Learn how to create customer support templates that inspire positive responses from your customers. A customer's happiness relies heavily on the effective and timely responses from your support team. With effective communication, you can win more customer loyalty and grow your business. To watch a recording of this webinar, visit https://www.xsellco.com/resources

2. Presentation Objective
You will learn:
● How to create effective email templates
that will help you to scale your business
● Provide better customer support by cutting
your response times by over 50%

3. Why Spend Time Crafting a Template?
● Templates can be used for automated responses, or they can be
customized to an individual query.
● To save time in the long run, it is essential that you consider all the
elements of a successful template.
● On a case by case email, you are present and can make judgements on
whether the response is clear. If a template is automatically sent out, you
need to ensure that you have considered the components of a successful
email in advance
Write it once, so you don’t have to write it a thousand times

4. The Value of Every Response
Twice as many will share
a negative response
over a positive one.
Customers who receive great
support will spend a further 20-40%

5. Contents
○ When Templates Go Wrong
○ Heroes and Zeros
○ How to Craft an Effective Template
○ Templates from the Greats
○ Need for Speed
○ Get Personal
○ Get to the Point
○ Tone of Voice
○ Persuasive Language

6. When Templates
Go Wrong

7. Templates Gone Wrong: United Airlines
… horribly wrong!
Not acknowledging
the customer and
their query makes
them feel
under-valued and
unimpressed

8. Templates Gone Wrong: Insurance Company
Make sure your
agents have access
to customer
interaction history

9. Respond to the
customer where
they are - Don’t
send them
elsewhere
Templates Gone Wrong: Insurance Company

10. ● No response should take 5-7
days
● Ensure your template includes
a realistic (and prompt!)
timeframe for a response
● Automated templates will
speed up your response times
● For marketplace sellers,
Amazon and eBay require that
sellers respond within 24 hours
Templates Gone Wrong: Insurance Company

11. How to Craft
an Effective
Template

12. 1. Personalize the message
2. Thank the customer for bringing the issue to you
3. Know the customer interaction history and order details
4. If you are unable to help with the query, assign an agent who has the
required skills
5. Whatever you do, don’t ignore your customer
5 Tips for Creating a Great Template

13. Templates from The Greats

14. Templates from the Greats: ASOS
Tone: Friendly,
helpful, doesn’t
patronize
Confidence in
service inspires
trust, ie ‘proud’
Sign off with your name
Try XSellco Fusion
SmartTags to customize
responses within templates

15. Templates from the Greats: Schuh
Personalization:
Not just by name
but providing
helpful solutions
for customer’s
location

16. Hi #consumer_firstname#,
Thanks for getting in touch. I’m happy to tell you that your order shipped on #dispatched_on#
and is expected to arrive at your address below between #expected_delivery_date_from# and #expected_delivery_date_to# :
#shipping_address#
Please allow for a few days after this date for the package to arrive, as there sometimes can be delays in the delivery process.
If you haven’t received your product within 10 working days, please let me know and I will offer you a choice of resolutions.
I understand it can be frustrating to wait longer than you expected for your order, but I hope
that your package arrives within this timeframe.
Kind regards
James @ The Selling Company
‘Where’s My Item?’
Sample Response Template
Quick Tips!
❏ Thank the customer for their query
❏ Include helpful details they need
❏ Inspire confidence - offer a choice of
resolutions
❏ Clearly formatting - make the message
easy to scan

17. Need for Speed

18. The Need for Speed
Customers Expect Faster Responses
Challenge: Manage a high volume of support
queries at breakneck speed.
Solution: Automated templates will speed up
your response times by over 50% if you have a
minimum of 5 set up.
Benefits:
1. The faster you respond, the better the
customer feedback.
2. Returning customers will spend a
further 20-40% with your company.
Source: Forrester, ‘The Next-Generation Contact Center’

19. Get Personal

20. “Remember that a person’s name is to that person
the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
- Dale Carnegie, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’
Benefits:
Short-term: Transaction rates
increase SIX times with
personalized emails
Long-term:
Customer retention and loyalty
that manifests from a great
experience
Quick Tips:
● The power of a name - address customer by
name and sign off with your own name
● Localize information for your customer and their
region
● Research your customer base and analyze their
behaviors and preferences - Tailor information
towards what you know about them
The Importance of Creating a Personalized Experience

