Want to do it properly?  Follow these steps:

1. Read customer emails completely.

Most customers who write in complaints never get their questions answered.  That’s because most people on the other end simply scan through emails and provide what they think is an appropriate answer, without taking the time to actually read through what the customer is saying.

2. Always thank the customer for writing.

Any time a customer writes in to complain, it’s usually a sign that they care about their relationship with your business.  A simple show of gratitude for wanting to work through their problems with you can go a long way.

3. Express your apologies.

If the customer has been inconvenienced by the issue, take the time to apologize sincerely.  That’s the least you can do for any trouble they may have had to go through.

4. Explain the problem.

Most people, when responding to customer complaints, gloss over the causes of the problem (especially when it stems from their end).  This is unfortunate because making what has transpired clear in the customers’ mind is an important part of establishing trust.

5. Proofread your email.

The last thing you want is to follow all the steps of correctly responding to emails, only to send it with a ton of grammatical mistakes and errors.  What good is all that effort, after all, if the customer won’t be able to understand what you’re talking about due to the unintelligible drivel you ended up sending them?  An English grammar software is such as small investment to put an end to this problem automatically.

Contrast, highlighting one aspect by a direct juxtaposition with another, is one of the most important constructs you can use to express complex ideas in your text.   By directly contrasting one concept with another the same way black can highlight white, your readers derive a clearer picture of the message you’re trying to impart.

Examples

When you say “I’ve always wanted to own a home but I live in a rented apartment,” it shows a contrast that creates a scene in the mind of the reader.  Similarly, explaining the reason for the situation can also be arrived at properly by using contrast, as in “While it’s always been in the back of mind to buy a house, the reality of my financial situation has made it impossible.”

Can you see how contrast worked in these sentences to create a compelling scene instead of an uninspiring one?

Ways To Show Contrast

As with the above examples, sentence connectors are your best bet for showing the relationship between two contrasting ideas in your writing.  The first one (using “but”) is called a coordinating conjunction, which bridges two contrasting statements together.  Subordinating conjunctions (such as the second example), on the other hand, show one idea while putting forward a secondary one that makes the first a struggle (e.g. whereas, while).  Conjunctive adverbs are used when you’d rather force a pause between the two statements (either by a period or a semicolon) and are often accomplished by starting the second statement with “in contrast” or “on the other hand”.  Prepositions are the last way to express contrast, often achieved by prefacing the two combined statements with “unlike” or “even though”.

FAQ: The Parts

If you look at most sites, they design FAQ pages to fulfill the main goal of answering common consumer concerns in the most succinct and clear way possible (with the help of an English writing software, no doubt).  FAQ pages are typically presented in a question-and-answer format, listing all the oft-asked questions and providing the corresponding answers for them.  Traditionally, the answers are presented in a straightforward manner to avoid any further confusion on the users’ part.

Letting The FAQ Sell

While the FAQ is best employed as an informational outlet, there’s no rule book indicating that it can’t assist your goal of actually moving products.  As a well-trafficked area of your site, you’re really leaving money on the table if you don’t use it to help push customers into the next phase of the process.

For the most part, all you need is to make a few adjustments to turn a FAQ page into a secondary sales piece.  Point out benefits they stand to get, while answering a question about the product’s shipping details, for instance.  Tell them how much money they will save, while answering a FAQ entry about the components used in the product you are selling.  It need not be a hard sell – a soft, genuine relaying of your products’ value will actually work best.

For the most part, text that lack clarity can be fixed up by using grammar software.  That’s because majority of writing weaknesses  are frequently related to a lack of adherence to best practices and language rules.  When you’ve done due diligence on this end to no avail, it’s time to check the way your presentation is organized.  Often, a lack clarity can be remedied by rearranging the way ideas are shown.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How would the piece work if you rearrange paragraph order?
• Does the introduction work to generate interest or does it reveal too much that can best be presented towards the end, instead?
• Do you need to build up tension before going into the details?
• Is your closing strong enough to answer any unasked questions?

Many times, simply rearranging the paragraphs to a more logical sequence can do the trick.  Sometimes,  beefing up the introductory groundwork or trimming it down can facilitate a more successful version.  Experiment with cut-and-paste technology, rearranging the way your ideas are presented, and you might eventually hit upon the desired spot.

Does a sentence sound incorrect?  If you can’t fix it immediately either by drawing from your own experience or the all-in-one writing software running on your desktop, just leave it in the meantime. When writing, it’s frequently more important to keep your thrust going forward than to worry about pleasing the grammar gods – at least, until you’ve put all your main ideas to the page.

That’s precisely why I’m a major advocate of most any technological tool that can aid in writing.  Software applications, with their automated functions, help correct problems and mistakes while making no requirements that distract your attention away from the main job.  What kinds of tools am I talking about?  Personally, I’m a huge fan of the following:

1. Desktop-based thesaurus and dictionaries.  Looking for an alternate word or unsure of the current one’s meaning.  Simply look it up and you’ll get an answer in less than five seconds.

2. Text expanders. If you do repetitive writing (such as headers, slogans or keywords), text expanders can shorten your typing duties immensely.

3. Spelling and Grammar checkers. Instead of having to ponder the correctness of your words and sentences,  you can simply run a grammar software to proofread your copy for adherence to English rules and spelling.

