7 Mistakes to Avoid With Customer Service Emails

Here are some of the worst mistakes you can make with customer service emails.

1. Leaving [insert name here] in the template

There is little worse for a customer than receiving an email that begins ‘Dear [insert name here]’.

It shows a lack of care and attention – and can cause the customer to doubt that you are taking their issue seriously.

2. Not answering quickly enough

It’s not uncommon for service levels for customer service emails to be set at up to five days.

If the service level is set at anything more than two hours, you will find that you will simply increase your calls volumes and generate two contacts for one problem.

3. Only answering half the question

It is no good for anyone when an agent only answers half the question, especially when key points of information are missed out.

While this will frustrate the customer, as they haven’t received the information they asked for, it may also have a negative impact on your efficiency – as agents subsequently engage in needless back and forth filling in the gaps.

4. Forwarding on a chain of in-office conversation

It is all too easy to forward on a chain of in-office conversation to a customer, especially if emails are regularly bounced around the office for quality purposes.

The last thing you want a customer to see is internal correspondence – especially if it makes the agent or – even worse – the customer look like an idiot.

5. Sending confidential information to the wrong person

This is a simple error which can be fatal if you work in the financial or health sector.

Copying in someone you shouldn’t, sending an email to the wrong person, or replying to the wrong email are all potential downfalls.

6. Forgetting an attachment you mention in the email

Having waited – potentially – for up to a week for a reply, your customer is not going to be pleased if the PDF manual they were expecting to receive (and which is referenced in the email) isn’t actually attached.

This can be especially painful if they then have to wait a further week for a response containing the misplaced item.

7. Signing the email with a kiss

While we are all familiar with signing off our messages with an ‘x’ in our personal lives, doing so at work can look incredibly unprofessional.

Setting up email signatures for everyone in the company, so they don’t get the opportunity to add this inappropriate gesture, can help to offset the damage.

No one is ever ‘too experienced’ to not make mistakes…

When using email in the contact centre, it important to acknowledge that no one is ever ‘too experienced’ to be immune from these mistakes.

What is important is to put safety nets in place to catch these errors before they reach your customers – even if you just nominate a ‘Team Proofreader’.

What mistakes have you made with email?

Author: Megan Jones