The 10 Commandments of Email Replying
Email communication issue
We encountered a commercial communication issue while organizing a voyage to Tuscany (Italy) by trying to book by email several Bed & Breakfast (Agriturismo) stays for our journey.
Not use of the Italian language as any online translation provides you the basic comprehensive Italian, but the email communication itself and the information provided.
It is relatively easy to find and select several Bed & Breakfast locations in each area as most seem to have a website or are grouped on portals. Sending them a standard inquiry email for availability of a room and pricing is the easy part, fast and can be done in large quantities.
The delay in replies
As these B&B’s are commercial enterprises that need to make money by booking guests, you expect to receive an email response within a few hours after sending. Especially as this is a very competitive market with very similar services provided (Location – Bed – Breakfast).
However typically it will take over 24 hours to get answers (A minority does answer within a few hours).
The incomplete responses
People browsing for solutions to their problem (holiday booking) expect a fast answer (reservation).
In most cases you will receive very short incomplete replies missing valuable information like the included services (breakfast included in the price? Kitchen in the room) and the method of accepted advance payment.
Thus for every response you need to reply the email and ask more specific questions.
As you send out many similar emails, it get hard to know which B&B is answering: including the name of the B&B and link to the website would be a great help in order to make your information gathering more efficient.
The failing follow-up
Once you have made the advance payment by bank transfer or credit card payment, it requires additional emails and telephone calls to get your confirmation of your reservation.
They seem to forget that however the advance payent has been made, the main revenue still needs to be generated: additional services, food and drinks. Especially the alcoholic beverages in the evening are an important revenue stream for the B&B businesses as these probably make the difference between break-even and profitability.
The missing the commercial drive
Although these bookings are their main income for the B&B owners, their commercial drive is very low.
Maybe the people who start a B&B want to be away from commercial pressure and want to feel on holiday every day. Still they will be facing the financial issues by not being commercial.
The 10 Email Commandments
1. Read
Read the email first before answering. Many emails are replied without answering to the specific questions or case.
2. Label
Label all incoming and outgoing emails in order to be able to retrieve them later.
Even more practical if your CRM automatically collects your emails by customer or lead.
Additionally you can add a keyword in the reply subject in order to know the content.
3. Max 24 hour delay
If you have an interested party, it seems logical you try to answer within 24 hours or less in order to keep his attention and the stay ahead of your competitors. Except during weekends of course.
People do remember the first reply, especially if it brought additional info or an additional benefit.
4. Answer the easy and short ones first
If you reply the easy and short replies first, you satisfy more people in a shorter delay of time and you have less pressure while answering the difficult and long ones as you are near the end of the process.
5. Efficiency: batch and completeness
In order to increase efficiency and limit your writing work it is best to:
- Batches: Reply emails in batches (every 2-3 hours): getting interrupted for email answering is not efficient.
- Completeness: be as complete as possible in your first email.
Respond to all the questions asked.
- Pre-empt: in order not to get unnecessary additional emails:
Provide the necessary information concerning your operations.
6. Standard email for standard business
In case your service is fairly straightforward and regular (like Bed & Breakfast), a standard email consisting of a few standard responses completed with the specific additional info.
If your service is complex or one-off (like project business) then your answer can take longer, but at least you would send out a confirmation of receiving the email with a possible first question.
7. Call to action
The reply email should have a clear call to action: what should the interested party do next.
This can be the link to the payment page or the free sign-up.
In case of B2C (like B&B) the action is probably the purchase (payment), whereas in B2B a meeting, references or a free trial should be the action to aim at.
8. Keep the door open
In any case in Business to Business (B2B) the reply email should still leave the door open for further communications. Thus if you have questions, don’t spoil all your questions in the first reply email.
Keep one or two for a follow-up email.
9. Signature with links
Your signature not only should mention your name but also:
- Email address: in case your email gets forwarded and the original email address gets obscured
- Links: functional and useful website link(s): at least your website home page
10. Re-read
Before sending: re-read.
Once send – recall and correction is impossible.
How fast, complete and commercial are your email replies?
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