4. Style checkers. Good writing often entails more than grammatically-correct copy.  Style checkers help you shape that writing into a form that’s sleeker and more succinct – just like an athlete ready to take the game to the next level.

If you’re finding a hard time writing in “future tense” even with the help of a writing software, here’s a quick guide to the various ways in which we speak of the future.   Hopefully, it helps you get a better grasp of how things that are yet to happen can best be expressed.

1. Predictions

Both “will” and “going to” are used to predict things that are set to happen in the future.  While they are meant to show an assuredness in the speaker, there is actually no guarantee that any future statements following them will ever come true.

Example: “The crystal ball tells me that you will marry late.”

2. Future Plans

When you are talking about future plans (i.e. things have already been decided but is yet to be executed), you use either a present continuous form or “going to”.  In this form of future statements, the talked-about event is more likely to happen than not.

Example:  “We are spending the summer in the Bahamas.”

The future participle (“will have” + past participle) can also be used to indicate a decided future event.

Example: “We will have finished our summer vacation by the end of next month.”

3. Imminent Event

When talking of imminent events, such as when your plane is about to land, you should use “going to”.

Example: “We are going to hit the tree, hit the brakes now!”

With an event, on the other hand, that is set in stone (in some ways) such as a flight schedule or a wedding, we can use the simple present form.

Example: “The ceremonies start at 9.”

“Bring”, used correctly, is an action that indicates carrying a particular object from a different location to the place where the speaker is (usually “here”).  “Take”, on the other hand, connotes carrying it from the speaker’s location to another place.  The difference is very subtle and, although most folks will accept switching their usage, it causes a certain amount of incongruence when read you through the text.  In fact, using them incorrectly usually leads to that nagging feeling that something is wrong, even though you can’t exactly pinpoint it (though, hopefully, your English language software can).

Take these incorrect uses of the word “bring” for instance:

“I will bring the laptop to the shop tomorrow.”

“Don’t you bring the dog to that park again!”

While both sentences may sound fine, using “bring” actually breaks the intent of the word.  Instead, you should use the verb “take”, as in:

“I will take laptop to the shop tomorrow.”

“Don’t you take dog to that park again!”

See how that small change makes both sentences sound so much better?  On the other hand, the following usage of “bring” should be correct:

“Bring the laptop back here after you take it to the shop.”

“Sorry, I forgot to bring the book I promised.”

When To Use “Much”

The quantifier “much” is best used for nouns that cannot be counted piece by piece.  For instance, you can have “much money” but you can’t have “much $100 bills”.  In formal writing style (such as research materials and scientific studies), “much” is acceptably used for both positive and negative statements.   For other forms of writing, though, it is generally advised to reserve the use of the word on negative sentences.

When To Use “Many”

In direct contrast to “much”, the quantifier “many” is best used for nouns that can be counted piece by piece.  For instance, you can have “many $100 bills” but you can’t ever have “many money”.  Just like “much”, it is best used for negative statements and sentences, although it is generally accepted on positive statements in formal writing.

When To Use “A Lot Of”

The quantifier “a lot of” is typically used in place of both “much” and “many” when writing in an affirmative (positive) tone.  Instead of saying “I have much money in the bank,” you say “I have a lot of money in the bank.”  While “much” sounds awkward in that sentence, “a lot of” flows perfectly off the tongue.  In formal writing, “a lot of” is typically replaced by more specific-sounding quantifiers, such as “a large number of” and “a considerable amount of”.

People don’t just buy products – they buy the benefits that a product provides.  As such, the best way to write marketing materials is always to ask, “What problems do customers have that this product will solve?”

Instead of selling an “ebook about greening your home”, you’re better off selling “30% savings in your electricity bill”.

Rather than pushing “state-of-the-art computers”, you sell the PC gaming crowd on “pre-configured machines that can play Crysis at the highest setting while you defrag in the background”.

In place of marketing “home warranties”, you sell the customers on “no-cost home repairs for the next 15 years”.

As many marketers have wisely advised over the years: “Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle.”  People, especially during these  times, will always look to hold off on buying products, unless it can solve an existing source of concern or bother.

Does your copy lean towards telling the customers what problems will disappear from their midst with your product?  If it doesn’t, rewrite your pitch until it does.  Read your copy aloud to make sure the ideas come through crisp and clear.  If something sounds wrong and you can’t put a finger on it, run it through an English writing software to find problem points.  Finesse it until it looks and sounds exactly the way that will get even you to buy.

No matter how qualified you are, if you don’t own the attention to detail necessary with your writing to go along with it, you can be looking at plenty of missed opportunities. That’s exactly what happened to one yoga expert we were interviewing back when I used to work with an online magazine.  We needed an in-house resource on the subject and one applicant’s qualifications stood out way apart from the rest.  Despite the impressive credentials, though, she didn’t get the job – all because her cover application alone had three grammar errors on it.

Can you imagine not getting a job based on non-directly-related reasons, such as a poorly-written cover letter or email?  While it can be argued that the qualified person should still get the job, I beg to differ.  The three prominent grammar errors on the cover letter indicate glaring problems – lack of attention to detail, a relative indifference to getting the job and he propensity to let avoidable problems slip by.

How easy would it have been to use an English writing software to scan through that copy and catch those three mistakes?  It would have taken less than five minutes, from the moment you launch the software to the time you approve the last update.  Anyone who refuses to do that, in my book, just doesn’t want the job bad enough – and, as such, won’t get it.