Procedure for Customer Followups
From crazysales
Hi Team,
This announcement outlines a new standardized procedure for sending follow-up emails to customers. This change is designed to enhance our efficiency rate while ensuring a positive customer experience.
- Why This Change?
- We recognize that diligent follow-ups are essential for resolving complex issues. However, excessive follow-ups can lead to customer frustration, create inbox clutter, and artificially skew our efficiency metrics. Our goal is to find the right balance: demonstrating proactive service without making customers feel bombarded.
- By standardizing our approach, we also ensure consistency across the team and make productivity management more predictable.
- The New Rule: The "3-Follow-Up" Protocol
- Effective immediately, please adhere to the following guideline for cases requiring a customer's response:
- Limit: A maximum of three (3) follow-up attempts per case where we are awaiting a customer response.
- Limit: A maximum of three (3) follow-up attempts per case where we are awaiting a customer response.
- Timing: Send these follow-ups approximately every other day (e.g., Day 1: initial solution, Day 3: first follow-up, Day 5: second follow-up, Day 7: third and final follow-up). This provides the customer with reasonable time to respond without feeling pressured.
- Timing: Send these follow-ups approximately every other day (e.g., Day 1: initial solution, Day 3: first follow-up, Day 5: second follow-up, Day 7: third and final follow-up). This provides the customer with reasonable time to respond without feeling pressured.
- Crucial Guidance for the 3rd and Final Follow-up
- The third follow-up is critical. It must clearly signal the end of our active follow-up sequence. Your third follow-up must include a closing statement.
- Template/Scripting for the 3rd Follow-up:
- Hi [Customer Name],
- Just following up again on our previous emails regarding [Briefly mention issue].
- As we haven't heard back, we assume your issue has been resolved or you no longer require assistance.
- Therefore, we will be closing this ticket for now. Please don't hesitate to reply to this email at any time if you still need our support, and we'll be happy to reopen the case.
- Thank you,
- [Your Name]
- Hi [Customer Name],
- After sending this 3rd follow-up, you should mark the ticket as 'Resolved'.
- Key Benefits of This New Protocol:
- Improved Customer Experience: Prevents customers from feeling harassed by repeated emails.
- Improved Customer Experience: Prevents customers from feeling harassed by repeated emails.
- Enhanced Efficiency: Helps us manage our active ticket queue more effectively.
- Enhanced Efficiency: Helps us manage our active ticket queue more effectively.
- Clarity & Consistency: Everyone on the team will follow the same process, ensuring a standard professional experience for all customers.
- Clarity & Consistency: Everyone on the team will follow the same process, ensuring a standard professional experience for all customers.
- What if the Customer Replies After the Ticket is Closed?
- No problem! If a customer replies after the ticket is closed, it will typically reopen automatically in our system. Treat it as a continuation of the same issue and proceed with your assistance. The goal is not to abandon the customer, but to efficiently manage our workflow.
We will monitor the impact of this change closely. Please share any feedback or questions with your team lead or operations manager.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we implement this new best practice.