22. Get to the Point

23. Clarity
“Too much unnecessary text induces
skipping.”
- Writer, Kim Peres
Get to the Point

24. Style and Format
1. Space out the information
2. Avoid miscommunication - don’t clump information together
3. Make your message readable and scannable
4. Use formatting to highlight important details
5. Draw the eye with bullets, bold sections and small chunks of
information
Get to the Point

25. Get to the Point - Style and Format Your Response
● The first thing you spot is the bulleted list
● One glance and you should understand what it’s about
● Clear concise sentences that state the facts
● Assure the customer that this happens to other people:
clarity = confidence
● Spur them into action to complete the purchase
● Tone of the email needs to be confident, personal,
helpful and trustworthy

26. The Components
of a Concise
Response Template
Get to the Point

27. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Personalize: Use XSellco Fusion SmartTags
Apologize
Explain the status of the order
Demonstrate confidence in your service
and this will inspire confidence in you
Be transparent and give visibility on
next steps - advise of possible solutions
Involve the customer in the resolution.
This will give them an element of
control over the problem.
Persuasive language will transfer the power to the
customer. Giving them status is effective if you hope to
change a person’s attitude towards something.
Clarity: An Example of a Perfectly Rounded Template

28. Tone of Voice

29. Preferences for Tone of Voice
● What style of tone is appropriate for your
company?
● When communicating with your customer, does
your business require a casual or formal tone of
voice?
For example, a t-shirt company can use a casual tone,
however a business selling medical equipment might
want to be more formal

30. ● Personalize your brand
● Decide whether you have a casual or formal tone of voice
● Be consistent
● Convey a calm and confident tone
● Be polite
● Always thank the customer
● Ask if they are happy with the solution
● Offer further help on other areas of their experience
Tips for Tone of Voice
Tone of Voice

31. In the next slide, you will find a sample worksheet.
The table is divided in 4 - Character / Persona, Language, Tone, Purpose.
The worksheet has been filled out with contrasting sample adjectives to
make you think about how you would describe your company
The adjectives that you choose should reflect a consistent personality
Task:
● Draw out a table
● Imagine your company as a character or personality
● Lay down adjectives to describe that person
● Use these descriptions get to know your company voice
Homework!
Tone of Voice
Define your Company Tone of Voice

32. Tone of Voice
Character / Persona Tone
Language Purpose
❖ Friendly
❖ Playful
❖ Warm
❖ Authoritative
❖ Inspiring
❖ Professional
❖ Complex
❖ Simple
❖ Savvy
❖ Jargon
❖ Insider
❖ Fun
❖ Serious
❖ Personal
❖ Honest
❖ Humble
❖ Direct
❖ Factual
❖ Transparent
❖ Engage
❖ Entertain
❖ Educate
❖ Delight
❖ Inform
❖ Sell

33. The Sign Off
Tone of Voice
1. Whatever feels natural for
you and your company.
2. Always thank the customer

34. A brilliantly fun story that informs the
customer that their parcel is en route.
Note: If you decide to take this approach, you
will need to ensure that your whole team
maintains the same consistency - not every
person on your team will have an in-built
storytelling mode!
Pro:
You’ll make your customer smile
Con:
Danger of being inconsistent across
the board
Example of a Successful Casual Tone - CD Baby

35. Persuasive
Language

36. Safety + belonging + esteem = TRUST
- Christine Comaford, author of ‘Being Human is Great Business’
Persuasive Language

37. Using Persuasive Language
Personalize the request, use customer name and your own name.
Apologize
Confidence
inspires trust
Show the
customer
that you
value them
Default to a positive tone — suggest happiness to the customer
Elevate the customer’s status by
involving them in the resolution
Be concise and get to the
point — format the message clearly
End on a positive note, avoid using
negative language

38. And Finally...

39. Do Don’t
● Thank your customer
● Personalize your response
● Be clear and concise
● Format your response for quick
scanning
● Define a consistent tone of voice
● Use positive language
● Show empathy
● Ignore your customer
● Use negative language
● Avoid being too casual for complaint
responses
● Avoid negative language
● Clump information