me but I messed it all up and wasted your entire evening. I cannot be more ashamed of it. I will make sure to make better use of my calendar the next time so that I arrive on time for any scheduled meet or in fact, before time.
I sincerely ask for your forgiveness and want you to know that I am really sorry for my mistake. To make up for it, I would like to offer you lunch with me sometime soon. Do tell me whenever it would be the best time for you to do that and also the total charge for the concert tickets that I wasted. Please let me have the opportunity to make up for my mistakes.
With warmest regards,
Liz
Mass Apology
It’s the worst situation you can find yourself in. But do not fret. You can make it better by penning down a sincere and genuine apology letter. Instead of saying that you’re sorry if you hurt the feelings of anyone, rather say that you’re sorry that you hurt the feelings of anyone. Using the conjunction ‘that’ instead of ‘if’ shows the responsible side of you whereas ‘if’ conveys that you don’t care about your mistake and it was the people who couldn’t get on with you. That’s never a good way of apologizing.
While making a mass apology, you can write something like:
Hello all,
I want to make a sincere apology to every one of you. I am sorry for not living up to your expectations. The costumes I made for ‘Homer’s Odyssey’ we’re very similar to ‘The Merchant of Venice’, plus both the plays happened to fall on the same day and that is why it led to the interchange between the two costumes.
I never intended to cause any one of you any troubles and I am extremely shameful and deeply regretful that you had to make do with the wrong costumes on the stage. From next time onwards, I will make sure not to commit such careless gaffes ever in the future and do my work properly. I am very sorry for disappointing you all.
I lowly ask you for your forgiveness. I hope that this mistake of mine won’t keep you from seeking my help in the future. I will always be happy to be of service. Please accept the cookies in the green room as a sincere token of apology and let me make up for my huge mistake.
Hope you all can forgive me.
With warmest regards,
Julie
Mediator Apology
Sometimes you may find yourself in a position where you will have to own up to someone else’s wrongs. It happens all the time in the workplace. Say you’re supervising a new employee and they committed a mistake or you’re the head of a team and the team engaged in a blunder, in all these situations you will be the one who is responsible for taking the blame all on yourself and apologizing on your subordinate’s behalf. You are the mediator between the wrongdoer and the wronged.
While making a mediator apology, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
On behalf of the SpringLights Company, I would like to extend a sincere apology for the unpleasant experience you had with one of our crew members, Lucas. I got to know that Lucas made haughty remarks and lost his temper which is in no way justified and you rightfully deserve a polite and respectful service. You came to us in search of a good product but were instead made subject to disrespectful and arrogant behavior.
I would like to inform you that SpringLights does not support any such demeanor in the workplace and highly condemn the unprofessional and impolite behavior shown by one of our employees. Lucas is a new entree and has been undergoing training under me. I take full accountability for his actions. He has received a written report from the company and will be working under a senior staff until he fully learns about SpringLights customer policies and works ethics.
I am obliged and gratified that you brought this issue to my concern and I sincerely ask you for your forgiveness. We would love to be of service to you. I have attached a coupon for 20 percent off on your next purchase from SpringLights as a way to make up for our mistake if you decide to ever visit us again and give us a second chance. We hope that this blunder won’t keep you from obliging us to provide you with our service again and are looking forward to seeing you soon.
With warmest regards,
Joana Hertzberg, Executive Sales Manager
Apology Letter To Boss
This is the most dreadful situation you can find yourself in. You may have to apologize to your boss for several reasons ranging from coming late to work to not doing some assigned work on time. You should just plainly state that you’re sorry, explain your reasons, ask for forgiveness and assure him that it will not happen in the future.
While making an apology to your boss, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
I am writing to extend to you my sincere apology for sending the incorrect reports to the clients. I understand that this has caused a lot of complications for the client as well as the company.
I cannot defend what I did but I would like you to know why this blunder happened. I was working on multiple projects at the time and I got perplexed between them and sent the wrong reports. I am extremely and deeply sorry for such a careless mistake.
