Writing effective customer support macros and templates in Salesforce or templates in Zendesk isn’t as easy or intuitive as it seems. We want customers to get what they need — to solve their problems faster and actually close the loop.
Before we dive into how to write the best macros or templates, let’s quickly define what kind of questions these canned responses should answer.
The best tickets for macros are informational, like when a customer asks, “Do you offer refunds?” Using macros to resolve action-based tickets — like “Please reset my password” — is not an effective strategy.
Beyond that, it seems simple, right? Write a macro that solves the issue and closes the case or ticket.
But it’s not that easy.
Using data on which macros/templates solve issues correctly provided by Agatha, we’ve put together the top four ways you can improve your macros/templates to solve more problems.
1. Don’t Make Open-Ended Macros
An open-ended macro is a macro that includes a call to action or a question within the note. If you ask a question or request an action, the customer will have to reach out to you again, defeating the purpose of the macro in the first place.
You want to implement macros that allow for a first-touch resolution and help improve customer experience.
2. Don’t Deflect Customers to Another Department
Deflecting customers to other teams within your company is a surefire way of turning a good customer into an angry customer. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes — they’re hoping you can improve the customer experience by getting them an answer the first time.
Here’s an incredibly low-performing ticket (in terms of reopening) that is a great (horrible) example.
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in THE AWESOME COMPANY! If you are interested in working with THE AWESOME COMPANY to create an awesome thing, then the best point of contact would be our business development team. I have forwarded your information to them via this email. They receive a lot of requests, but they will follow-up if there is interest in moving forward.
Thanks again and if you need any additional assistance, please feel free to reach out.
Best,
Bad Macro
3. Be Straight-Forward About Automated Responses
Start off your template by expressing that you want to be helpful and get your customer an answer quickly — like this:
Hello,
Thanks for contacting THE AWESOME COMPANY! We are sorry for the trouble with downloading your class workbook PDF. In an effort to get you a quick answer, can you try the following steps?
1) Go to www.theawesomecompany.com
2) Scroll down to “The Awesome Button.”
3) Click “The Awesome Button.”
4) Click the “Resources” tab at the top of the page.
This will zoom you down to the section with your unicorn points where you can download your total unicorn point.
*It may be useful to right-click the download link to Save-As if you would like to control where on your computer it gets saved.
I hope this helps!
If this is not helpful, please respond, and one of my human colleagues will get back to you shortly!
Best,
Good Macro
4. End Notes Nicely!
You always want your customers to feel good after going through the virtual experience your organization creates. Let them know that a human agent will connect with them if the automated response isn’t helpful.
“If this is not helpful, please respond, and one of my human colleagues will get back to you shortly!”
Writing macros that improve customer support can be tough. But it doesn’t mean you can’t improve the customer experience.
Taking the time upfront to ensure your customers are getting polite, helpful responses will make a world of difference to your CSAT and the overall impression people will have when they interact with your company.
Customer Support AI Solutions For You
Are you trying to find powerful ways to effectively incorporate macros or templates into your workflows? Maybe it’s time to take a look at Solve, which deploys your macros/templates automatically using a deep understanding of your tickets and a high level of accuracy. If so, let’s chat and start solving more.
When a team uses Agatha to automatically respond to tickets using natural language understanding, they can see which macros effectively solve a problem and which ones don’t.
So thanks for the tips, Agatha.
