15 customer service email templates and tips

While customer service email isn’t as trendy as video chat or as impressive as AI, it’s a reliable, popular method companies use to provide a good customer experience.

Many customers choose email when they want help or to tell a company about an experience — good or bad. They like being able to write an email any time and receive a detailed written response from the company — one they can use to hold the company accountable if conflicts emerge. Some experts predict that newer digital channels will be the death of customer service emails, but for now email remains the go-to for many customers.

To handle the high volume of email, most companies create a library of email templates — similar to form letters – for customer service agents to use. Companies often expect customer service agents to customize these templates and respond to customers with personalized answers.

Customers may prefer to email companies when they need customer service for several reasons, including the following:

Many companies have embraced customer service via email because it enables them to manage a large volume of customer outreach. Businesses don’t have to answer emails in real time, as customer service agents can respond outside normal business hours, or during times when they are not receiving phone calls or conducting other time-sensitive tasks.

Customer service email is an asynchronous communication channel, which means the customer and the company are responding at different times. Synchronous customer service communication channels include telephone and live chat. In these, the customer and the company communicate with each other at the same time and during the same customer service session.

While customer service email’s popularity may have diminished slightly as companies added social media, live chat and messaging channels, it competes with the telephone for most popular channel. A 2021 Forrester Consulting study compared customers’ channel preference before and after the pandemic. This research paper found “…a sharp shift during the pandemic. Email is now ranked first…In-person and telephone (agent-led) saw the sharpest declines.”

Customer service email is a long-standing communication channel that companies use to respond to customer questions, requests for help, feedback and complaints. Many companies have used it since the 1990s.

There’s a final benefit to using customer service email templates that many don’t talk about. Sometimes, being a customer service agent can be draining, repetitive work. Prewritten templates lift the tedium of answering the same questions over and over because they give agents time and motivation for other tasks. To help agents flourish in their jobs, provide them with a comprehensive email template library.

Correcting or updating an email template is also much more efficient than communicating with each agent individually when, for example, a price increases or a process changes. A well-maintained template library is a central source of knowledge, and agents can trust it contains the current, correct information. If customer service managers expect agents to give customers the right answer every time, they will have to rely on templates.

A customer service agent who can rely on a well-written template will be able to quickly edit it by removing any sentences that are irrelevant to the customer’s question or complaint and adding personalized information. Starting from scratch with each response can slow an agent down, delaying a resolution for the customer and creating a poor experience.

While an email template makes it easier to respond quickly and concisely to customers, there are instances where a scripted response isn’t appropriate. Customers with questions or concerns might need more personalized or detailed answers than a template can provide. With this in mind, it’s important to evaluate each customer email and craft an understanding and helpful response to maintain a positive relationship. A template should not be used if it does the following:

An email template is a starting point for writing a personalized response to a customer. A customer service agent must always customize an email response to assure the customer that someone is taking their question, comment or complaint seriously.

Sometimes customers email to ask simple questions, such as hours of operation. It’s easy to give a complete answer to a question such as this. However, customers’ questions are often less cut-and-dry, and the task of responding completely is more complicated.

Since a customer service team may not have the staff or resources to answer customers emails in less than an hour, here are some tips for answering as promptly as possible and managing customer expectations :

Customers want quick responses to their emails, and businesses that take longer than a day to reply will frustrate them. Nearly 22% of surveyed customers expected a response to an email in less than an hour, according to a 2020 Zendesk survey .

When a customer sends an email with feedback, a customer service agent should always respond — even if the feedback is unusual, already known or overly emotional. A customer service team should also have a plan for acting on customer feedback and sharing it with other departments.

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15 customer service email templates

The following templates cover common customer service situations. Each template uses brackets to identify the places where a customer service agent should customize their response. To help customize, these templates include placeholders, prompts and optional sections.

Placeholders. Simple placeholders are for pieces of information, such as an account number or a date. A placeholder looks like this: [account number].
Prompts. Prompts indicate where an agent should customize a sentence or part of a sentence. A prompt looks like this: [situation/product that made the customer angry].
Optional section. Some templates include optional paragraphs or bulleted lists.

1. Response to an angry customer

Hello [Name],

Thank you for letting us know about [situation/product that made the customer angry]. We’re truly sorry we let you down.

[Optional section]

Here are the steps we’ll take to make this situation right:

Coach [our employee about how to complete this process properly, etc.]
Train [our front desk staff on our new check-in procedures, etc.]
Research [your account history and correct this invoicing error, etc.]
Update [our procedures for onboarding new clients, correcting invoice errors, etc.]
Fix [the broken link in our customer portal, our lobby kiosks, etc.]
Follow up [on your tech support ticket, etc.]