I would like to inform you that I have already apologized to the client personally and sent the correct reports in place of the wrong ones. I have also scheduled a meeting with her to stave off any discrepancies over the reports.
Please do tell me if I should do anything else to make up for my mistake.
I sincerely ask you for your forgiveness. I know that you are disappointed in me and I am genuinely sorry about it. I assure and affirm to you that this will not happen ever again in the future.
Hope you will be able to forgive me.
Yours faithfully,
Lisa Thatcher
Apology Letter For Inconvenience
No matter what profession you practice, you may sometimes cause a blunder with your clients, customers, employees, and colleagues. You may not turn for an appointment for some reason or you may forget to accomplish some important task. You just need to own up to your mistakes and apologize in the most polite way possible, making no excuses and showing that you will make sure not to do that again.
While making an apology for the inconvenience, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
I would like to extend to you my sincere apologies for missing our appointment on Thursday. It was very careless of me not to inform you in time. I would like you to know that I was caught up with an emergent situation somewhere else and got no time to inform you.
I understand that you are a very busy person and acknowledge the planning and the effort it takes on your part to take out the tins of your busy schedule. I fully respect and care about your time. It never happens with me that I fail to inform my clients about a situation beforehand but this time, I just couldn’t and I am very sorry for that. I assure you that this will never happen again in the future.
I have scheduled another appointment with you for the coming Thursday. I am looking forward to seeing you then. Please let me know if you like to schedule it any time further or if you would like to keep the appointment on a different day altogether. I would be obliged to help you in any other way I can.
I sincerely ask you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Hope you will be able to forgive me and this mistake will not keep you from seeking me for your service.
Should you have any other concerns or doubts, please contact me.
With warmest regards,
Jake Locker
Apology Letter For Mistake
A mistake can be committed on a personal as well as a professional level. Sometimes, you may be required to apologize for a technical defect, a mistake from your team’s end, or a managerial blunder. In any of these cases, you must always remember to just plainly state that you’re sorry, explain your reasons, ask for forgiveness and assure the wronged person that it will not happen in the future.
While making an apology for a mistake, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
We would like to thank you for contacting us regarding your defective Smart Android Tv (Order No. XXX-XXX). We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by the defective piece and deeply apologize to you for not delivering to you what we promised to.
We would like you to know that we perform a meticulous check over each of our products to make sure that every one of them is of prime quality. We will conduct a formal investigation of how your product was missed in the checking.
We have already sent you a new Tv set which should reach you at your registered destination in 4-5 working days. You can return the defective one to our workers once you receive the new one.
We will surely look into this matter and find out the reason why this blunder happened. We have also sent you a coupon for a 40% discount on your next purchase from our store, as a way to make up for our misstep, should you decide to give us a second chance to offer you our services in the future.
We ask you sincerely for your forgiveness and assure you that this will never happen again. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Hope you will be able to forgive us and this mistake will not keep you from seeking us for your service.
Should you have any other concerns or doubts, please feel free to contact us.
The inconvenience caused is highly regretted. We look forward to providing you with a better experience with us in the future.
With warmest regards,
Jennifer Walker, Executive Sales Manager
Apology Letter To Consumer
Consumer’s needs and requirements should be catered to properly in any work environment. When you do jit live up to the expectations of a customer, apologizing for your actions is the very first thing that you should do as a responsible and accountable employee. You just need to own up to your mistakes and apologize in the most polite way possible, making no excuses and showing that you will make sure not to do that again.
While making an apology to a consumer, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
I am writing to extend to you my sincere apologies on behalf of our company SpringLights. Thank you for reaching out to me. I am sorry to know that the software delivered to you did not meet your expectations. My company and I are highly regretful of the inconvenience caused to you.
We are fully responsible for it and offer you a newer and better version of the software for free as a token of our regret and as a way to make up for your loss. Along with that, we also offer you a coupon for a 20% discount on your next purchase from our store, should you decide to forgive us and give us a second chance to serve you. Our team will contact you soon to implement the changes.
We would like you to know that we perform a meticulous check over each of our products to make sure that every one of them is of prime quality. We will conduct a formal investigation of how your product was missed in the checking. We will surely look into this matter and find out the reason why this blunder happened.
