Bad News And Good News
I’ve got bad news and good news.
That’s the way it should go: the bad news first, then the good news.
Sharing the good news before the bad news leads the interaction down a hill. It gets worse as time goes on. People are more likely to avoid a painful experience than they are to attain a beneficial one. So if they know bad news is coming, they’re hearing the good news with a long “buuuuuut” in mind. The good news is tainted by the inevitable bad news.
Sharing the bad news before the good news takes the message on an upward trajectory. It might start off rough, but it gets better at the end, and people are left with a positive tone in their minds.
Chris Do from The Futur YouTube channel encourages his graphic design students to pitch budget ranges from high to low. He says to pitch something like, “This project will cost between $12,000 and $8,000.” Typically, people talk about numeric ranges from low to high. But this strategy anchors the conversation on the high price first, then offers the “good news” later on with a lower price. This small change in order drastically adjusts the perception of the low price, and positions it as good news.
No one likes delivering bad news. But when bad news is leveraged to position good news as even better, we can inspire positive action from our communities and audiences.
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