How to Write an Email to a Customer? Here are 7 Surefire Ways! (With Free Customer Service Email Templates)

Updated

August 7, 2022

Written by

Merlene Leano

Email has become an invaluable business communication tool that has been used for many years. It is used for interdepartmental communication in companies and for addressing client concerns. One of the advantages of email is that you can use it anywhere, provided that you have a stable internet connection. That is why businesses are taking advantage of using emails for their customer outreach.

Customer service email marketing can help a business achieve success and longevity. A better-written email can nail your end-user’s issues in a cost-effective and more personal approach. If not done to the standards that today’s busier and more demanding buyers expect, you could be looking at an exodus of your customers straight to your competitors.

When you send emails, it is only natural to make some mistakes. Either you sent the wrong link or you addressed someone by the wrong name. These are some issues that can be avoided if you only have a checklist on how to write good customer service emails.

After all, writing good customer service emails depends on knowing the correct fundamentals.

Do you want to know how to write a customer support email? Check out these best practices on how to write a customer service email effectively to provide excellent customer service. Plus, we will be providing the best email templates for customer service to help you stay connected with your clients under any circumstances. So make sure to keep reading!

Customer Service Email (7 Best Practices)

The sheer number of emails that your support staff have to read and respond to daily makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what to improve. While email templates are helpful in improving your customer service business email writing, it is a wise decision to try the following tips.

These are practices meant to assist in personalizing your response so it can strengthen your company’s customer retention strategy. So, before responding to queries via email, make sure that you:

1. Treat them with a personal touch.

Customers are instantly disappointed when they feel as though they are receiving an automated and lifeless email from a company. They expected so much more, and so it would be heart-wrenching to respond to them in a robotic manner. Surely, you wouldn’t want your customers to feel that way.

To know how to write an email to customers is to know that personalized emails are the key to making your target audience feel like they are interacting with a real human and not a robot.

How will you make your email sound personal? 

Use the customer’s name at the beginning of the email and sign it with your name at the end. Don’t forget to greet them at the beginning of your email. It should go with a slightly friendlier tone to respect their boundaries and gain their trust. This makes the customers feel like there is a real person behind the email.

2. Use simple language.

To pull off the best customer service email, it is quite essential to talk to the clients about their background and lifestyle. In other words, stick to a simple vocabulary. Adding highly technical jargon or sophisticated terms in your email is out of place. Complex terms and words create even more questions and confusion for the customer. Shift your choice of words and language to match that of your customers’. 

Unlike face-to-face conversations, emails are more prone to misunderstandings. They can misinterpret the choice of words, punctuation, and grammar. Take time to check which phrases to use with your client and customize your replies to suit the demographic that your products serve.

3. Address the customer’s emotions.

Fill your messages with empathy and understanding—even when the customer is angry. When you receive their email, try to understand their concern before crafting a response. 

Empathy can help you deal with frustrated customers, albeit challenging, especially if the customer is extremely upset. Meanwhile, if you show that you understand their frustration, it will decrease the chances that they’ll leave you for a competitor.

4. Promptly respond to customers.

It is important to quickly respond to questions and complaints. Delayed responses to emails can turn away potential customers. It also creates a negative impression on existing customers. Worse, they might even transfer to your competitors.

With that in mind, the customer support team should keep their tabs on promptly answering every email that arrives in the inbox. The agent should not wait more than a day to reply to the customer. They must also form an inventory of all the questions, complaints, and concerns of the purchasers and take steps to deal with them after consulting with the specified customer service personnel.

5. Give specific and clear answers.

Customers don’t need to read 10,000 words to understand your point. Most people would rather ignore it than figure out what you are trying to say. They will likely scan the highlights, save them for later, and risk it not being read fully. Your message must be concise and straight to the point. It should be as clear in a few sentences as possible.

At times, customers are not happy or satisfied with a response that is a universal answer. Your content should be interesting enough to grab the attention of the reader in just a few sentences. Also, always check your email and do not forget to tackle every single issue. If you cannot provide a clear answer immediately, provide specific steps that must be completed to arrive at a feasible solution.

