Image: licensed from photodune
Have you ever received an autoresponse email that was cold, had typos, grammatical errors or didn’t have a clear message? Did you feel annoyed? well…your customers might be having a similar experience with you. If so, it might be a good idea to…
STOP annoying your customers!
Canned messages and impersonal responses could be causing you to lose sales and customers. The customer experience starts at the very first interaction they have with your company, whether that is on your site, through email, or clicking through an ad. That experience does not end until they are no longer your customer which hopefully will never happen. Every time your customer comes into contact with your company in some way that customer experience should be enhanced. Unfortunately, many businesses fall short when it comes to what many consider to be routine interactions – those interactions are where your autoresponder comes into play. Try these five tweaks to get the most out of the messages to your customers.
Review your canned messages.
“Why waste a sentence saying nothing?” Seth Godin [Tweet this]
Image: from Pinterest
Hire a copywriter to review your canned messages and polish them up. While the answers or messages may be right or what you wanted to say, the tone could be turning your customers away. Also, check the messages for clarity and ease of comprehension.
This means that each message should be a series of several short paragraphs that consist of three to five sentences – no more. They should be free of spelling, typographical, and grammatical errors. If steps are involved, there should be only one step per paragraph. In short, the customer should be able to read and comprehend the message with relative ease.
“People want information. And while yes, you can provide it on your blog, sometimes they want a bit more. That’s where email autoresponders work extremely well.” SBA – Anita Campbell Small Business Trends [Tweet this]
Personalize your autoresponder messages.
When a customer has a problem and they reach out to one of your representatives they want answers – and they want them now. While many customers will wait for 24 to 48 hours to receive a response, there are some that simply won’t. Your goal is to let that segment of customers know that they are important to you and in the process allay some of that impatience and anxiety.
Giving your autoresponder a personal touch often does the trick. Use the customer’s name in the header and body of the message. That often helps. Another great move is to structure your response so that it includes their question. These moves let your customers know that you are listening to them and that you care.
Make the customer feel special with targeted responses.
“Make the customer the hero of your story.” Ann Handley, CCO MarketingProfs
Image: from Pinterest
The final email reply that closes the issue will also have more impact if you personalize it. Get creative and find ways to express that you appreciate a long time customer’s loyalty or a new customer taking a chance on you. Of course, use their name, but include things that make them feel special, valued, like more than just a number or a dollar sign to you.
If you link, link deep.
Cookie cutter responses are usually not helpful and when a customer receives a reply that simply instructs them to check your website, which can be a deal breaker. Chances are, they already went to your website and did not find the answers that they needed. Now they are coming to you. If you are going to direct your customers to your website then at least direct them to the exact page where they will find the answers they need.
If you can’t link directly to the page with the answer then it is best not to link at all. Do not give out the home page of your website as your main answer, or worse yet your only answer. If it is complex and can’t be answered quickly and easily then acknowledge that you received it and give it a proper, complete response as soon as you are able.
Choose an autoresponder that give you room to run.
Find an autoresponder service that allows you to personalize messages and give your customers the best experience possible. There are some great ones out there, the aforementioned GetResponse is an exceptional email marketing software that gives you plenty of room to run. Your customers are well worth the investment of both your time and money.
What challenges and successes have you had using autoresponse emails?
I love the quote by Seth Godin. I have often said that the optimal number of words for a blog post is exactly the number required to most effectively communicate, not one word more, not one word less. Data addicts hate me.
Thanks David! I agree, every word has purpose and should be used with precision. Spammers are pathetic and I have no time for them and the poppycock they produce. I’m all about quality content that adds value to someones business, their life or just in general online. Whether it’s an autoresponse message, a personalized email, an article, blog post, web page and or even chat – I enjoy unique content written well. I hear ya but even data can be organized to be presented well.
“If you link, link deep.” What a great reminder, even for seasoned marketers. To just show someone a homepage can be overwhelming and it’s not exactly “warm.” It’s like walking into one of those giant Costco’s or Sam’s Clubs without any type of map
Lol, great simile Alex! I totally agree. It’s like when you walk into a large convention. It can be quite overwhelming. I link deep all day!
Brian,
What steps do you recommend when you are the recipient of unwanted automated messaging?
Examples: I’m active on Twitter both to promote my service business (I’m a sole trader) and to keep abreast of news in my industries (plural). I get top-of-funnel, shot-gun scatter DM’s like,
” … What’s your biggest struggle right now with marketing your online business? …”
” …Hey again – not sure if you got my last message.
What’s the #1 obstacle that’s stopping you from reaching the level of success you want from your business? …”
Earlier messages said something about a podcast and high volume marketing. I took a quick look at the website and it was high-turnover online retail. I don’t work with retail very often. Most of my clients are specialised industrial markets. So, I ignored the messages. Now the ever 1-2 month iterations of DM are getting lame.
Can I respond with “unsubscribe”?
If there’s a real person hope they will update their CRM with my niche?
I sent a passive aggressive response to the automated machine.