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Electronic mail, also known
as email has become an effective and resourceful
tool for communication and exchanging messages
over the internet. And email can become a great
marketing tool for presales and after sales
support as well.
Many customers and potential
customers alike would much rather send you an
email than to take the time to call you and talk
on the phone. In
an email, the customer can ask their questions
in a direct manner and you can respond to their
questions in a detailed and more direct manner
as well.
Furthermore, it’s important to respond to any
and all emails as quickly and as thoroughly as
possible in order to solve and settle any issues
or close a sale as well. |
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There may be times when a customer will ask
questions before placing their order online. And
business customers will also ask questions or
seek price quotes before placing large or
multiple product orders.
Yet it’s also important to remember that those
same customers could’ve sent those same email
messages to your competitors as well. And the
first seller who reply’s to their email with a
thorough and satisfactory response will most
likely earn their business. And this is just one
of the reasons why it’s important to respond to
any such emails as quickly and as thoroughly as
possible in order to help close the sale and
gain a new customer as well.
Yet you’ll find that many major, online
retailers can take quite some time to respond to
potential customer emails. In fact, many online
retail operations can take up to 24 hours or
more just to respond to email enquiries.
Furthermore, these same retailers can reply with
insufficient or inadequate responses as well.
However, if you’re able to respond to emails in
a fast, thorough and effective manner, then
that’s one more area where you can become able
to beat the competition, even when competing
with major retailers online. And this can give
you a great advantage over the competition,
especially when the customer needs to order the
product now.
Email etiquettes
It’s also important to implement etiquettes into
your email responses as a display of
professionalism. And you can use the same
opening and closing templates for all of your
email responses as well.
For example:
Opening and closing template:
Dear (customer name),
Thank you for your enquiry. In regards to your
question(s);
(“Type your response here in a thorough and
detailed manner or copy and paste a previous
edited response”.)
Thank you again for contacting us. If you have
any further questions then please feel free to
contact us at any time.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your company name
Tel: 800.123.4567
Fax: 407-123-4567
wwwYourCompany.com
Or:
If you have any further questions, then please
reply to this email and we will respond shortly.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your company name
Tel: 800.123.4567
Fax: 407-123-4567
wwwYourCompany.com |
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Email response
templates
After receiving multiple emails from customers
and potential customers as well, you’re going to
realize that most of the emails and questions
are mostly the same in one form or another.
However, if you have pre-written answers and
responses to such questions already made and
saved then you can easily respond to emails in
no time at all by copying and pasting those same
responses into your new emails.
To create and send effective email responses
simply answer the email in a thorough and
detailed manner the first time and then save and
name those responses according to the subject
matter of the email.
Then when you receive an email consisting of
those same questions, you can simply copy and
paste your opening template (Dear John),
followed by your pre-written email responses
pertaining to those questions and concluded with
your closing template, (sincerely, your name,
your company name). Then click send.
This is a fast, easy and very effective way to
respond to emails in a professional manner.
Email response templates allow you to reply to
emails in a quick, detailed and thorough manner
while impressing the customer with a quick,
detailed and thorough response.
Keep your email responses short and
simple
It’s important to be thorough and include as
much detail as needed. However, it’s also
important to keep your email responses short,
simple and straight to the point.
From the customers’ perspective, it’s a lot
harder to read an email than it is to read the
same content from a printed sheet of paper for
example. And reading long emails on a computer
screen can become a painful task for some and as
a result may be put aside for later or deletion
as well. Therefore, it would be best to keep
your email responses short and simple but
thorough as well.
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Answer all emails as
thoroughly as possible
It’s also important to be thorough in order to
leave every question and concern answered in a
satisfactory manner. And it’s essential to
answer each and every question in a precise and
detailed manner as well.
Furthermore, you can also take this opportunity
to answer foreseen, related questions as well,
(before they’re ever asked). Failure to do so
may result in further emails or no response at
all. And further emails will result in more time
lost, while no more emails will also result in
the loss of a sale.
However, since you’ll already have saved,
detailed email responses then answering such
emails and related questions will become a
simple matter of copy, paste and send.
It’s also important to include links to web
pages pertaining to the subject matter of the
email as well.
For example, you can include a link to your
Frequently Asked Questions page, the product
page of the product in question, or a link to
your return policy page if the email pertains to
returns.
By answering every question and foreseen
question in a detailed and thorough manner, the
customer will be very impressed and become more
comfortable making their purchase from your
online store as well.
Spelling and grammar
Spelling, grammar and punctuation are also
important. And failure to correct such errors
can leave a negative and unprofessional
impression upon customers and potential
customers as well.
However, most email programs include a spell
check feature making it that much easier for you
to spell check each and every email before you
send it out. But many times, spell check is not
enough and it’s important to re-read your email
responses to make sure that proper grammar and
punctuation was used in a correct manner.
The format of your email is also important as
well. Reading from a computer monitor is much
more difficult than reading from a sheet of
printed paper.
Your email responses should be formatted in a
manner to be read quickly and easily. And you
can create easy to read email responses by
breaking your email into short paragraphs (2 to
3 lines) rather than large block paragraphs
which becomes difficult to read.
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Answer all emails as
quickly as possible
Most major online retailers take up to 24 hours
or more to respond to customer emails. However,
most customers would love to receive a response
to their emails as quickly as possible.
It’s important to respond to emails within 12 to
24 hours. However, it’s much more impressive to
respond to emails within 1 hour or less. Most
customers are not expecting a response so soon,
let alone within the hour. But if you’re able to
respond to customers within an hour or less then
do it, as this alone will leave a powerful
impression on the customer and just might close
the sale as well.
A fast response builds instant creditability
while creating customer confidence in your
business.
However, if you receive emails for large,
multiple product orders and you need more time
to gather more information in order to fulfill
those orders then be sure to send a courtesy
response to the customer within an hour letting
them know that you’re working on it and will
reply shortly. Then your customer can rest at
ease knowing that you’re doing your best to
fulfill their order.
Reply with original message included
When replying to emails it’s important to always
include the original message at the bottom of
the email to remind the sender (and yourself) of
what was written in their previous email in case
a reference or reminder is needed.
You would be surprised as to how many businesses
leave this important segment out of the email
response and as a result can leave many
questions unanswered on both sides and cause
confusion as well.
And a simple way to make sure you include the
original message of the sender is to always
click “reply” to the original message leaving
the entire message in tact instead of starting a
new email message.
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Re-read your email
before sending
One of the most important aspects of dealing
with customers via email is re-reading each
email before you send it out.
Business owners and operators have a lot going
on and too many times tend to reply to emails
without re-reading what they wrote. And as a
result you can end up sending an email
consisting of plenty of errors and typos and
this can leave the wrong impression upon the
customer.
Therefore, you may want to take the time to
re-read your emails first before sending them
out in order to make any corrections that need
to be made.
Dealing with customers via email is quick and
easy to do when you follow these guidelines. And
when you do so in a professional manner it can
help build instant credibility and help close
the sale as well. |
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How to Take and Place Orders |
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Paying for Products with Your Customers’ Money |
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How to Collect Sales Tax for Internet Sales |
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Avoiding Credit Card Fraud |
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