Customer Service Messaging — Templates, Tips & Tools

It’s no secret that mobile usage and adoption are growing day by day, especially after COVID-19. Considering the modern consumer’s affinity for mobile, it’s safe to deduce that customer service messaging is a failsafe touchpoint to grab eyeballs.

Not only do texts garner instant attention, but they also have an astounding open rate, higher than emails or phone calls. People prefer texting for customer service over talking to live agents, and they open texts within 1-3 minutes of receiving them.

If that’s not a strong case in favor of customer service messaging adoption, check this out: Customers expect brands who offer two-way texting. Plus, there is conclusive research that proves messaging improves CSAT and customer engagement in mainstream verticals like healthcare, D2C and retail.

Impressive, right?

While trends suggest an upswing in the brand's usage of messaging for customer service, there is always room for expansion. Board the messaging bandwagon if you haven’t already and ride your way to service success. We are delighted to accelerate your journey with proven customer service messaging tips and tools in this article. Read on.

What is customer service messaging?

Customer service messaging is a mode of text-based customer communication in which brands and customers interact via SMS, social media chat, website live chat or instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. The objective is to offer customer support, troubleshoot issues and complement marketing/sales efforts.

Like personal communication, brand communication underwent a big change in the past few decades. Long back, phone lines and emails were the primary customer touchpoints, courtesy of their easy accessibility. But as the modern customer grew more discerning and selective about their time, opt-out channels like mobile apps and messaging gained traction.

In January 2021, customer service messaging trumped apps on popularity charts. Gartner predicted that by 2025, 80% of customer-serving organizations will switch from mobile apps to messaging for an enhanced customer experience.

What drives this change? Let’s find out in the next section.

Why does the modern customer prefer messaging for support interactions?

Customer behavior trends indicate customers now prefer messaging to interact with brands owing to its: 

• Convenience: Instead of navigating through elaborate interactive voice response (IVR) menus on 1800 numbers, some customers prefer sending text messages since they offer more convenience and save time. Moreover, text communication happens at an easy pace that the customer can control from their end. 
• Personalization: Messaging allows customers to explain issues and unique needs elaboratively with media support, which enables brands to offer more personalized resolutions.
• Matchless response rate: Texts are a more efficient and speedier alternative to emails, which often tend to prolong communication.
• Easy opt-out: As easy as it is to send a text or WhatsApp message, it is easier to opt out of receiving frequent messages from a brand. For example, WhatsApp Business messages are accompanied by the “Stop” option to unsubscribe from receiving further messages.

WhatsApp for customer service

WhatsApp for customer service

Benefits of customer service messaging for businesses

Businesses love messaging as much, if not more than customers. Message-based conversations happen in a window, enabling brands to engage with multiple customers simultaneously. Faster responses translate into shorter, focused conversations and faster resolutions, resulting in serious time and costs for your contact centers.

Wait, there’s more. Most messaging platforms support audio-visual aids, screen sharing and co-browsing to enhance the support experience and boost customer satisfaction (CSAT).

Texting tools like Live Chat simplify feedback collection after conversations, enabling businesses to gauge and analyze customer sentiment in real time.

The beauty of messaging is that you can access old customer conversations anytime. Chat transcripts come in handy during disputes and root cause analysis and help in transferring context to the next team in the case management queue.

Best messaging channels for customer service

From legacy to the latest, these customer service messaging channels come with their own usage, flavor and charm. Understand them in depth and pick the ones that align with your business needs. 

• Short messaging service or SMS: The traditional method of communication through toll-free numbers is still a powerful and convenient option. Customers text the designated number to get a quick call back or request a service change — no hassles of app downloads or call queues whatsoever. 
• WhatsApp Business: WhatsApp is the world's most popular messaging app, with 2.79 billion users. Your customers likely use it and want you to use it, too. Join the 200 million companies using WhatsApp Business monthly to engage your audience.

• Facebook Messenger: 400 million people use Facebook Messenger’s voice and video chat every month, ranking it the second most popular app. Facebook's “Very responsive to messages” is like a vote of trust for businesses that inspires credibility and customer trust. 
• Web chat: A chatbot or a live chat tool on your website or app grabs eyeballs instantly. It helps visitors with website navigation, contact information and regular queries about terms and conditions, to name a few. 
• Google My Business chat: GMB chat puts you on the map with searchers who Google for brands, products and services like yours and facilitates dialog with them. 
• Apple Messages for business: The Messages app lets your business directly connect with customers seeking answers, scheduling appointments or transacting with Apple Pay.

