#6 Top Rated Seller Tip-Answer(ALMOST) All E-Mails ASAP
This is very important. When you receive an e-mail from a customer or potential customer you should always respond ASAP except in a couple of instances.
The e-mails you should not respond to immediately are 1) An e-mail where the customer is writing in a threatening tone. 2) An e-mail where you get agitated as soon as you read it.
When a customer writes you with a threatening tone you should wait a reasonable time in order to give the writer time to calm down. A tactic many customer service centers use is to put such a caller on hold for a short period of time. This usually lets the caller cool-off a bit. Some times it only makes them more irate but this is the exception more than the rule. The reason you should wait for a while before responding to an e-mail that agitates you is to give yourself time to calm down before you answer. If you answer while you are agitated you will probably be sorry later. I usually get these e-mails late at night so I wait until I have had time to sleep on it. Chances are they are not expecting an answer at that time anyway. When you do answer an e-mail that fits in one of the above categories your first line should be an apology. the 2 apologies I use are: 1) Sorry to hear you are disatisfied & 2) Please accept my apologies. I use these 2 lines even when I am not at fault. If you note. I am not admiting fault. I am merely respnding to a problem. Using the first line in a letter to issue an apolgy makes the buyer think that you care & will diffuse a lot of irate customers immediately.
All other e-mails should be answered as soon as you get them, if possible. E-mails asking for more details about an item are very important. It means you have someone interested in your product. Every minute you waste in responding to such e-mails decreases the possibility you are going to make a sale. Buyers have very short attention spans. I cannot tell you how many times I have written a seller about an item and did not receive an answer for a day or so. By that time I am not only not interested I have probably completely forgotten my reason for writing in the first place. If for some reaon I am not able to respond to a buyer's question ASAP I start my response with "Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your e-mail." There is no need to tell why there was a delay. When you do that it usually sounds like an excuse. Most buyers could care less that your computer was in the shop, your kid, mother, boyfriend, husband, dog, wife or pet snake has been sick. Just respond with a simple apology & get on th the subject.
Later!
The e-mails you should not respond to immediately are 1) An e-mail where the customer is writing in a threatening tone. 2) An e-mail where you get agitated as soon as you read it.
When a customer writes you with a threatening tone you should wait a reasonable time in order to give the writer time to calm down. A tactic many customer service centers use is to put such a caller on hold for a short period of time. This usually lets the caller cool-off a bit. Some times it only makes them more irate but this is the exception more than the rule. The reason you should wait for a while before responding to an e-mail that agitates you is to give yourself time to calm down before you answer. If you answer while you are agitated you will probably be sorry later. I usually get these e-mails late at night so I wait until I have had time to sleep on it. Chances are they are not expecting an answer at that time anyway. When you do answer an e-mail that fits in one of the above categories your first line should be an apology. the 2 apologies I use are: 1) Sorry to hear you are disatisfied & 2) Please accept my apologies. I use these 2 lines even when I am not at fault. If you note. I am not admiting fault. I am merely respnding to a problem. Using the first line in a letter to issue an apolgy makes the buyer think that you care & will diffuse a lot of irate customers immediately.
All other e-mails should be answered as soon as you get them, if possible. E-mails asking for more details about an item are very important. It means you have someone interested in your product. Every minute you waste in responding to such e-mails decreases the possibility you are going to make a sale. Buyers have very short attention spans. I cannot tell you how many times I have written a seller about an item and did not receive an answer for a day or so. By that time I am not only not interested I have probably completely forgotten my reason for writing in the first place. If for some reaon I am not able to respond to a buyer's question ASAP I start my response with "Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your e-mail." There is no need to tell why there was a delay. When you do that it usually sounds like an excuse. Most buyers could care less that your computer was in the shop, your kid, mother, boyfriend, husband, dog, wife or pet snake has been sick. Just respond with a simple apology & get on th the subject.
Later!
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