How to write a salary negotiation email

What the email should state

A negotiation email is a short, factual message, not a pitch. Negotiation guidance aimed at candidates consistently favors a message built from a small number of clear elements over a long persuasive letter — the elements below are what most of that guidance has in common. Deepak Malhotra, Harvard Business Review — “15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer”Apr 1, 2014

• The exact number or terms you were offered, in your own words — this puts both sides working from the same written record, which matters more once anything is verbal.
• That you remain interested in the role. A counter that opens with genuine enthusiasm reads as someone deciding how to say yes, not as someone shopping the offer around.
• One honest, specific reason for the ask — market research you can describe, a written offer elsewhere you do not have to name, or a scope difference between this role and what you priced it at.
• That you are glad to talk it through by phone. A short call often resolves a number faster than another round of email, and offering one signals you are not trying to negotiate at arm's length.

What to ask for

Name one specific number or range rather than an open-ended request to "do better." A specific ask is something the person reading it can actually evaluate against a budget or a band — an open-ended one just moves the guesswork back onto them, which tends to slow the reply rather than speed it up. If you are not sure what a specific ask should look like in dollar terms, the counteroffer calculator shows exactly what a given base, bonus or equity ask changes in first-year and four-year totals, entirely in your browser, before you send anything. Deepak Malhotra, Harvard Business Review — “15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer”Apr 1, 2014

Where base salary genuinely has no room — a fixed leveling band, a public posting, a government role — ask for a structurally different term instead: a signing bonus, an earlier review date, additional vacation, or a remote-work allowance. The second worked example below shows this pattern.

What to leave out

Keeping a negotiation collaborative rather than adversarial is less about softening the number and more about what the email does not say. The same guidance that favors a specific, grounded ask also treats manufactured urgency and unverifiable claims as mistakes serious candidates avoid, not as effective tactics. Deepak Malhotra, Harvard Business Review — “15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer”Apr 1, 2014

• An ultimatum or a deadline of your own ("I need an answer by Friday or I'm taking the other offer") — the employer already set a deadline; adding a second one reads as pressure rather than as information.
• The name of a competing company or its exact number, unless you are genuinely comfortable sharing it. You can reference that another written offer exists without naming it — see the second worked example below.
• A number you cannot back up if asked, or a reason you would not repeat on the call you are about to propose. A counter only has to be honest, not maximal.
• A second or third email sent before the first gets a reply. One clear message, then patience, reads as confidence; a follow-up sent a few hours later reads as anxiety.

Two worked examples

The two scenarios below show the same structure applied differently: one counters a base salary number directly, the other asks for a structurally different term when the base cannot move. Each line of the message is followed by a short note on what it is doing and why.

Fill in your own offer's numbers and the counteroffer calculator turns a specific ask like these into the exact dollar difference it makes over the first year and over four years before you send your own version of either message.

Assumptions

This page and the worked examples above hold the following fixed. Change any of them and the answer changes with it.

Offer type

A written US offer with at least one number stated — negotiate a verbal offer by first asking for it in writing

Number of asks per email

One primary ask, stated as a specific number or range — not a list of every term at once

Competing offers

Referenced in general terms only when relevant, never named or used as a threat

What this page does not do

It never estimates the odds an employer agrees, and it never advises on the legal enforceability of any term

When this answer changes

• The offer is verbal only — put it in writing first (ask the recruiter to confirm by email) before countering a number that has not been stated in writing.
• The role is on a fixed leveling band with genuinely no room on base — ask for a structurally different term instead, as in the second worked example, rather than repeating the same base-salary ask.
• You already have a competing written offer with a higher number — you can reference that it exists without naming the company; naming it as leverage tends to be read as a threat rather than as information.
• The recruiter states the offer is final — a single professional reply that either accepts or asks one clarifying, non-monetary question is appropriate; a second counter after "final" is a different conversation than a first ask.