If your work role requires many transactional email exchanges, a vital skill to master is how to respond professionally to customer email inquiries and also to thank people for information they provide, concisely and politely.
Here we walk through:
1.) how to properly respond to an inquiry sent by a prospective client or customer, and also
2.) how or when to reply to a co-worker or contact to thank them for supplying information or services to you.
1. How to respond to a customer’s email inquiry
Reply to your client or customer’s inquiry as soon as possible. If possible, reply to them with their requesting information right after you read their email. The sooner you respond, the more professional and better the impression you will make.
Your online exchanges with potential customers and clients are often the only experiences people have with your company, so be an effective, helpful, and positive experience for them to remember. Here is an example guide walking you through how to write an inquiry response email to a customer, for greatest mutual benefit.
Begin with a polite hello
After the salutation (Dear FirstName), provide context for your response. Why are you writing? Tell them by first thanking them for reaching out:
- Thank you for your inquiry regarding our product or service.
- Thank you for reaching out after the presentation, I love talking shop with other people enthusiastic about our field.
- Thank you for your interest in our product or service.
- We would like to thank you for your letter inquiring about our product.
- I would like to thank you for your continued support of our service and reassure you that I am here to make the process go smoothly for you.
- We truly appreciate your letter asking for information about our service.
Provide the requested information
Don’t waste time. Be efficient with your words yet polite, and deliver as helpful a solution as possible.
Perhaps the customer merely wanted to feel heard. Perhaps the client requested more information to help them assess your product’s suitability.
Whatever their reason for contacting you, acknowledge that reason and provide a solution. Some examples for this section:
- To fulfill your request, please find enclosed ___.
- In response to your inquiry, please find the following attached to this email ___.
- To answer your specific question, ___. Also, here is a PDF detailing the product specifications ___.
- It is my pleasure to address your request. Here is ___.
- I would be happy to schedule a time to discuss this implementation with you; do you have ten minutes today somewhere between 3:30-5:00? Tomorrow between 8:00-10:00 is also open.
Wrap it up with a polite goodbye and contact info
This part doesn’t require much thought. Consider the purpose of your response, attempt to anticipate any further questions your contact might have, and direct them honestly in the direction of assistance, if that makes sense.
Here are some classic, polite message examples to say thank you professionally in a response to an inquiry:
- I hope this provided information is useful to you, and if you would like to talk more about this, I am happy to schedule a call later this week.
- Should you have any further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
- If you require further information, feel free to contact me. Thank you kindly!
- If you have any questions or need more details, let me know. It would be my pleasure assist you.
- Thank you for your trust in our product and service.
- Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
2. How to thank a contact for providing information
Is sending a thank-you email redundant at best and annoyingly inefficient at worst, creating yet another non-actionable email for someone to read?
Ninja Efficiency: If you receive an email and you’re appreciative of the supplied information, consider replying with a concise “Thank-you!” within a few seconds of receiving the email, so the sender will receive your short expression of appreciation before they exit their inbox. They likely won’t mind the extra e-mail if it is prompt and timely in context, providing closure for that loop and then they can move on to their next task.
If someone goes above and beyond, I think the potential cost of wasting their time is outweighed by the pleasure they will experience in reading about your satisfaction with their job well done. Everybody likes positive reinforcement, especially for tasks in which they invested much time and effort.
- Thank you for this thorough research summary, I will include it in today’s report. Your detailed graph presents the data clearly and tells the story of this year better than I could!
- Thank you for your prompt reply and confirmation of these details, I really appreciate it.
Thank you for your reply – an example email:
Dear FirstName,
Thank you for your prompt response to my request for more information about specific use cases for this product.
I am encouraged by your case studies and your research-backed reassurances to my concerns about temperature fluctuations. Given the right price and ongoing support, we will definitely be moving forward with this project.
I’ll be in touch this afternoon to discuss further. Thank you again for your guidance.
Kind regards,
MyName
How to acknowledge an email if you have no further questions
If you are concluding an exchange with a simple “Thank you,” why not consider adding a “no need to reply” sentence to your email to end the back-and-forth and save your pen-pal the similar thought dilemma?
Example of an autoresponder thank you message:
Use these example responses directing you how to respond to a customer email inquiry:
- “Thank you for your email! – We have received your message. If a reply is required, a member of our staff will contact you as soon as possible.”
- “Thanks for reaching out! Someone will be in touch with you shortly.”
- “Thank you for downloading the Peak Performance Primer! Congrats on taking action in the direction of your goals.”
Emails are fine and dandy, but to set yourself apart from the crowd, learn more on how to write a thank you note, the better, hand-written way. Especially after a job interview.
Also, how to respond to a thank you email.