[Optional section]

As a goodwill gesture, we’re sending you a [coupon code, discount offer, voucher, etc.]. We hope you’ll give us another try!

If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our Customer Service Team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

2. Response to a happy customer

Hello [Name],

Thanks so much for letting us know about [situation/product/staff member that made the customer happy]! I’ll share your feedback with [the staff member’s manager, the product development team, etc.]. Thanks for being a fan and for taking the time to email us about your experience.

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

Because you had a great experience with [our product, service, staff member, etc.], I thought you might like to know about other ways to connect:

Join us on [date] for
[event]
Follow us on social media [
Twitter

,

Facebook

,

Instagram, LinkedIn]
Subscribe to our newsletter

for special offers and discounts
Watch our
YouTube videos

about [topic]

If you have questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

3. Response to a customer’s request for a refund

Hello [Name],

We’re following up on your request for a refund for [product name, subscription fee, etc.]. Given [the delivery delay, your unhappiness with the product, our error in sending you the wrong product, etc.], we will certainly refund your payment of [$000]. We will issue this refund to your credit card ending in [XXXX]. You should see this refund on your credit card statement within 7 to 10 business days.

[Optional section]

We’re truly sorry we let you down. As a goodwill gesture, we’re sending you a [coupon code, discount offer, voucher, etc.]. We hope you’ll give us another try!

If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

4. Follow-up to an unresponsive customer

Hello [Name],

I’m checking in again about [our request for your mailing address, to schedule a virtual demo of our product, for you to provide updated information about your life insurance policy beneficiary, etc.]. We need this information, so we can [outcome]. Could you reply to this email and include this information by [date or timeframe, e.g., end of the week, end of the day, tomorrow, etc.]? Thank you very much.

[Optional section]

We do realize this [process, request, etc.] can be [time-consuming, detailed, overwhelming, etc.], so we’d be glad to help you complete it. Please let me know if you’d like to [schedule a call, schedule a meeting, share your desktop, etc.]. I’m glad to help!

If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

5. Checking in with a customer

Hello [Name],

I hope all is well with you and your team at [company]. I’m checking in with you today to follow up on [topic]. It’s been [a while, X days, weeks, months, etc.] since we discussed this, and I don’t want [this issue, this opportunity, your request, etc.] to fall off your radar or mine!

[Optional section. Delete the bullets if one is used]

Would you like to schedule a call? If so, please let me know about a convenient date and time.
Did you have any additional questions about [insert topic or product]? I’d be glad to talk through them with you, whenever it’s convenient.

To reach me directly, please email me at [email protected] or call my direct line: 1-800-111-2222. You can also reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. All our agents have access to your account information and can help you. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

6. Response to an inquiry from a customer

Hello [Name],

Thanks for contacting us about [paraphrase the customer’s inquiry]. I’m glad to provide the [information, details, answers, specifications, etc.] you requested. [Insert the answer to the customer’s question here. Include hyperlinks, images or attachments, if needed.]

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

If you’d like additional information about [topic of inquiry], please take a look at:

Our
online catalog

, where you can search for [topic of inquiry]
Our [
FAQs

], where you can learn more about [topic of inquiry]
Our social media channels, including [link to
Twitter, Instagram,

etc.]
Our
newsletter

, which provides tips and offers related to [topic of inquiry]

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

7. Response to customer’s request for technical support

Hello [Name],

Thanks for your question about [paraphrase the customer’s request for technical support]. We’re glad to help! From the description you provided, I believe the issue is [explain the situation or why the problem is happening]. Here’s what we’ll need to do to get you up and running with [product or process]:

[List the steps agent will take or wants the customer to take. The steps listed here are just placeholders.]

Log in to your account at _______________
Check the following settings: _______________
Download_______________

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks.]

For future reference, here are links to other [name of product or process] resources:

[
FAQs

], where you can search on [term] to learn more about [technical topic]
[
Documentation

,

user guide

], which provides detailed information on [technical topic]
[
Video

,

diagram

], which takes you through [process], step by step

If you have any additional questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

8. Response refusing a customer’s request for a discount

Hello [Name],

Thanks for contacting us to request a discount on [product, fee, membership, subscription, etc.]. We’re sorry, but we’re not offering that type of discount [on that product, this month, for Starter Package customers, etc.]

[Optional section. Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks.]

