Author: Bill Wilson

In this six-part series, we're going to explore how technology can and should be used to enhance your ability to provide high levels of quality customer service. We'll look at two areas: traditional technologies such as the telephone, voice mail and fax, then emerging technologies such as email and internet web sites. This article examines email.

According to the Booz-Allen & Hamilton survey cited earlier, in the Digital Age "…electronic communication 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week will play the largest role in a company's success." A face-to-face sales call typically costs $400 or more. A telephone call costs $5 to $10. The cost of an email is only about 1/10 that of a phone call. Email is an extraordinarily convenient and cost-effective way to communicate and transmit information.

Emails can include attachments of photos, documents, sound files, and other electronic files. For example, an associate in another state wanted to put on a seminar on in-home businesses. He knew that I had already designed and presented a seminar on this subject. So, he sent me an email asking if I would be willing to share the program. Since I had stolen (I mean "borrowed") several programs from him, I gladly agreed to share.

A few years ago, that would mean printing a master copy, then packing and shipping it to him at considerable cost. In today's Digital Age, all I did was click on the "Reply" button of my email program, click on the "Attachment" button, attached the electronic seminar manual file to the email, and pressed the "Send" button. Moments later, he had the file which he could then electronically retransmit to his printer. The entire transaction took only a few minutes and cost…virtually (no pun intended) nothing.

To get maximum productivity from email and to enhance your ability to provide quality customer service via this medium, here are some tips….

Establish an email policy and include it in your employee handbook. If you have internet access, direct your browser to http://email.about.com for more information.

Respond promptly to customer emails and consider an automated response if you are away. The same caveats that apply to responding to phone calls apply here…expectations are even greater on the internet when it comes to the need for immediacy. Also, with some email systems, you can set the system to automatically respond to emails with a boilerplate statement to the effect that you are unable to respond until such-and-such date…like voice mail, if possible, give them an option if their inquiry is urgent.

Keep emails brief and use short paragraphs. Again, this is essentially the same rule as that for leaving voice mail messages.

Use a descriptive subject line. It is not uncommon for regular email users to receive dozens of email messages daily. Such users often screen email by the name of the sender and/or subject. If your name is not recognized or the subject is not clear when your email is listed in their inbox, your email may be deleted without being read.

Use an ID footer. Customers like options in responding…be sure that the end of your email includes your name, postal address, phone and fax numbers, email address, and the address of your web site. Depending on the customer's desire, he or she may prefer to talk about an issue over the phone, or simply look up information on your web site. Remember…the "customer focus" of the coming decade is "choices."

Be sure to check, and correct, your grammar and spelling…it reflects your professionalism and the agency's image. Whether it's your email or your web site, nothing is so visible as an indicator of your competency than your spelling and grammar. Insurance is a relationship business founded on the customer's trust of your abilities to properly handle their assets. If you give the appearance of sloppiness and inattention to detail, they may very well assume you will pay the same attention to their affairs.

Create an FAQ "form letter." Keep a record of important emails and frequently asked questions, not just for E&O purposes, but to identify common questions from customers. Every CSR gets repetitive questions…should I buy the collision damage waiver when I rent a car, why do I need a personal umbrella policy, what should I do when I have an auto accident, and so on. By keeping a standardized, "form letter" email that you can modify for each inquiry and/or adding an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to your web site, you can dramatically improve your efficiency and the quality of your responses to customers.

I serve as an "expert" in insurance and presentation skills at www.allexperts.com. Most of the presentation skills questions I get involve stage fright or fear of public speaking. Therefore, I keep a lengthy "canned" email response with lots of information and links to my personal, and related, web sites on the subject. I tailor it to each inquiry and the recipient gets the impression that I drafted this dissertation just for them…mass customization via email. Now that's customer service!

Never send emails when angry or upset, and never assume your emails are private and won't be forwarded. Email communication is so convenient and expedient that it is very easy to fire off a terse letter in haste, only to regret it when your emotions subside. Exercise restraint and keep in mind that this is a customer who expects a professional response from you. Likewise, you may send an email to someone with an unfavorable remark about a customer…don't be surprised if that email finds its way to the customer…all the recipient has to do is enter the customer's email address and click the "Forward" button on their email software. If you want your correspondence to be private, send it to someone you can trust, use another means of communication, or, better yet, don't put yourself in the position of being critical in the first place.

