I apologize for the inconvenience

These are words you should never write in a support email. Why? Because it’s dishonest and reeks of A/B-optimized corporate technobabble.

It’s a lot like saying “my thoughts and prayers are with you” to people that you don’t know that are victims of crimes that have nothing to do with you.

You feel like you need to say something, so you say the acceptable middle-of-the-road default.

This is wrong, and you’re wrong for doing it. You’re saying these things to make yourself feel better; not to actually express genuine support for those you’re addressing.

Reverse these situations for a moment and switch the phrases:

We’re expecting the server to be online again in about an hour.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Sincerely,
Support Dude

It literally doesn’t mean anything and fills up space.

What about a tweet like this?

Regarding the terrible attack in <x>, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Would you tweet that?

Please stop using these phrases. If you need to communicate genuine, heartfelt emotion, take a moment to try to come up with something that expresses what you actually mean.

This is our fault, and I know that it’s frustrating that our app doesn’t work for you right now. The team is on it and is working hard on getting it up and running again. I’ll let you know when we fixed this!

How hard is that?

And regarding thoughts and prayers, please feel free to have thoughts and have prayers, but don’t overshare.