Although using social media for customer service has been rapidly gaining in popularity, one of the easiest and best ways to offer customer service is via email. It allows time to think out a response, you can include print screens, detailed instructions or attachments when necessary, and for non-urgent queries is a simple and convenient tool. However, to provide customer service via email, there are a few key things you should do:
Let people know their query has been received.
You can do this with a confirmation screen when they submit a web form, thanking them for their feedback/enquiry and letting them know what you’ll be doing next. I.e. “Thank you for your feedback, we endeavour to respond to all emails within 1 business day.” Alternatively, you can use an email autoresponder with a similar message.
Let people know when to expect a reply.
As per the example above, when you confirm that feedback has been submitted, you should also give customers an idea of how long it will take you to respond. I cannot stress enough that you have to be realistic with this. If you want to offer 1 hour turnaround, make absolutely sure you can always offer 1 hour turnaround. If you’re not sure, or if you can offer 1 hour turnaround some of the time – then say you’ll respond within 2 hours.
Make sure to get back to people within the promised time frame.
It’s always better to get back to someone sooner than you said you would. Getting back to them later than you said you would could just be the thing that pushes them over the edge from being someone with a problem, to someone who speaks out against the company.
Pay attention to the tone of your emails to ensure you sound friendly, professional and helpful, not short, rude or dismissive.
Make sure your customer service staff know what your company tone is. If you have a large customer service staff, it’s even worth having a style (or communication) guide. Regardless of whether you have a large customer service staff, or you are the customer service department (along with everything else) be very wary of your tone. Remember the people you are dealing with are going to come away with an impression of your company that they will share within their circle, and possibly externally through social media etc. Make sure that they only have good things to say about you.
I don’t recommend that email is the only method of contact you offer your customers, I’d suggest at the very least you should also offer telephone service. Plus, I can guarantee you that your clients will (and probably already do) use social media whether you do or not. But email can be a great, non-intrusive way of answering questions and providing assistance, answering queries and resolving complains for any issues that don’t require an instant response.
