Looking for the best customer service email template?

October 9, 2020

How to write the perfect customer service email template: Technowand’s 10 top tips
Did you know that 205 billion emails are sent every day? That’s 2.4 million messages every second. These days, email is a critical communication and sales tool for small businesses – especially when it comes to customer service From support requests to sales queries, we’ve lost track of the number of emails we send each week. But there’s one thing we’re sure about – and that’s how to write an effective customer service email.
Writing email
Read on for our top 10 tips to get your customer emails right every time.

Keep your focus razor sharp

When skimming over an email, it’s easy to get distracted by a single sentence and overlook other important content. Failing to acknowledge all key points in a customer’s email can look unprofessional and tardy.

Before hitting the send button, make sure you’ve read and re-read the customer’s email to fully understand their requirements. When you reply, give clear and precise answers that are directly relevant to the customer’s initial email. Ask yourself this: what is the key message you need to convey?

Be short and sweet

It’s likely that your customers manage ever-increasing email volumes on the go. Like you, they don’t have time to sit down and digest a lengthy email (the phrase TL;DRexists for a reason!). If your emails are unnecessarily long, you risk losing the customer’s attention – and in turn, their interest in your business.

Keep your emails short and sweet, with only relevant and essential content included.

Be thoughtful about the subject line

The humble subject line is a powerful tool in the email world. When written well, an effective subject line captures the recipient’s attention, helps you stand out from the crowd and makes it easy to find your email in an overflowing inbox.

Make your subject line thoughtful, precise and focused so it encourages the recipient to open your email. Keep it under 40 characters – five to seven words – to avoid getting cut short.

Be respectful when addressing others

The rise of email, social media and other digital technologies has brought with it an increase in the use of casual or informal language when engaging online. When it comes to business communication, it’s important to strike a balance between professionalism and approachability. In all cases, your language should be respectful.

When addressing people, use their first names where possible. If a name is unknown, we like to use ‘Dear Sir/Madam’. When addressing companies or organisations, use proper titles and names appropriately.

Show appreciation

When a customer emails you, it’s important to show appreciation for the effort they have made in interacting with you.

Including a simple ‘Thanks for your email’ at the beginning of an email reply conveys gratitude, politeness and warmth.

Be positive

Like with any face-to-face conversation, customers typically respond well to friendliness, approachability and positivity. It’s essential to make sure this vibe carries through to emails.

Use upbeat language and frame responses in a positive way to increase the chance of the email being received well by your customers. For example: “Thanks for your email! Unfortunately, we don’t have this feature available,” is likely to make a customer happier than “This feature is not available.”

Before sending, remember to double and triple check the tone of your email – without body language cues to help, it’s easy for emails to come across as unintentionally hostile or petty.

Followup

Show off your personality

Customers enjoy the experience of engaging with interesting and personable company representatives, rather than receiving robotic, bland or generic email responses.

Engage your customers from the outset by adding character, personality and flair to your emails. Make them interesting to read, and avoid detail or language that sounds dull.

Include a proper signature block

These days, few customers are diligent in saving or storing contact details. If customers need to contact you, they are likely to dig through past emails to find the best way of contacting you or your company.

Make sure you apply a signature block to every customer-facing email with important details included. At a minimum, you should provide:

• Your full name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Business address
• Links to your website and social media pages

Proofread, then proofread again

Spelling and grammar mistakes, poorly worded sentences and other errors are frankly dangerous for small businesses. These mistakes don’t give a good impression to your customers. Instead, they make you look unprofessional.

Always proofread (and proofread again!) every email before hitting the send button. If you don’t have a great eye for detail, enlist the help of online tools like Hemingway and Grammarly to surface any mistakes in your email content.

Use timestamps

Sometimes it’s important to show a customer when you responded to an email or to keep an accurate record of the times at which emails were sent or received.

It’s good practice to apply time-stamps to your emails. It provides an accurate record of email history and helps to provide validity and accountability to your customers.
What are your favourite email writing tips? Share your best advice in the comments below.