Email Templates Provide Better Customer Service

How often have you wondered how you can save time with your business email communications? I am constantly thinking of ways to save time and make my business operations more efficient.

If you run a business, you never seem to have enough time to accomplish everything you need to. With each passing day, more emails seem to land in our inboxes, emails that require our time to review and then properly respond to.

This is where email stationery and template files can save you a boatload of time. By having email stationery in place, you can simply use or insert text that you use repeatedly without having to retype every time.

Stationery Files = Templates

Email stationery files are plain text templates for outgoing emails. By creating templates in advance, they are available for use in the future. Otherwise, time would be spent responding with the same verbiage to the standard and customary questions, and inquiries that you receive on a regular basis would have to be retyped.

Instead of starting from scratch, you can choose the stationery/template file for that particular topic. In addition to stationery, which are full email responses that I can customize, I also have “response” snippets.

These snippets can be selected and inserted into any email. Similar to full stationery email templates, I customize the snippet to address a specific emailer’s questions or concerns.

For commonly asked-for information, you can have a stationery/template file that requires no customization. Just change the name of the person you are replying to. Change any other appropriate details and add a customized closing to add a touch of personalization.

All in one iota of the time it would have taken for you to respond by starting with a blank email. Watch your response time increase exponentially, which will also impress your customers.

Email Stationery Improves Customer Service

Stationery/templates can frequently ask for information on your products or services. You know what you get asked about most. In my collection, I have over 50 files that I use, depending on the request and site from which the inquiry came.

Since I have several websites, I include my signature file for that particular site in each stationery file as well. This way, all I have to do is reply with that stationery, tweak, customize, and click send.

While templates are a great way to be more efficient, the key is to be open and honest when using email templates. Business communications need to be concise, informative, and personalized.

Remember that we are more effective when those we communicate with know we are taking the time to reply to their specific concerns and questions. Stationery/template files are a tool that makes you more efficient and not less personable.

The Best Email Program Ever

Most email programs offer stationery and template functionality. That said, depending on the software program you use, those features may not be as intuitive or user-friendly.

I can not imagine how I would deal with the hundreds of emails I receive daily without it. In my email program, I can have all the stationary or templates I need, which I can select from a drop-down menu in each new email box. I can also choose from any of the many signature files I have created from a drop-down menu.

Other features I rely on:

If you use another email program, I did a quick search and found a few sites with helpful how-tos.

Resources to Create Email Stationary Templates

Some Mac OSs do not offer this functionality. In that case, you can create a text or word-processing file that includes your email templates and snippets. Have that pinned to your taskbar and open it as needed to copy and paste.

Moving forward, when you find you are typing the same response to commonly asked-for info, simply create a stationery file right then and there. You’ll find that you’ll have an archive of responses to choose from in no time. And that will save you time!