10 Techniques for Writing Customer Replies That Impress and Close Online Sales

Knowing how to write effective customer replies is essential for online merchants these days. Customer replies are the primary form of communication for online buying and selling. However, not every online seller can close a sale every time a customer sends a chat. Many encounter issues where customers message but don't respond after receiving a reply. Some get CFs (confirmations) without payment, and others might only buy once and never return. Therefore, this article compiles 10 techniques for writing killer customer replies—how to respond to close online sales quickly, keep customers engaged, and encourage repeat purchases.

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1. Make a Great First Impression

First impressions matter. Ensure your customer replies make customers feel good from the moment they click into your chat. Always greet customers politely when they message your Facebook, Instagram, LINE, website, etc.

The first 5 minutes are critical, as this is when customers are most likely to decide to buy. Therefore, always reply to customer inquiries about products as quickly as possible. Admins need to be very fast, or if that's not feasible, consider setting up automated responses for convenient service and sales. This method helps avoid long waits for customer replies and creates a positive first impression.

If you're already using Zaapi's unified chat program, we also have an automatic chat and comment response system to elevate your service and sales to the next level.

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2. Don't Keep Customers Waiting

Today's customers want convenience and speed in their lives, including online shopping. Therefore, stores shouldn't keep customers waiting, or they might miss out on good sales opportunities. Remember that customers currently have many buying options and considerable freedom to shop online. Many pages, Instagram accounts, and websites sell similar products to yours. Even a split-second delay in customer replies can lead to lost opportunities, so don't keep customers waiting!
If your store is starting to sell well and you can't reply to customer messages in time, consider hiring a page admin to help. It's better than losing customers. Just be sure to train them on how to write customer replies that match your store's tone and service style.

For even greater speed and convenience, you can use a system or chat response program to help organize chats from various online channels. This allows you to categorize chats from Facebook, Instagram, LINE, etc., and respond to customers faster.

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3. Understand the Customer's Message

Many people focus so much on sending customer replies quickly that they forget to understand the customer's message first. This leads to miscommunication and customer replies that don't answer the question. Instead of impressing the customer, it can irritate them.
Therefore, the key to writing customer replies that impress and lead to a sale is to read the customer's message and understand what information or assistance they need before responding. Then, provide accurate and relevant information in your customer reply. This helps prevent wasting time for both the admin and the customer, and it leads to faster order closures.

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4. Have Information Ready

Having information ready to answer questions and provide customer information makes your store look professional and trustworthy. Therefore, admins should be well-versed in the store's product and service information. To make writing customer replies easier and faster, you should have customer reply templates prepared so you can adjust and provide information to customers promptly, while also reducing chat response time.

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5. Avoid Overly Formal Language

Many online stores use overly formal language in their customer replies, making customers feel unintentionally distant. Imagine if you were a customer and encountered a store that used such language—you probably wouldn't want to contact them much, would you? Therefore, it's recommended to use friendly language in customer replies while still maintaining politeness, so customers will feel inclined to ask about products and services.

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6. Provide Service with Enthusiasm

If you want to win customers' hearts and close sales quickly, you need to provide service with enthusiasm and understand customers as much as possible. Customers who send a chat are interested in your products, and every chat is a sales opportunity. Moreover, communicating through text with customer replies alone isn't always as effective as we expect. There's also a high chance that customers might misinterpret things, so use polite language, serve customers patiently, and spell words correctly to make your store look credible. When customers sense your willingness to serve and your professionalism, they won't just message and disappear.

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7. Use Images to Communicate

Another way to write customer replies in online sales to quickly provide customers with the information they need is to use images as a medium for explanation. It's recommended to use images or infographics to help customers digest information faster, as some customers may not enjoy reading much text. If you need to type long customer replies, you can use images or infographics to explain product and service information. This helps customers understand the details more easily. Therefore, if you need to write long customer replies, it's recommended to use images as a medium to facilitate online buying and selling via chat.

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8. Say Thank You More Often

Try changing from using the word "sorry" to the word "thank you" more often, as customers will feel better than hearing the word "sorry." For example, a customer reply that says "Thank you for waiting" instead of "Sorry for making you wait." That's because the word "thank you" helps reduce customers' anger or frustration. If a customer is angry and you apologize, they might type out their feelings rapidly, but if you say thank you, it will help ease their anger.

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9. Ask Follow-Up Questions

Every time a customer asks a question, provide an answer and ask a follow-up question to build rapport and show the customer that the store cares. This effectively encourages customers to want to buy products. For example, if a customer asks if a product is available, instead of waiting for the customer to ask another question, you can answer and ask a follow-up question to capture the customer's interest.
Remember that online sales typically happen within the first 5 minutes of a customer initiating a chat, so include questions in your customer replies to spark the customer's interest right away. For example:

Customer: Hello, do you have this shoe in this size left?

Admin: Yes, we do. Which color are you interested in?

Including a follow-up question like this helps customers make decisions more easily and quickly, but you need to ask simple questions that are easy for customers to answer as well. When there's interest from both the buyer and the seller, the chances of closing the order increase.

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10. Summarize Information Every Time

Before and after a customer places an order via online chat, it's recommended to write a customer reply that summarizes the information to prevent errors, saving time on order confirmations and avoiding potential damage later on. If you send the wrong item to the customer, the store will have to pay for the cost of reshipping the correct item, and the customer will have to wait longer. Customers won't be happy with that, and they might only buy once and never return to your store. Therefore, another way to communicate with customers online effectively is to summarize order information in your customer replies.

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Conclusion

If you want to write customer replies that resonate and close sales quickly, online stores must prioritize customer convenience and speed. In addition to being fast, admins may need to use a chat response system to help organize chats from different channels so they can send customer replies immediately, and customers won't have to wait long. Admins also need to know a little psychology, such as using the word "thank you" instead of "sorry," and they need to prioritize service, language, and carefulness when taking product orders from customers. This solves the problem of customers messaging and disappearing and increases store sales through killer customer replies.

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