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”.

While you can probably save a lot of time by just downloading a pre-made reference letter from the web or copying the ones in the template menu of your English writing software, it’s usually a bad idea.  A generic piece of document will still sound generic even when you replace all the names, dates and places.  How well do you think it will whoever you are supposed to be vouching for?

Instead of doing the old copy and paste, how about you crafting a reference letter that will actually help that seeking your assistance?  If you’re up to the task, here’s what you need to do:

• Always specify your relationship with the person you are writing about.
• Mention the length of time you have known each other.
• If you know them well, highlight specific personality traits that can help them gain admission.
• Cite detailed events during the course of your relationship that demonstrate their positive traits.
• If you can quantify the way the person has benefited you, do so. (e.g. He has brought over $1 million in sales to our company.)
• Avoid exaggeration.
• Conclude the letter with a strong recommendation.

How do you craft an effective call to action?

1. Make no mistakes.

Short and succinct, the call to action is frequently a brief instruction to the action you want the prospect to take.  One simple mistake and you can end up breaking the flow – leaving the reader to abandon the process.  As such, make sure your copy reads well and correct by putting it through an English language software.

2. Stick to one action.

I’ve seen copies work with two different courses of action.  I’ve even seen great landing pages with five different things to do.  Every time I see them, however, I can’t help but imagine how much better they would work presenting a single-minded idea of what the prospect is supposed to do.  Don’t risk confusing your audience – stick to one action and move their focus strictly towards it.

3. The action must be specific.

You can’t just  throw out a cryptic “Do It Now!” when making your call to action.  The less your prospects have to figure out, the more effective your overall message is.  Tell them exactly what they have to do in as succinct a way as you can.

4. Provide an incentive.

Even when being specific, an audience often needs a reason to follow-through.  As such, remind them of what they will get when they take the path you’ve just cleared.  Instead of saying “Sign up now,” tell them to “Sign up now to get your copy of the 100 Best Ways To….”

5. Don’t sell.

Your copy already did the selling.  The purpose of your call to action is to make sure they actually take the step.  Don’t sell anymore – they’re likely sold already.  Instead, just clear the path and usher them in.

Paragraphs should always discuss a single idea.  Whether it takes you two or twenty sentences to express that idea, it makes sense to group them all in a single paragraph.  Of course, if you need to express an idea using twenty sentences, you’re probably doing something wrong.  Best to break down what you are communicating further so they fit into five or less.  Some of the best English writing software can help you with suggestions to help keep your paragraphs succinct – take full advantage of them.

Always begin your paragraph with context, introducing the idea as concisely as you can.  The body of the paragraph provides the supporting information, along with the ensuing discussion.  At the end, you both conclude the idea as well as provide a way to transition to the next paragraph.

Transitions can be difficult to craft, although they’re usually necessary to help your copy flow from one paragraph to the next.  For the most part, they’re intended to establish a relationship between the idea in your current paragraph to whatever you’re looking to discuss in the succeeding one.

Your paragraph organization can dictate a lot about how your copy actually reads.  Make sure to give it due attention.

With the widespread use of email, newsletters are easier to produce than ever.  Simply build up a mailing list of your customers, cook up a newsletter and send it all in one click.

Newsletters aren’t that difficult to write.  As long as you have an actual message that you want to send out and a little bit of structure to present it clearly, you should be alright.  Here are a few basic things that should help you out:

• Have a clear topic in mind before starting the newsletter.  Its essence, after all, lies in what you’re going to impart to your reader, so sort that part out before bothering with style and presentation.
• Break the subject down into sections to make it both faster for you to write and easier for your readers to digest.
• Use graphics in appropriate places to break the monotony of words.
• Adopt a personal tone. These are customers that you have an established relationship with.  Giving your newsletters a personal feel will help reinforce that.
• Focus on imparting information instead of making a sale.  Too many newsletters out there provide nothing but 3000 words of advertisements with no substance whatsoever.  Focus on giving something of value.
• Use a software for grammar and vocabulary correction.  You wouldn’t want to put all that work in only to release a newsletter teeming with mistakes and sloppy construction.