I do understand why you reached out to ask about this, so here are some ways you can take advantage of one of our upcoming [offers or discounts]:

Subscribe to our newsletter

where we share news about special offers.
Join

[name], our loyalty program. [Name] customers are eligible for discounts and other deals.
Contact your account manager, [Name], directly. [He/She] may be able to provide discounts in the future.

If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

9. Welcoming a new customer

Hello [Name],

Welcome to [product name, service, subscription, etc.]! Thanks so much for [buying, joining, subscribing, signing-up for, etc.]. We’re looking forward to [helping you with X, supporting your X efforts, providing you with X], so you can [outcome of using our product, service, subscription, etc.].

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

We offer lots of ways to connect:

Join us on [date] for [
event

]
Follow us on social media [
Twitter

,

Facebook

,

Instagram

,

LinkedIn

]
Subscribe to our newsletter

for special offers and discounts
Watch our
YouTube videos

about [topic]

We’re here to help! If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

10. Autoresponder confirming receipt of customer’s incoming email

Hello [Name],

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

We offer lots of ways to connect:

Join us on [date] for [
event

]
Follow us on social media [
Twitter

,

Facebook

,

Instagram

,

LinkedIn

]
Subscribe to our newsletter

for special offers and discounts
Watch our
YouTube videos

about [topic]

We’re here to help! If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

11. Requesting feedback on a recent interaction

Hello [Name],

Thank you for your recent [purchase of Product X, visit to our showroom in Town, meeting with one of our financial advisors, etc.]. We would appreciate your feedback about your recent experience. We want to know if there was anything we could have improved to provide the best service to you and our other customers.

[Name], please take a moment to [complete a short survey, schedule a call, schedule a virtual meeting, etc.]. Your opinion matters to us!

If you have any questions about this request, please email [email protected] or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

12. Explaining a delayed response

Hello [Name],

We owe you an apology. It has taken us longer to reply to your [date] email than it should have. By way of explanation (but not as an excuse), our customer service team has been a bit slower to respond because [several of our team members contracted COVID, the ice storm in the Midwest delayed 50% of our flights, maintenance of our online system lasted longer than we’d planned, etc.]. We are so sorry we kept you waiting. Within [24 hours, two business days, etc.], we’ll send you a detailed response to your original question.

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

For future reference, we offer several ways to get in touch:

Call us at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.
Use our
online form

to send us a message

Message us on [
Twitter

or

Facebook

]

Chat

with us online

We’re sorry we’ve kept you waiting. We will be back in touch with you soon!

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

13. Reminding a customer to renew

Hello [Name],

This is a friendly reminder that your [subscription, registration, account, etc.] will expire on [date], so now is the time to renew. We want to be sure you continue to receive [list the benefits of subscribing or renewing, etc.], so log in to your account today to complete the simple [two-step, etc.] renewal process.

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

To update your credit card, go to your
Settings page

and look under “Payment.”
To cancel, go to your
Settings page

and look under “Membership.”
For information about [payment plans, membership levels, subscription discounts, etc.] visit our
Help Center

.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about renewing, please [take this video tour of the renewal process, review this help article, etc.], reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

14. Support email template announcing planned downtime for system maintenance

Hello,

We want to let you know that [system name] will be offline from [day, date, time] to [day, date, time] for scheduled maintenance. During that time, you won’t be able to log in or access any of [system name’s] features or tools [reports, images, calculators, etc.]. Rest assured that during this brief maintenance period, all your [system name] data is safe, and you’ll be able to log in and use the system normally very soon.

[Optional section]

Here’s a brief list of tasks we’ll be completing during this maintenance period:

Adding features to [system function, etc.]. Now you will be able to [list new features or actions].
Fixing glitches. We’ll improve how [system function, etc.] works to make [task] easier.
Migrating data and systems. We’ll move the [system] network to a cloud platform to improve security and accessibility.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about this scheduled maintenance, please reply to this email or call our support team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent

15. Offering a substitute for a discontinued product

Hello [Name],

Thank you for contacting us about [product name]. We’re sorry to tell you that this item has been discontinued. Have you tried [insert suggestion substitute for the discontinued product]? Given how much you liked [original product], we think you’ll enjoy this alternative.

[Optional section: Where words are underlined, add hyperlinks]

Here are a couple of ways to learn about our new products:

Subscribe

to our [weekly, monthly, etc.] newsletter, [Title] where we share our news, discounts and special offers.
Join

[Name], our loyalty program. In addition to learning about new products, members earn points for each purchase.

I am happy you like our [product category] as much as you do, and I’ve shared your desire for [product name] to return with our [Sales] team.

If you have any questions, please reply to this email or call our customer service team at 1-800-123-4567. We’re available Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,
Chris Smith, customer service agent