6 Specific Ways to Save Time Using Email Templates
Email templates can help you save time on a variety of communication tasks. Here are 6 ways to use this tool to its fullest potential.
Email templates are integral to company efficiency. This is especially true for eCommerce sellers, who often find themselves answering the same customer questions repetitively on a daily basis.
With templated responses, you can dramatically reduce your efforts by eliminating the need to manually type out identical emails over and over. Instead, simply type out a certain message once, save it for future use and then drop it in as a response whenever applicable.
Many eCommerce pros already use templates to respond to FAQs. However, there are a wide variety of message types and outreach tasks that can be streamlined through the use of this valuable tool. Are you taking full advantage? Here are 6 specific ways to save time using email templates.
Answer FAQs
We’ll start with the most obvious (and already mentioned) way to save time using email templates: answering frequently asked questions or FAQs.
By creating message templates to respond to the customer questions you receive the most, you could potentially save several hours each week. In fact, in a recent Customer Success Story, RaceTI founder and Replyco customer Rauf Baig reported having slashed time spent on customer messaging in half thanks to the use of email templates.
In another Success Story, Cheeky Zebra founder Sasha Gupta cited a similar experience, saying she’s saved 1.5 hours per day since joining Replyco by using the software’s email templates feature.
These two eCommerce companies are vastly different. RaceTI sells titanium fasteners for use in motorsports and cycling. Cheeky Zebra sells hilarious (and cheeky) greeting cards for every occasion. But they share two distinct commonalities. First of all, they both manage the customer service for their respective companies single handedly. And secondly, they find themselves answering the same questions from different customers over and over.
Just a few FAQ templates you can create for your customer service needs include:
- Product information.
- Troubleshooting tips.
- Return / refund policy.
- Estimated delivery times.
- Company business hours.
- Checkout / site navigation instructions.
- Any other info you need to provide customers on a regular basis.
Send Auto-Responders
If you’re using email templates to answer FAQs, you can save even more time by setting them up as auto-responders. This approach involves setting a specific message to go out automatically when a customer asks a certain question.
For example, if you’re a Replyco user, you can create a templated auto-response that explains your return / refund policy AND lets the customer know that a human being will personally respond as soon as possible. Then, you can configure the message to automatically be sent to any customer whose inquiry includes the word “return” or “refund.”
Setting up auto-responders can save you a few clicks on any message that contains your trigger words, since you won’t have to manually create that first reply. This tactic may also reduce the amount of back and forth emails between you and the customer by potentially answering their question up front. And finally, it will allow you to keep shoppers happy and make sure your response times are quick even when you’re not in the office.
Auto-Fill Customer + Order Details
Here’s a way to save time using email template features on each and every message you send out. Many email-related software providers offer custom tags that enable you to auto-fill pertinent information, such as customer and order details.
The way it works is simple. When creating a new email, just click on the appropriate tag — for example, #first_name# for the customer’s first name — and the info will automatically be inserted into the message.
Just a few of the details you can auto-fill by using Replyco’s custom tags include:
- Customer name.
- Clickable order number.
- Clickable tracking number.
- Linnworks order details.
- More.
And as every online seller knows, saving those few minutes on every individual message can add up quickly. Automatically prefilling customer and order details also eliminates the potential for errors and typos, especially when it comes to things like order and tracking numbers.
Follow up with Customers
Follow-up is an important component of any customer service strategy. And again, there’s no need to manually create these types of messages over and over when you can use email templates.
From thanking customers for their order to reaching out after resolving an issue to ensure they were satisfied with the support they received, you can utilize templates for every type of follow-up message you send on a regular basis. And as we already mentioned, you can also set some of them up as auto-responders when relevant (such as order confirmations or “package shipped” notifications).
FREE GUIDE
20 Customer Service Email Templates
Is manually typing out the same message over and over a drain on your customer service efforts? These free, actionable templates are designed to save your team valuable time and improve response rates.
Create Marketing Messages
Templates aren’t just great for customer service. You can also use them to save time on your marketing campaigns.
Have a big sale coming up? Offering free shipping all next month? Getting ready to release a new product on your website? Create an email template and use it to let your entire customer list know!
You can also go a step further by saving your templates to use for future promotions. For example, while the specific events may vary, many pieces of information will likely remain the same, such as your greeting, logo, layout, company details, signature, where you place images, which fonts you use and the like. Use templates to put together marketing messages more quickly and easily any time you need to do so.
Be Proactive
And finally, use email templates to be more proactive. In other words, if you know of something coming up that your customers will likely be asking about, go ahead and create a templated response to save yourself the time and effort later.
For example, the recent pandemic caused major shipping delays across the globe. Proactive sellers let customers know to expect deliveries to be later than usual, rather than waiting for them to inquire about shipping times.
If there’s an event or issue that you believe may result in lots of messages from your customers, put together an email template and have it ready to go.
How to Save Time Using Email Templates: Final Thoughts
Every minute you save on customer communication is time you can put back into other areas of your business or spend relaxing with your loved ones. By following the tips above, you can greatly maximize this time and use email templates to their fullest potential.
Ready to save loads of time with Replyco’s robust set of tools (including advanced email template features and smart auto-responders)?
Start your free trial today or book a live demo to see our software in action!