6 Practical Tips For Awesome Customer Support Replies

In this era of AI generated content, and AI powered customer support, a human touch to your customer’s questions and issues can help set you apart from your competitors.

This isn’t about rejecting the idea of automating your customer support, because for around 75% of your support requests, a fast, accurate answer is significantly better than a slower, human-crafted one. And the response can be automated. Which in turn frees us the time of your support team for more complex and sensitive issues or questions.

For instance, when a customer is asking how to reset their password, or what fields an API accepts, or how to add a team member — then an AI chatbot is going to delight them. It’ll provide the correct answer in under 5 seconds, along with a link to the help docs if they want to dive deeper.

But what about when someone is considering cancelling? Or if they’ve been struggling with integrating your APIs for over a week. Of course here, a human touch is not only going to be appreciated, but it’s needed.

This is why it’s important for AI chatbots to be able to pass conversations, along with a summary of the conversation, to a human support agent.

So, a support request couldn’t be handled by your AI chatbot, and now your team needs to reply. Despite something having potentially gone wrong with your product, it’s actually an incredible opportunity to strengthen your relationship with a customer and improve their long-term retention.

Try using our best practice below when replying to a customer. It’s especially important when they’ve faced an issue or are coming to you with a problem.

We know first hand, as founders who still provide direct customer support, that it’s easy to forget the best practice when replying. You’re in a rush, the the issue is the customer’s fault, they’re only on a basic plan, etc.

This is why a short checklist like the below 6 tips is so important.

Tailor your response to their specific issue, showing that you've taken the time to understand and address their concerns.

Always use information from their original email, such as past interactions or specific details about their issue, to make your response as relevant and helpful as possible

Include relevant links to tutorials or knowledge base articles that can further help them. This not only empowers the customer with more information but also demonstrates a proactive approach to solving their problem.

Make sure that the resources are relevant to their issue though.

Customers appreciate easy-to-understand responses. Avoid jargon or overly technical terms that might confuse the customer. Instead, use simple language and break down your response into short paragraphs or bullet points for better readability.

If you're providing instructions or steps, ensure they're easy to follow.

Let the customer know how and when they can expect a follow-up, especially if the issue cannot be resolved in a single exchange. If possible, give a specific timeframe for the next steps.

After the issue has been resolved, consider sending a follow-up email to check-in with them and see if they need any more help.

Acknowledge the customer's feelings and show empathy towards their situation. Phrases like "I understand how this might be frustrating" can go a long way in building a connection with the customer.

Also, take ownership of resolving the issue, even if it involves escalating it to another team

The tone of your email can significantly impact how your message is received. Aim for a positive and respectful tone throughout your reply.

Even when giving bad news, try to frame it positively or offer solutions. For example, instead of saying "We can't do that," you might say, "Here's what we can do instead."

All pretty basic advice. But as you can imagine, if all your customer support replies met these 6 items of best practice, it would significantly level up the quality of your customer support.

But where do we get the time for this?

Following the best practice for each reply, is of course going to take slightly longer than a “quick and dirty” reply.

By using an AI chatbot to handle 50-75% of your customer support though, you’ll free up a significant amount of time for your team, who can then spend more time per support ticket, by handle a lot less tickets.

Following the best practice for each reply, is of course going to take slightly longer than a “quick and dirty” reply.

But where do we get the time for this?

That’s it. All pretty basic items. But as you can imagine, if all your customer support replies met these 6 items of best practice, it would significantly level up the quality of your customer support.