Best Practices, Tips & Techniques

Updated 10/09/07

How to Craft Email Responses That Win Customers Back!

By Myra Golden  

You’re in for a treat, because today I have for you a unique email session with the most important tips, tools and techniques you need to make your emails appear both friendly and professional. Plus, you’ll learn how to respond to angry emails in a positive, professional tone. If you communicate with your customers via email, you can’t afford to miss this!


1. Write a Subject Line That Pops
The subject line is your first impression in email communication so make sure your first impression is personal and attention-getting. By far, the most common subject line in email responses to customers is: “Re: customer web inquiry”. Sure, it’s accurate, but what a waste of opportunity to connect with customers and make your communication memorable.

You can immediately capture your customer’s attention by doing 2 simple things with your subject lines: (1) Using the customer’s name in the subject line (whenever possible) and (2) inserting a short phrase that speaks to the customer’s issue. Here’s what I mean:

Joe, the lawn mower manual you requested is attached.
Lynn, your replacement widget will ship tomorrow.
Lauren, here are tips to help maintain your garden.

Personalize your emails and they’ll be read before anything else in the customer’s inbox. I guarantee it. Now, when you personalize subject lines be sure to keep it short. Subject lines should be no more than 60 characters. It’s just fine to use fragments in subject lines as long as you’re clear.

2. Thank the customer for the email and/or complaint
A lot of companies begin complaint response letters with: “We have received your email dated…” Don’t do this. The fact that you’re responding to the email is irrefutable proof that you have received the customer’s letter. Instead of wasting words, immediately go into a response designed to restore the customer’s confidence and regain their goodwill.

My favorite approach to beginning a complaint letter is to begin by expressing appreciation for the feedback. Here are some ways to express appreciation for customer feedback:

“Thank you for taking the time to write to us.”

“Thank you for your email. We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren’t right.”

“Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify what we think has happened.” (This is ideal for a response letter to a customer who is actually responsible for the error or when you cannot honor the customer’s request for a refund or exchange.)

3. Make Your Email “Look Good”
Expert copy writer, Joe Vitale, says that visual attractiveness accounts for 70% of your letter's impact. You need to use short sentences, short paragraphs, and bulleted points. (It should go without saying that “looking good” includes clicking the spell-check and grammar-check buttons, avoiding jargon, and not abbreviating.)

4. Quickly Get to the Point
Customers await responses from companies with great anticipation…so quickly get to the point and when possible, be brief. Don’t waste words. Simply express appreciation for the feedback, apologize for the problem and quickly offer your resolution strategy or explanation.

5. Respect Your Customer by Answering ALL of Her Questions
Answer ALL questions – this is a BIG one. Customers find it frustrating to get an incomplete response from the company. Carefully read and re read the customer’s email to ensure you have captured every issue and make sure you respond to each of the issues.

6. Don’t Use Email to Give a Customer Bad News
Tim Sanders, best-selling author and former Yahoo! Executive, said recently in his newsletter: “At Yahoo!, I always told my folks, ‘Email is for saying yes and for exchanging information. If you want to say no, criticize or get into an emotionally charged issue, pick up the phone or do it in person’. Email fails to communicate your intentions, so it usually looks pretty insensitive.

Certainly, it’s going to make more time and effort on your part to pick up the phone and call a customer to communicate bad news, but you really need to make the sacrifice.

Speaking to the customer by phone gives you the opportunity to establish rapport, re-build trust, offer alternatives, or to offer a sincere and unreserved apology. Email communication is so vulnerable to miscommunication and you are at great risk for losing the customer when you convey bad news electronically without the opportunity to truly defend your position.

7. Add a P.S.
I’m about to let you in on a secret that is apparently unknown to most companies: Studies show that the postscript is the most often read and the first read portion of any letter. Joe Vitale, author of Hypnotic Marketing, encourages his readers to always use a P.S. and says “Your P.S. is your chance to state your strongest point, or offer your guarantee, or to mention just how wonderful your product is.”

Here are some great ways to add a post script to a complaint response email:

P.S. As a concrete form of apology I am sending you two additional widget kits. You can enjoy one now and one later. Thanks for being a loyal Widget Company customer!

P.S. I wanted to let you know that right now we’re running a special. When you buy 2 widgets, you get a third widget at absolutely no charge---and we pay the shipping. This may be a great time to pick up a widget up for you, your mother, and a special friend!

P.S. You are always welcome to call me with any additional questions. My direct dial number is 918-671-2413.

P.S. I promise, after this 90-minute How to Negotiate with Customers webinar, you will be inspired and thrilled with how effective you are at negotiating with customers. And once you've gotten a taste of how easy it truly is to get angry customers to back down and reach win win resolutions, you will be completely STOKED and actually look forward to negotiating with customers!

Adopt and apply these simple tips and your emails will grab your customer’s attention, be memorable, AND they will help you build and strengthen loyalty with your customers!

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Together, these handling difficult customers tips may come in handy this week. If you like these tips, please forward this newsletter to a friend and tell them they can sign up at http://www.myragolden.com. 

Recommended:

Myra Golden’s Handle Difficult Customers Like a Diplomat video seminar. Available from http://www.TameDifficultCustomers.Com.

 Subscribe to Myra Golden’s Customer Service Intelligence newsletter today.

“Myra Golden’s seminars are captivating and resourceful in complaint resolution. Her tactics should be used throughout the world!”

Brandy Warrior

Coca-Cola

“It was outstanding. I could relate to Myra and her strategies.”

Kristi Collier

McDonald’s Corporation

“ Myra ’s program was excellent. One of the best training sessions we have attended – well presented. The session was very beneficial to our everyday job!”

Shirley Perry  

Michelin North America  

Call Center Webinars is pleased to announce the return of Myra Golden's famous Handle Difficult Customers Like a Diplomat webinar!

Handle Difficult Customers Like a Diplomat

Strategies to help you handle demanding, irate & unreasonable customers in such a way that you completely regain goodwill...without giving the store away.

October 12, 2007, 1:00 - 2:30pm ET

Get the full story here:

http://www.TameDifficultCustomers.Com 

Myra Golden Seminars announces the public release of new Complaint Handling & Dealing with Difficult Customers Online Video Course. Read the press release.

About Myra Golden

Myra Golden is one of the service industry’s most prominent trainers and a highly regarded business growth strategist. Companies hire Myra and her team to help them achieve measurable growth by building, recovering, and strengthening customer relationships.

In 1999 Myra established Myra Golden Seminars after identifying the need for customer service professionals to be equipped with specific skills for responding to complaints and difficult customers in such a way that they completely regain goodwill and even strengthen loyalty after any service mishap. 

Her interactive customer recovery training programs and e-Learning programs have gained international attention and have made her an in-demand speaker at annual Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals conferences, Government Consumer Affairs conferences, and company annual meetings. 

She is a frequent contributor to the Customer Relationship Management Journal, publisher of a weekly eZine, author of Beyond WOW, and more than 200 articles.  

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