Source: IRWA
Right of way (ROW) professionals have long understood the value of presence. There’s a reason why "truth-walking" a parcel with a landowner builds more trust than a dozen emails. The in-person handshake, the eye contact, the shared weather and geography — they all speak louder than words. And yet, the field realities we face — remote locations, tight timelines, regulatory layers and digital operations — demand that we adapt.
Negotiation by email, and increasingly by text, is no longer just an alternative. It’s part of the new baseline. The question isn’t whether digital negotiation is "good" or "bad" it’s how to make it work for us.
As digital communication becomes more embedded in professional practice, researchers have explored how negotiation outcomes differ across communication mediums. Three comparative trials, conducted at Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management) and Stanford, offer empirical insight into the impact of email negotiation and how it can be improved.
These studies, conducted over the early 2000s, remain foundational in understanding the limitations and opportunities of digital negotiation. Their findings are especially instructive for right of way professionals who increasingly balance in-person rapport with remote communication tools.
In this foundational study, 78 MBA students were split into four groups — two negotiated face-to-face, and two negotiated strictly over email. Researchers broke down each negotiation transcript and coded every sentence into one of four categories:
Key Findings:
Takeaway: Email negotiations lacked natural rapport, increasing friction and misunderstanding.
This study involved 126 MBA students from Stanford and Northwestern. Half received a "disclosure package" with a photo, basic biography and a prompt to exchange personal introductory emails before negotiation.
Key Findings:
Takeaway: Even small humanizing elements significantly improve email negotiation outcomes.
Participants negotiated via email, but one group started with a brief five-minute phone call.
Key Findings:
Takeaway: Voice-based rapport improved outcomes — though not as strongly as personalized disclosure.
The studies consistently showed that when negotiators share even small personal details — such as a photo, a short bio or a brief introductory phone call — their chances of reaching agreement increase dramatically. This reinforces a broader principle: the more we reveal about ourselves, and the more we engage multiple communication channels (visual, verbal, relational), the more human the interaction becomes. And when negotiators are seen as people rather than just names in an inbox, trust builds more naturally, misunderstandings decrease and outcomes improve.
This research aligns intuitively with what most ROW professionals already know: trust, empathy and connection are at the heart of successful negotiations.
You’ve seen this in the field. Landowners open up when they feel seen, not just as stakeholders in a project, but as people. Before initiating digital negotiations, take time to research the community and local context. Understanding the area’s current events, challenges or cultural nuances can provide valuable talking points and make conversations feel more personalized.
You don’t always need a legal precedent to make a deal happen — you need goodwill. And yet, the need to document communications, manage large territories or work asynchronously with teams in different geographies makes email a necessary (and sometimes preferable) tool.
That’s why the future isn’t face-to-face or email, it’s both. Supplementing email with rapport-building strategies turns a cold screen into a warmer conversation.
Texting is often treated as a throwaway medium in professional settings, but that’s changing. ROW teams use it to send quick updates, check meeting times or follow up on decisions. It’s tempting to think texting "doesn’t count" as negotiation, but it absolutely does. Tone, timing and trust still apply.
The same psychological patterns that show up in email negotiation — like outgroup perception or what scholars call "sinister attribution bias"— are even more pronounced in texting. When we can’t hear a voice or see a face, we’re more likely to assume negative intent. A short "okay" might seem passive-aggressive. A delayed reply might feel like resistance.
So how do we use texting strategically in negotiations?
Whether you’re sending an email, drafting a text or following up after a virtual meeting, digital negotiation is now a core skill for right of way professionals. But just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it should be impersonal. The following guide distills key takeaways into practical, everyday actions — grounded in research and shaped by real-world fieldwork — to help you build trust, reduce friction and close more effective deals through your screen.
Digital communication isn’t going away. In fact, its use will only increase as projects scale and ROW professionals juggle larger workloads with tighter timelines. But if the goal is long-term success — measured in trust, cooperation and sustainable agreements —then the method matters.
Email and text can be powerful negotiation tools, but only when we treat them as conversations, not commands. Just as you wouldn’t walk into someone’s home without saying hello, don’t enter their inbox or message thread without bringing a bit of your humanity with you.
The most effective ROW professionals will be those who adapt without losing their human touch. If we can bring our presence, empathy and professionalism into digital spaces, then no matter the platform, we’ll still be building bridges.
BY SHADI SHENOUDA, J.D.
