Best Practices for Writing Customer Service Emails

Though using a customer service email template will make your job much more manageable, you should still follow a few best practices.

The following tips apply, especially when you use a pre-written email. They can help you personalize your response so that it doesn't seem canned, strengthening your company's customer retention strategy. 

1. Use the customer's name.

This is the first step when reaching out or responding to customers. Using their name in the greeting will make your response feel genuine and targeted specifically to them.

2. Have the customer's conversation history handy.

When responding to a customer complaint or email, knowing when and why they've reached out to your company is vital. Have they had this same issue in the past? Or have they only been a customer with you for a short time? This information can help you choose the appropriate tone for your email — whether profusely apologetic or cheery and helpful. Additionally, if you have the customer's conversation history, you can personalize any template by including background information and context.

3. Brush up on key facts about their business or buyer persona.

In a similar vein, skim through the information you have on their business and buyer persona to understand why they reached out. Are they users of your product? Or are they top-level stakeholders in their organization? Do you know why they chose to do business with you? We recommend collecting this information using the sales pipeline dashboard.

4. Try to understand their problem inside and out.

When reading the email, try to understand their problem before responding. Then, if you still need clarity, your response would be the place to ask questions.

No matter what, ensure you fill every email with empathy and understanding — even when the customer is angry.

Empathy can help you deal with frustrated customers and decrease the chances they'll leave you for a competitor. We understand that this is hard, so below, we'll take you through a step-by-step guide to responding to an angry customer email.