Honestly, if we were to pinpoint the exact cause of late responses, it would often be because “life happens.” Because really, it does, and the most you can do is reply with a “sorry for the late response” message. 🤷‍♀️

Sometimes, you’re navigating a busy work week, and an email or two gets lost in the masses. At other times, you’re unwell and don’t have the energy to respond straight away. And then there are times when you can’t respond because of reasons out of your control (anyone else had their two-year-old put their phone in the dishwasher?).

Anyway, if you find yourself in situations where you need to say sorry for the late response, we’ve got you covered with some templates. 

How do you say, ‘Sorry for the delay’ professionally?

When you’re apologizing for the delay, you could be in one of two positions:

1. You could be replying in an individual capacity. For example, you could be apologizing to a colleague for responding to their email late, or to your manager for not updating them on time.
2. You could be replying on behalf of your company. For example, if you’re late responding to a customer’s inquiry. In this case, you’re representing your business, and customers may view your delayed response as a reflection of your customer service. 

In both cases, it’s important to apologize for the delay outright by starting your message off with a sentence like “apologies for the late response.” But, in the first situation, you might only need to explain yourself.

In the second case, you might also need to take action to satisfy an unhappy customer. Later in this article, we’ll take a look at responses you can use for both cases.

How do you say, ‘Sorry for the late reply’ without saying sorry?

If you feel the word “sorry” is a bit too casual for a professional setting, you can apologize without using the word. For example, you could say:

• Hi {First Name}, apologies for getting back to you so late.
• Hi {First Name}, I hope my late response hasn’t inconvenienced you.
• Hi {First Name}, please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Sample: ‘Sorry for the late response’ email 

Here’s what a finished “sorry for the late response” email might look like:

Hey Kathy,

I apologize for getting back to you late. We’ve been swamped with work here, there’s lots going on with the new merger. I saw your email the other day and completely forgot about it. As for your request, yes, we can definitely manage that. I’ll ask my colleague to send a proposal your way by tomorrow COB.

Best regards,

Roy

11 great 'sorry for the late response' replies 

Need some inspiration to write your own “sorry for the late response” message? We’ve got you covered.

For responding to co-workers

Of everyone you know, co-workers should (hopefully) be the most understanding when you reply late, because you’re all in the same boat. Whether they’re understanding or not, here’s how to apologize for the delay in response.

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For responding to customers

According to HubSpot’s research, customers are some of the least patient people: 90% of customers expect an immediate response, and 60% of them define immediate as 10 minutes or less. So if you’re properly late in responding to them, it’s definitely a good idea to start by apologizing.  

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For responding to potential business partners

Whether you have good or bad news to share, responding to potential business partners can take time, especially when you’re reliant on internal stakeholders. Here are some “sorry for the late response” templates for different situations.

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For responding to job applicants

Got good news or bad news to share? Here’s how to get back to job applicants when you’re late to reply.

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Save and customize your ‘sorry for the late response’ replies with Magical

Even if you’re a total whizz at managing your time and keeping yourself organized, we all end up replying late at some point or the other. When this happens, it’s best to start your response off by apologizing for your late reply. And with the free Magical Chrome extension, you can store response templates and use them whenever (and wherever) you need to. 

Here’s a quick peek:

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You can see in this template, we’ve included variable tags like {First Name} and {reason} here. After saving your templates, all you need to do is type “//” to summon them anywhere on your browser (like on Slack, or in an email) and the variables will automatically fill in with details from your open tabs.

So, feel free to create and customize your own “sorry for the late response” templates. And if you’d like to try Magical out, add it to Chrome for free today.