3 Email customer support mistakes to avoid

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

problematic businessman looking at laptop screen waiting for email support In spite of the continuous growth of social media as a communication platform for companies, email support remains to be as important to customer experience as other service channels. About 91% of consumers use email at least daily for personal and marketing communications.

worried office employee reading email on laptop
Email lets busy customers to continue communicating with you during their most convenient times. It's also a good channel for follow-ups, letting you provide resolutions for customers whose problems weren't resolved during previous interactions.

Communicating through email may seem like a less daunting task for your customer support team, but if agents constantly commit careless mistakes, customer experience will take a hit.

Here are three of the common email customer support mistakes you should avoid.


1.   Making customers wait too long.

panicking woman holding laptop looking at wristwatch
A research found that 41% of consumers expect email responses within six hours. Only 36% of companies respond that quickly and, unfortunately, 14% don't respond at all.

So whether is a follow-up or first contact, don't wait too long to reach out to customers or respond to emails. Doing so will make them feel undervalued which can lessen customer experience. As a result, you might end up with a tainted brand reputation, a drop in customer trust, increased customer churn, and multiple missed opportunities.


2.   Using the wrong tone.

annoyed office employee reading email on smartphone
Your agents represent your company, so every interaction with customers will affect your reputation. As such, it's crucial to understand that the tone of your emails matters. So train your email customer service agents to find a balance between professional and approachable when composing their emails.

While it's best to keep your tone professional, understand that people generally don't want to communicate with agents who sound too serious and robotic. This is because the emails tend to feel cold and impersonal. Because of this, you might want to consider limiting the use of canned automated responses, or at least review and rephrase them to sound warm and welcoming.

On the other hand, sounding too lax may make you seem unprofessional and unknowledgeable, making it difficult for customers to trust you. Even an unfortunately inserted emoticon or a hint of seemingly harmless sarcasm may cause a lot of problems.


3.   Forgetting to proofread your email.

frustrated businessman reading email on laptop in office
Before hitting the send button, always remember to go over your email several times. Look for mistakes, such as:

•     grammatical and sentence construction errors;
•     factual details (wrong instructions, steps, or solutions);
•     inappropriate jokes or sensitive internal informations;
•     wrong or broken links; and
•     wrong or unnecessary attached files.

Any of these can easily distract your customers from your message and the resolution to their concerns. It can negatively affect your brand's credibility. Even something as simple as forgetting to customize the name can be critical.