How to Write a Request Letter: Format and Examples

Research on influence and persuasion, including Robert Cialdini's work in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, consistently finds that requests people agree to are the ones that are easy to process and act on, while requests that require too much interpretation tend to get declined or ignored. [...] Workplace advice columnists such as Alison Green of Ask a Manager have repeatedly observed that the requests which get fastest action are the ones where the ask is clear by the end of the first paragraph, while requests that require guessing tend to get deprioritized. [...] Research on influence, including work associated with Wharton psychologist Adam Grant, suggests that giving the other person explicit permission to decline can paradoxically raise the rate at which they say yes, since it removes the pressure that often triggers a defensive no.