We ask you sincerely for your forgiveness and assure you that this will never happen again. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Hope you will be able to forgive us and this mistake will not keep you from seeking us for your service.
Should you have any other concerns or doubts, please feel free to contact us.
The inconvenience caused is highly regretted. We look forward to providing you with a better experience with us in the future.
With warmest regards,
Jennifer Walker, Executive Sales Manager
Apology Letter To Colleague
Working relationships are not just important for your working environment but also for your productivity and your career as a whole. You should ensure to always maintain a healthy and positive relationship with your colleagues and apologize for any blunder that you commit any time during your time with them. You must always remember to just plainly state that you’re sorry, explain your reasons, ask for forgiveness and assure the wronged person that it will not happen in the future.
While making an apology to a colleague, you can write something like:
Dear Lisa,
I am deeply and extremely sorry for the way I behaved in the morning. I did not mean to embarrass you at all when I mentioned that you take more leaves than what is allowed here. I just thought of making you aware as a friend that it may have some dire consequences on your career in the future. I, by no means, wanted to bring you in the limelight and point you out in front of the boss.
I totally get why you lost your cool and reacted the way you did. I should have talked to you about this personally instead of shouting it out loud in front of other colleagues. I am also sorry for losing my temper in the heat of the moment and passing on some nasty remarks. I couldn’t be more shameful of my misconduct than I am right now. I just want you to know that I highly regret and condemn the way I spoke to you this morning.
I know you are annoyed and would not like to talk to me. But please consider my apology and give me a chance to make up for this being of mine. As teammates, we should have a good rapport amongst ourselves and above that, you are my dear friend. It just wasn’t one of the good mornings today.
As a way to make up for my mistake, would you like to have a cup of coffee sometime soon?
I hope you will be able to forgive me. I assure you that this kind of behavior would not be repeated ever in the future.
Yours faithfully,
Jake Carroll
Apology Letter To Customer
A customer should be handled with utmost attention and care. A customer is the most important factor in any working environment and his happiness is the foremost concern for any workplace. Whenever you or your company commits a mistake that dissatisfies your customer, make sure to own up to your mistakes and apologize in the most polite way possible, making no excuses and showing that you will make sure not to do that again.
While making an apology to a customer, you can write something like:
Dear Mr. Cameron,
I am writing this to extend my sincere apologies on behalf of my company, SpringLights, for the bad customer experience that you had with James, our customer service agent.
I came to know that our agent was not able to give you the required answer to your doubt regarding the operation of the product and that he also hung up on you while transmitting the call to a manager. I totally get your frustration as you were made to call again to come in touch with the manager.
I would like you to know that at SpringLights, customer satisfaction is our prime concern and we are extremely shameful and highly regretful for not living up to your expectations.
We offer regular training to our employees on customer service as to how to efficiently cater to the customer’s needs and assisting them in the problems that they are unable to tackle themselves. We will surely look into this and make sure that sufficient steps are taken to avoid any such situations in the future.
We have agreed on conducting compulsory sessions for the customer service employees to train them on how to transfer calls in the right way.
Thank you so much for bringing this issue to my attention. Your opinion and feedback are highly respectful and valuable. Thanks a lot for letting us improve our service.
We have also sent you a coupon for a 20% discount on your next purchase from our store, as a way to make up for our misstep, should you decide to give us a second chance to offer you our services in the future.
We ask you sincerely for your forgiveness and assure you that this will never happen again. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Hope you will be able to forgive us and this mistake will not keep you from seeking us for your service.
Should you have any other concerns or doubts, please feel free to contact us.
The inconvenience caused is highly regretted. We look forward to providing you with a better experience with us in the future.
With warmest regards,
Jennifer Walker, Customer Service Manager
Conclusion
We hope that now you are well aware of all the ways you can approach the person you have wronged. Just remember the ingredients for the perfect apology letter –use the word ‘sorry’ as much as you can, accept your mistakes, take responsibility for your actions, seek their forgiveness, mention the corrective measures and assure them of a better experience in the future.
