If you’re looking to improve your own or your employees’ email communication… this one tip is going to help you develop excellent customer service skills in your company starting today.
First, let me ask you a simple question…
Have you ever received an email that made you feel awesome?
I sometimes feel like the art of letter writing has been lost. And when I talk to people who have spent a lot of time in the corporate world, I understand why.
How Not To Write Your Emails
I’m about to share with you how to “give good email” but first I need to show you how not to write your emails.
After my husband quit his job, he was writing an email to our team and when I was reading it over, I cringed. “Why don’t you write like a real person?” I asked.
“Oh, I used the ‘idiot filter’ so it should have come out sounding nice.” he said.
“What’s the ‘idiot filter’?” I asked.
“Here’s how it works: you write a sentence, and then you add the words ‘you idiot’ at the end. If it sounds like the phrase ‘you idiot’ fits in with your sentence, then you need to rewrite the sentence because it’s going to come across the wrong way.
For example: “Hey, did you try plugging in the computer before you hit the on button, you idiot?” That sounds right, so we’d need to rewrite it.”
Wow. I had no idea that people were being taught this rule, and it explains a lot about all the bad customer service experiences we’ve all had with big companies!
So my first order of business was to help my husband re-learn how to write emails that are both encouraging, useful, and that make people feel great.
My goal was to make sure we all knew how to hone our email writing habits so we’d have excellent customer service skills, and build from there.
Excellent Customer Service Skills Start With 1 Rule For Writing Good Emails
The name for my rule? It’s called the “Hey, gorgeous filter”, and it’s way easier to use too!
You just start writing, and add “gorgeous” at the end of your sentence. If it feels out of place, then it’s time to rewrite your sentence so that saying gorgeous at the end feels natural.
No double negative stuff here. It should just flow!
In our computer example, it might sound like: “Hey, sometimes wires get unplugged or crossed, why don’t you check to see if your computer is properly plugged in and try the on button again, gorgeous.”
See? So much easier, and the person reading that email is going to feel taken care of, loved, and supported.
Another great way to give good email is to truly think of the other person who is going to be receiving it. Sometimes when we just have a name or an email address to go by, we can get snippier, or forget that we’re actually writing to a real human being with their own hopes, fears, and dreams.
And you never know what someone might be going through when they hit send on an email. I truly believe that if all used the “hey gorgeous filter”, there would be a lot more happy customers and fans, and a lot less frustrated people in the world.
By the way, this rule doesn’t just apply to email. It works in real life situations, on the phone, and when you’re writing sales copy too!
The most important thing you can do for someone is to come from a place of understanding.
Never make someone feel inferior when you can uplift them instead.
Never make someone feel inferior when you can uplift them instead.
That’s my philosophy when it comes to interacting with people, and you’ll notice that I never make fun of or single out any of my readers…unlike some other marketers and business owners.
I also believe that how we treat people and teach others how to treat us really impacts the types of emails we get. So if you don’t want any snippy unhappy emails, don’t send any!
Be sure to pass this video along to your team members who are responsible for answering emails for you, and also to any fellow business owners who could benefit from giving great email too!
Now I’d LOVE to hear your comments. Have you ever heard of the “you idiot filter” or has it been used on you before? How did it make you feel, and how have you been able to shift sticky written communication issues for the better using the “hey gorgeous filter”?
