Best practices and examples of an automated email response

Companies have many applications for automated email responses, including delivering timely, tailored customer service at scale.

An auto-reply allows you to address common questions, update customers on progress, and react quickly – all without diverting your team from the more complex issues that are most deserving of their attention, expertise, and human touch.

In this article, you’ll learn:

What an automated email response is
When to use email auto-reply in customer service
Examples and use cases
How to create automated email responses

What is an automated email response?

An automated email response, also known as auto-reply, is a pre-written message sent automatically in response to specific customer actions or events. Some common examples include confirmation messages, notifications, reminders, and informational messages.

When should you use automated email responses for customer service?

There are several scenarios where automated responses are useful for customer service. And no matter the specific situation, the overarching advantage of auto-reply is clear: it allows businesses to promptly update users without delay, even when support reps aren’t immediately available.

Key situations that benefit from automatic email responses include:

Immediately after a customer has signed up for your product or service.
If you want to be able to reply to customers outside of normal business hours.
When your support team is experiencing high volumes or availability is otherwise limited.
When you want to empower users to troubleshoot issues themselves by promptly sending documentation and self-help links.
After you’ve closed a support ticket, and would like to prevent further unnecessary back-and-forth.

Examples of automated email responses

Now, let’s take a look at some of the most common use cases for automated email responses.

Confirmation messages

When a customer reaches out with a question through email, a quick acknowledgment can go a long way. Users want to know you’ve received their email and have started addressing their query. A brief, to-the-point "We received your message and will respond soon" gives them that assurance.

An automated email response is also essential during peak demand for your support. In such cases, a message stating “We're currently experiencing unusually high volumes of conversations, we’ll respond shortly” is generally sufficient.

Additionally, auto-reply buys you some time. Your team doesn't need to feel quite as rushed if the customer knows a reply is coming. Giving your support team that breathing room can help them put together a more informative, higher-quality response.

If you want to accelerate support, consider sending self-service resources to allow customers to resolve their issues independently.

💡 Here are some tips for confirmation messages:

Keep it short. Your goal is to acknowledge receipt, not go into exhaustive detail.
Provide a timeframe for when they can expect a full reply.
Encourage them to self-serve through your automated chatbot or knowledge base.

Technical support

While messaging tools have become increasingly popular for technical support, companies’ email inboxes still get plenty of queries. Because of this, you should have an automated response ready to go.

When someone reaches out over email about an issue they’re experiencing with your product, take the opportunity to automatically ask detailed questions.

The more info you get up front, the better equipped your team will be to get to the root of the problem. Probe for specifics – what exactly are they seeing, what steps have they already tried?

In this particular example, it’s even more important to empower users to resolve issues on their own. By sending an initial automated email with key information and links to resources, you can guide customers to work toward self-service solutions. Automatic messages might highlight common questions from your FAQ, and provide a direct link to your help center.

💡 Here are some tips for technical support emails:

Explain the email’s purpose upfront. Clearly state that it’s an automated message intended to provide helpful information right away.
Focus on the user. Empathize with them by explaining that you understand how frustrating technical issues can be. Make it clear that your goal is to help resolve their issue as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Assure human support. Let them know that a live support rep will follow up, if necessary, after reviewing their initial details, and provide an expected response time.

Interrupted services

When widespread problems affect customer experiences, you have an opportunity to demonstrate care through automated message responses. By acknowledging an issue that you know many people will mention, you signal self-awareness and reassure customers that their concern has been noted.

Even a brief email stating that you’re working on a solution and will provide details soon can go a long way toward assuring customers that you’re addressing the problem. And their email doesn't relate to this particular problem your service is addressing, it's also beneficial to inform them that someone will promptly respond to assist them.

💡 Here are some tips for messages about service interruptions:

Explain what customers can expect during the interruption.
Let them know specific actions they shouldn't take to address the problem on their own.
Apologize for any inconvenience and acknowledge their patience.
If possible, provide an estimated timeline for resolution.

Conversation rating request

Whenever a support conversation ends, you have the opportunity to gain valuable customer feedback. Through an automated email response, customers can rate their experience while it's still fresh in their mind.

💡 Here are some tips on soliciting conversation rating through automated emails:

Test different rating triggers like same-day vs. next-day emails.
Review the report of your conversation ratings to monitor your support team’s performance.
Follow up on low scores to show you care – send a personal email asking how you could have done better.

Check out our recommended practices for designing effective and engaging surveys.

How to create automated email responses

Before jumping in to set your automated email responses, consider the following general principles.

1. Define your objective

When setting up automated emails, start with clear goals in mind. Ask yourself why you're automatically contacting customers and what action you hope to see from the messages.

Keep it simple at first – focus on one key outcome you want to achieve like giving your support reps room to breathe when their inboxes are flooded with new emails. Then, refine your messages over time to best achieve your objective.

2. Address your customers’ needs

When automating your email messages, remember that it's not just about what you want to say. You should also be always considering what your customers actually need or want to hear.

Focus on questions like "Is this email redirecting the customer to our help center worth sending in this specific case?" or "How can we provide value through an email to keep customers satisfied?"

Serve your users' needs above your own, and anticipate what they may want to know next. For example, if they previously engaged with your blog, a simple automated email sharing a new related post could provide timely, relevant information without feeling like a pitch.

3. Stay personal at scale

While technology allows you to reach many users at once, your messages should still feel personalized. Avoid disguising mass emails as individual conversations – customers will see through that.

Personalizing experiences at scale can be tricky, but it's important for keeping customers feeling valued. Here’s how to stay personal at scale:

Customize each message. Automatically include each customer’s first name, last name, and other info specific to their profile.
Use a message style that feels conversational, like one-on-one communication.
Stay relevant. Set triggers through a combination of user attributes to send messages to the right people from your base.
Use real photos of your team members' faces. Your customers will trust you more when there is a human on the other end of the conversation.
Be available and quick to reply. No matter how personal an automated email response is, you still have to be prepared to quickly follow up and address any questions your customers have.
Manage expectations when you can’t reply. If your customer isn’t going to receive a follow-up any time soon, let them know when they should expect one.

4. Follow email best practices and guidelines

Even when deploying automated email responses, it's wise to follow certain guidelines to ensure that the communication between you and your customers is valuable, personalized, and maintains a human touch.

Follow these best practices to make people actually want to hear from you:

Send helpful content: Keep your automated email responses honest and useful.
Be authentic: Make sure people immediately know who they’re talking to.
Be transparent: Include a highly visible, easily accessible unsubscribe link in all of your emails.

5. Set up rules and conditions

With automated email, you can send targeted messages to customers according to specific groups. This way, you automatically send messages to the right audiences.

For instance, by considering the features accessible to a specific customer within the product, you can customize automated responses that account for the characteristics or limitations of their current plan.

6. Measure message effectiveness and performance

To really know how well your automated email responses are performing, you need to look back at the goals you set in the first step.

For example, are these emails assisting customers in resolving their issues? Or increasing feedback responses from users who have interacted with support?"

Analyzing your measurable goals will help you understand the real impact your automated email campaigns are having.

Leverage automation with Intercom

Automated email responses are just the beginning. There's a world of automation functionalities waiting to boost your business, enhancing operational efficiency and streamlining workflows for both customers and employees. On top of automated emails, Intercom offers automated chatbots, help desk automation, and automated workflow.

With complete customer support software like Intercom’s, you deliver a better experience for customers and support teams.

Unlock the potential of automated email responses and much more. Embrace automation to take your support to the next level. Ready to dive in? Request a demo or kickstart your free trial today.