Customer service is one of the most important things to get right as a business – these moments of interaction with customers and clients leave a long lasting impression in individual hearts and minds.
The sum total of these impressions is incredibly important to how your brand is perceived, and as people become more outspoken than ever on digital platforms, that counts.
Writing customer service emails that feature a personal touch go a long way towards building a strong relationship with those customers. Robotic, bland and sterile emails distance customers from your brand and could ultimately lead them to look elsewhere for the services you provide. You can also follow fundingwaschools for more tips. Follow these tips to perfect the customer service email, and boost your brand’s identity in the process.
1) Say My Name, Say My Name
Injecting a personal touch into your customer service emails makes people value the interaction and see the human behind the screen. Ensure your customer service personnel are signing off their emails with their first name, and including a short picture and bio in the email signature can emphasize that individuals are dealing with a human. These transactions need to become conversations, where personality and that human touch shine through.
2) Cheers
Every piece of customer feedback that your business receives is a tool that helps you improve your service and ultimately grow your brand. That means that even the most intemperate Facebook rant is, actually, an opportunity for your business. A note of thanks in each and every instance of customer feedback shows that you as a brand recognizes the value of your customers’ input. Let your customers feel the gratitude.
3) Template Responses Can Still Be Personal
“If your business receives a lot of similar inquiries, it might be tempted to automate the response you give these to focus your resources elsewhere,” says Ged Hirshaw, email marketer at Paper Fellows and State Of Writing. “This is a natural impulse that lets you prioritize your attention, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that an automated response can get away with lacking personality.” First names, emojis and bios as well as a little bit of thought about the language you use can turn a template response into a memorable interaction for your customers.
4) Stick To Specifics
“It’s a huge pet peeve of customers to receive vague information, especially around response times,” says Elizabeth Dotson, custom service manager at Boomessays and Custom Writing. “If you tell a customer that you’ll ‘get back to them’, they rarely believe you. This can drive them away from your business before you get a chance to answer their question.”
Be careful to use specifics around response times in your customer service emails. Tell customers exactly what you’re going to do for them, and if this requires a follow up give them a timeframe that reassures them that a response is coming.
5) Phrasing Matters
There are many different ways to convey the same information, and when you’re writing customer service emails, phrasing matters. For the grammarians out there, this means that you should be avoiding the “imperative” tone – that looks like phrases commanding the reader such as “do x,” or “go to y”.
Convert these imperatives into softer language by using the conditional tone. Asking a customer if they could or would do something for you, and explaining why you’re asking, is a soft touch that builds a strong relationship.
6) Provide Links
Customer service emails should be short and sweet whilst still answering the customers questions. This balancing act can be a tricky one to perform, but customers are turned off by long emails packed with information. If you’re dealing with a complicated request then breaking it down by providing links to FAQs, walkthroughs or instructional videos will help the customer access the information they need. You don’t want these external links to replace customer service communication entirely though, use the tips above to package these directions in the perfectly personal tone.
Use these tips to make customer service emails a tool for building your brand and customer retention. Use the right phrases, ensure customer response emails contain personal information and that you never leave a customer wondering if you’re getting back to them at all. The personal touch counts.