6. Do a follow-up.

It is good practice to follow up on emails a few days later and supplement it with a quick survey question. It allows you to sign off the issue as complete, or you can check how satisfied the customer is with the service. That way, you can verify directly what else you can do to help.

After leaving the trail open for more questions, it is important to check with the customer and provide them with a better alternative or resolution to their issue. Whether the issue involves a delayed package, a shortage of supplies on your products, or a nasty experience with the service, reassure the customer that you’ve taken the necessary steps to ensure such mistakes and errors will not occur again.

For example, if the difficulty was that the product was delayed in the mail, follow up with them in three days to inform them they should’ve received the merchandise they ordered. Or, check the tracking number and notify them that the product may have been left in their mailbox or at their front door.

If the customer experienced a technical malfunction, get in touch with them to let them know that your team has completed working on the issue and is resolving it.

7. Proofread & Check Everything

Nothing signals unprofessionalism quite like a bad-written email, filled with grammar mistakes and typos. Always check that you have proof of your emails before sending them, to avoid overlooking the small details.

Use tools like Grammarly and Ginger. These are free online tools that can assist you in improving and correcting your grammar. You also get to broaden your vocabulary and learn how to apply better phrasing to convey a variety of tones, even through text-based communication.

If you would like to incorporate links in your email, check them to make sure they’re not broken and that the page is working. The same goes for attachments. Make sure you include all the files you said are attached to the email and ensure there are no issues with the files.

Email is also easy to edit and forward. Keep in mind that sending a message to a minimum of one person can eventually be viewed by several other unintended parties. Double-check the recipient line before sending any email.

As a rule, it is best to never put anything in writing that an ordinary person would consider confidential or dangerous. If a customer's concern requires that they divulge sensitive information, you can create a password that only the customer will know, such as their birth date. The exclusive password must be inputted by the recipient for them to open the email or document. You can also send a pass code or a verification code to their mobile number to ensure no external parties have access to the email.

5 Best Customer Service Email Templates

It is true that creating an interesting and eye-catching customer service email can be a daunting task, especially if creativity is not your strongest area. That is why we have compiled some of our recommended professional customer service email response templates to help you save time. These templates will allow you to prepare different emails that are best suited for varied scenarios, give more depth to your messages, while also building character and generating a more favorable impression.

General Email for Customer Sign Up and Welcoming

Once a customer signs up for your newsletter or press release, or has paid for your products and services, you want them to receive their very first email to show your gratitude and let them know what else to expect from your brand. The earlier you establish your connection with your clients, the easier it will be for you to retain them in the long run. 

Your welcome email should look something like this:

Hi [Customer’s First Name],

This is [Your name] from [your company name],

We are grateful, and thrilled that you’ve purchased from us!

[This part is optional, but if you can re-introduce your brand]

[Your brand/company] is a company that caters to [your target audience] to provide [add your brand’s unique selling points here].

Just in case you have further questions about your item, you may simply reply to this email! I am more than willing to assist you in your journey with us, and aid you to get the most out of [their purchased item here].

If it’s not a good time for a quick chat, you can also check out our onboarding resources to help you get acquainted with [your product or service here]: [link to your resource #1] and [link to your resource #2] whenever you’re free!

We hope you enjoy your purchase!

Sincerely,

[Your company/name]

Pro Tip: It is preferable that all your onboarding resources are downloadable content.

General Thank You Email

The significance of having a customer service auto response email template is something that should be quite obvious to anyone reading this. Always keep in mind how much you value your customers no matter what the circumstances are. Better yet, send them a ‘thank you’ email or exclusive offers each time they purchase one of your goods, try one of your new items, or subscribe to your services. 

You can reap a great many benefits by expressing your gratitude to them. After all, customers are what keep a business afloat, therefore expressing gratitude to them makes perfect sense. 

A general ‘thank you’ email should go along the lines of:

Hi there, [Customer’s First Name]!

Thank you for allowing us to provide you with our assistance! We are so thrilled that you [decided to collaborate with us] [decided to purchase from us]!

We, the [Your Company’s Name] team, guarantee that you will not regret partnering with us! We will see to it that you get top-notch assistance from us and keep you updated once we launch new cool stuff in our product line!

