​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 inquiries. 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.

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
​

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.
​

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.
​

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, 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.
​

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.
​

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.
​

​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.