Never forward email messages without the sender's OK. When you receive an email from a customer, don't assume that it is for public dissemination even if the sender did not explicitly say that it was confidential. Such conduct violates the informal rules of "Netiquette." For more on this subject, go to any internet search engine and enter the word "netiquette"…you'll find a number of web sites with information on appropriate conduct and generally accepted manners on the internet.

Don't send broadcast emails to customers unless it is a subscription newsletter…it's impersonal, ill-mannered and most likely a waste of their time. If you get a really funny Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck" email, don't feel that all of your customers can't live without a copy. A monthly email newsletter to your customers, though, is a great idea…but participation should be voluntary. If you do send such a broadcast email, send blind copies (BCC) rather than regular copies (CC) so that your entire customer email list doesn't appear in each customer's email header…that's probably information you don't want to share and it's a waste of electrons to include a huge listing in the email.

Don't send information or attachments that are copyrighted. I have a business acquaintance that sends me excerpts from the book "Chicken Soup for the Soul" at least twice a week. Before long, I'll have a copy of the entire book, he'll have retyped the entire book, and he'll have violated federal copyright law several times over. Don't send information that doesn't belong to you and, heaven forbid, never claim the work of others as your own. This caution also applies to your web site…don't publish information without copyright permission.

On my personal web site (and the VU web site), I have an article entitled "The Top 10 Reasons to Purchase the Rental Car Company's Collision Damage Waiver." I've been asked many times for permission to reprint and have gladly granted permission (incidentally, allowing other web sites to link to such information on your site is a great way to generate traffic to your web site). Similarly, I've asked and received permission from others to distribute their works…only once have I been turned down (Gary Larson wouldn't let me publish one of his cartoons). Key word: Ask…and you shall usually receive.

Avoid HTML code and large emails or graphics attachments…not all email systems can translate them properly. Keep your emails short and use simple text rather than a text format that the customer's email program might not be able to translate properly. If you attach photos or graphics, particularly large ones, they may not make it through your customer's email system. I've tried to send files as large as 8 MB to others and the only email system I've found that could handle a file of this size is the one used by America Online.

When responding to an email, include only relevant portions of the original message, not the entire message with headers and footers. Also, respond only if you are asked to or have something to say. There's nothing more unproductive than getting a return email that includes an entire copy of your original email that you have to scan through, followed by something like "Right on!" at the very end.

Avoid multiple forwarded email messages full of ">>>>>>"'s and broken line feeds. I have friends who forward me email jokes or news items that have already been forwarded sometimes dozens of times. By the time I get it, the sentences are indented halfway across the email, most are broken into several pieces, and the item can only be read with great difficulty and physical pain. Clean up the email if it's not legible or don't forward it at all.

Don't forward well-meaning hoaxes. Almost weekly, some well-intentioned person forwards me an email hoax about Congress voting on a bill to tax emails, a new virus, or some such nonsense. Don't waste your customer's time with these hoaxes. If you're not sure if an email story is true, check out the common hoaxes at www.snopes2.com.

Don't overwhelm customers with frequent, nonessential emails. Many of your customers already receive dozens of email messages daily. Have mercy! Many agents today don't communicate often enough with their clients, but you can overdo it. Inform, not annoy.

Do occasionally forward articles or links to web sites of special interest to customers. If you have a client who is an avid scuba diver, there's nothing wrong with sending them an occasional email pointing out a great scuba web site or an online article on the subject. The expression of personal interest helps strengthen the relationship. Many agents do that today by more traditional means. Just don't bug them to death.

And, the final email tip…don't "spam!" If you want to use the internet and email for marketing and to generate prospects, do not buy email lists and broadcast a marketing plea to hundreds or thousands of consumers. Unsolicited email, in Net lingo, is referred to as "spam," which is also canned. While telemarketing is considered an acceptable form of marketing (consumers hate it, but businesses seem to like it), "spamming" is not…it's one of the greatest of the internet sins. Don't do it!

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