We thank you for trusting us. Rest assured that your satisfaction will always be our top priority.

Have a good one!

[Your name or your business]

General Customer Service Email Templates for Tough Situations

Making mistakes in digital marketing is totally normal for both clients’ and your business’ ends. The last thing you want to do is wait for it to escalate into something even worse. Ideally, what you want is to send them a personalized email that shows your eagerness to solve any issue at hand. This way, customers feel more valued and heard, further strengthening their loyalty towards your brand. Here’s how you respond to frustrated or  disappointed customers, especially when the fault is on your end:

Dear [Customer’s First Name],

This is [Your name] from [Your Company].

Our team is terribly sorry to hear about your experience with our [Your product or service here].

We want you to know that at [Your company], our customers are of the utmost importance to us, and your fulfillment is always our first concern. We deeply regret what transpired.

Again, our team apologizes for the inconvenience this situation has given you. We are deeply sorry to see you go, but we do understand. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. However, if you change your mind, please do not hesitate to reach out to us!.

Thank you

[Your Name/Company]

Exclusive Offer/Compensation Email Templates

This is to show your clients how much you appreciate them. Sending clients emails with loyalty rewards is a useful tactic to strengthen your engagement with them. It can take the shape of a limited-time digital or tangible freebie, vouchers, or discount coupons. You can also do this to make up for any inconveniences encountered by a customer while using your product or service. 

Try our template below for reference:

When a customer encounters inconvenience or disappointment:

Hi [Customer’s First Name],

We are deeply sorry to hear about your bad experience with the product/service that you recently purchased from us. It must be very disappointing, and we understand.

To recompense for any inconvenience you have experienced, please maximize this exclusive [Your Discount Here] for your next purchase. Use this code [Insert Your Discount Code Here].

[If you want to add more]

To further express our sincere apology, we would like to give you this exclusive [gift] from us!

We hope that we are able to make up for the inconvenience caused by our services. If there is anything else that we can assist you with, we’re just one message away!

Cheers!

[Your Name]

Customer’s birthday:

Hi [Customer’s First Name]!

Since today is your birthday, we would like to give you a very special present! To celebrate your big day, we have a wonderful surprise for you! Use this code to receive your gift [Insert Your Code Here].

**If you want, you can add an expiry date to your codes so it will highlight a sense of urgency and entice them to use your promo right away.**

From our team here at [Your Company], we wish you a happy birthday! Here’s to hoping all your wishes come true. It's your special day—get out there and celebrate!

Have a good one!

[Your Company]

Follow-up/Engagement Boosting Email Templates

This follow up email template for customer service is perfect for clients who made a one-off purchase from your company, a subscriber who hasn’t been active recently, or a client who wasn’t able to renew their subscription. Sending this type of email gives you the opportunity to reconnect with your customers. 

Here’s an example to help you nail this type of message:

Hi [Customer’s First Name],

We hope you are pleased with our products and services! We are consistently looking for ways to improve our product lineup to give you the best service possible.

Our team couldn’t help but notice that your subscription is about to end three days from now. Would you like to renew your subscription for another month?

If you want to explore more of our products and services, consider upgrading your current subscription plan. If you wish to try our new products, we are more than happy to assist you!

Looking forward to your reply!

[Your Name/Company]

Wrapping It Up

Email has been proven to be one of the most widely used and most convenient channels for B2C communication. Everyone can write professional emails to customers. On the other hand, the lack of a deeper understanding of what motivates your target audience can make well-crafted emails either an asset or a disadvantage for your brand. That is why it is very crucial to implement the practices enumerated above in your email support. It will help your company to improve its image, increase customer satisfaction, and create a better relationship with your audience.

Outsourcing email support services to a professional service provider can help you efficiently tackle client issues and benefit from increased customer satisfaction. New Media Services offers experienced, qualified, and trained email support professionals. They can help you gain prospective customers by providing accurate answers and resolving customer issues and queries. We can help you save costs while ensuring that your revenue increases at a stable rate.

Success is something you can’t just give up. Learn how to implement effective email writing for customer service. Contact us today!

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