Sending out dozens of customer support emails are the daily chores of marketing agents globally and perhaps it’s easy to undervalue the primary importance it has.
Just a factually wrong or an ill-written support email can have effects you’d not want at all for your business. Do you know that the good ol’ emails beat other social media platforms by a whopping 40 times when it comes to customer acquisition success?
So, knowing that, how do you solve customer queries effectively via emails?
The best way to do this is by writing effective support emails. Though hand-crafting every email can be time-consuming and overwhelming, following the industry best practices can make your job much easier. Below, you will find the best hacks to help you strengthen your customer retention strategy right from excellent support emails:
7 Hacks to Writing Effective Support Emails
Emails are exceptionally powerful customer support tools. And like anything powerful, getting them wrong can be harmful. Writing good customer service emails depends a lot on getting the basics right.
Let’s look at some of the tips that can help you craft the best support emails:
1. Personalize the Conversation
A recent study stated that personalized emails and messages offer six times higher transaction rates than non-personal and bulk ones (Barnraisers).
This indicates that customers want brands to go out of their way and curate customized experiences meant solely for them. A simple acknowledgment goes a long way in making you feel valued.
Here are some of the ways you can send personalized messages:
2. Use Your Customer’s Names
The first step towards humanizing your email messages is using your customer’s name.
“Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” Dale Carnegie, American public speaker, and author, wrote in one of his most famous books ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’
And for all the good reasons: what she said is completely true.
If this is not enough, a study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business (PDF) found emails with names in the beginning and subject line had:
- Reduced un-subscription rates by 17%
- Probability of opening the email by 20% and
- Increase in sales leads by 30%.
Rather than sending a generic greeting and a salutation (like ‘to whom it may concern,’ or ‘Dear user’ and the likes), use their names and keep the language friendly and professional.
3. Express the Underlying Emotion
Whether you are writing a thank-you email or crafting a promotional campaign, using phrases or images that express emotions to help your customers understand the message and incite them to take action.
Glenn Leibowitz, head of communications at a global management consulting firm writes:
“Especially when writing sensitive emails that have the potential to be easily misconstrued, try to imagine the recipient is looking at you as you write, or reading what you’re writing, as you’re writing it.”
4. Empathize With Your Customers
No matter the situation, ensure that the email is filled with empathy and understanding. Leibowitz suggests listening to the ‘sound’ of your email’s ‘voice.’ It means, once the email is substantially drafted, try to make out how the overall message (voice) sounds when communicated one-to-one.
Is it rushing? Or is it sounding ‘under-pressure.’ It could be rude or too persuasive to a point of being insensitive to the reader’s cause. These factors can potentially decrease bounce rates and show the customers that you genuinely care. The tone, tempo, and overall voice of the email must be genuinely good, empathetic, and nuanced.
5. Prompt Emails Enhance Customer Satisfaction
Response time does matter in the customer service world. Not getting instant responses can quickly become a key reason for customer frustration.
Customers may feel neglected, and this can lead to negative feedback. Moreover, 96% of customers say that prompt customer services are a deciding factor in choosing a brand (Reve Chat).
Hence, it is vital to reduce response time and provide the users with relevant information.
You can take the help of conversational AI and reputable email support companies to craft an effective and responsive email strategy to accommodate your customer’s needs.
6. Address Customer’s Painpoints First
One of the goals of email communication is to minimize the chain of back and forth information. Hence, no matter how great your email is, it all depends on whether you have successfully resolved the client’s concerns. Giving conflicting or generic advice or information can be confusing for the customers.
Hence to do so, you’ve got to ensure you gather the right information while you are prompted to sign up for emails. The more info the better.
Summarize the problem, provide links, explain company policies, share resources, and do whatever it takes to address the concerns.
7. Keep the Structure of Your Email Simple, Easy-to-Read
Many customer support emails look haphazardly written pieces of information with a cluster of texts unorganized. Such messages increase confusion and do not help at all.
Before you go ahead, here are some tips to keep the flow of information in your support emails as smooth as possible:
- Offer a Sequence of Steps: Using bullet points or a sequence of steps can better help your customers comprehend complex information. By writing long paragraphs, you are not painting a clear picture in their heads, and many people are turned off by large paragraphs.
- Use Sections: If a customer has asked multiple questions, it is best to break down the replies into sections and organize them accordingly. Don’t forget to copy each question and then answer in your reply instead of directly making answers.
- Avoid Using Jargons: A customer support email aims to educate the customer and not confuse them. Hence, keep the language simple and to the point.
- Check Everything Twice: Ensure that you check the grammar flow, sentence structure, subheadings, and more to make the reading easy for the customer.
Using Automation Technologies Help Improving Experiences
When interactions become repetitive, automation technology can have a tremendously positive impact and save time and money. Unfortunately, most business owners think that using automation takes away the human touch. However, customer support members have dozens of repetitive tasks to complete and an endless stream of queries to answer.
A list of canned replies used at the right time can help to increase your team’s efficiency and offer faster resolutions. For instance, if you just got off a call with a customer who has placed an order, you can offer them a canned template for order confirmation.
You can also tweak these messages to avoid sounding robotic and delight the customers with more human-like notes, something brand-specific.
Don’t Forget to Thank the Customer For Contacting You
When it comes to standing out against competitors, it is crucial to create meaningful customer experiences. One of the ways you can do this is by thanking the customers for making contact with you.
Being purposeful and personal goes a long way in creating connections and building brand loyalty. Whether it is a complaint or a tracking request, you must show gratitude. Hence, before you move on, ensure that you thank your customers for transacting with your company to make them feel more valued.
Get Feedback
Customers have opinions about what they want in email communications and how they expect brands to respond, so ask them.
As a result, many companies personalize their email support system with conversation AI and other technologies to make the feedbacking experience as seamless as possible.
You can ask them about their experience and what more you can do to improve it. For example, sending short surveys and forms can help brands improve their email support strategy.
Closing Thoughts
While there are many digital channels to connect with your customers like Slack and WhatsApp, email marketing is still one of the most authoritative messaging channels.
A recent study states that 59% of respondents say emails influence their purchase decisions (SaleCycle).
Hence, investing time and money in crafting well-written customer support emails can help you increase your brand reach and make the customer experience more memorable.