Being available on all messaging platforms is not a mandate for customer service messaging success. Select the customer service channels that your audience prefers and that your competitors are using.

Messaging templates for common customer service scenarios

Templatized responses adherent to brand and support guidelines simplify customer service messaging in many ways. Pre-approved messages minimize human errors, bias, prejudice and subjectivity on the brand’s part and save tons of time for support teams.

Here are five common customer service scenarios that warrant a templatized approach to messaging:

I. Asking customers to switch from text to voice

Channel switching is disliked by agents and customers alike, but it becomes unavoidable in certain cases. Ease your customers into the transition from text to voice by using any of these templates:

II. Offering troubleshooting advice

Customer service messaging is vital in troubleshooting since it allows you to attach visual aids like technical documentation, explainer videos and demos to fix issues efficiently. For example, you can share the link to your YouTube channel where you upload how-to videos on product usage or troubleshooting.  

Here’s a template that will come in handy in this scenario:

💡Pro tip: For genuine two-way communication with customers, enable advanced chatting options like video calling and co-browsing. Shared experiences bring customers and brands closer together and facilitate relationships.

III. Following up on feedback or complaints

Delayed responses to customer complaints can trigger escalations and negative customer sentiment that spills over on public platforms like social media channels, denting your hard-earned brand reputation. Agile complaint management rests on customer empathy reflected in your customer service messaging.

Try this template to pacify irate customers:

Remember: Your customers don’t compare your service to your competitors; they compare it with customer support legends like Amazon, The Ritz Carlton or Apple. While industry processes and statistics may differ, make these customer-obsessed brands your customer support benchmark.

Read more: How To Deal with Angry Customers: 19 Proven Tips

IV. Responding to negative feedback

Customer-centric brands value customer feedback, reviews and ratings as an opportunity to course-correct and refine their offering. While it is easy to respond to a positive review, handling negative reviews asks for tactical wordplay. Here’s a messaging template to help respond to them appropriately with empathetic customer service phrases:  

🤖GenAI To Your Rescue: Generative AI-enriched customer service tools like Sprinklr AI+ can help with tone moderation and manipulation in messages according to customer sentiment, scenario and case history.

V. Driving sales and renewals

Use messaging to reconnect with customers, update them about new products or remind them to renew their purchases. For example, Bank Mandiri of Indonesia deployed WhatsApp Business to engage with customers, prompting them to upgrade their credit cards. They experienced that 37% of overall conversions happened via WhatsApp messaging, which emerged as the top channel for upselling.

Here are some messaging templates worth a try.

💡Pro tip: Use proactive messaging selectively to avoid getting blacklisted and blocked. Most customers don’t appreciate being spammed with promotional messages amidst a busy day!  Tips to improve your customer service messaging.

Tips to improve your customer service messaging

• Be transparent and honest: It is critical because your customers can see through a façade. Be open and transparent while interacting with them to ensure they listen to you and respond.
• Empathize with the customer: You cannot offer the right solution until you deeply understand how the customer feels about a faulty product or poor service. Put yourself in their shoes to figure out the perfect response. Remember when you were someone’s customer and the kind of service you expected? This will help you to enhance your customer experience. 
  Learn More: How To Show Customer Empathy in Customer Service
• Track customer feedback and satisfaction levels: Encourage your customers to offer qualitative and quantitative feedback through comments and surveys. Track their responses and the customer satisfaction score to know where you stand.

Being timely and tenacious is key to effective customer service messaging. Sadly, most brands flounder on these two aspects since they lack the right tech stack. The next section reflects a real-life success story along the same vein. Read on... 

How Akzonobel shortened message response time with technology

In 2015, AkzoNobel UK realized they were facing slow response times on their social media messaging, impacting their brand image. Lack of responsiveness was impacting customer satisfaction and brand image negatively.

The company embraced the power of AI to triage mounting messages and prioritize critical ones so the team could respond to them first. This way, using Sprinklr Service reduced the customer messaging response time from 5 hours 42 minutes to 47 minutes during weekdays. Notably, this improvement led to AkzoNobel UK receiving recommendations worth over £13,000 within a few months.

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