Communications
Write templates you will actually reuse
A template that sounds like a robot gets rewritten every time. Keep a handful of short starters, close to how you talk, and fill the live detail from the record.
6 min read
Teams skip templates because the saved ones are stiff. Then every email is written from scratch and the tone wobbles: too formal on Monday, too chatty on Friday, missing the booking time either way.
Good templates are a starting paragraph, not a script. They save the structure so you can spend your attention on the job detail.
Stiff templates get rewritten, so they save no time. Then every email is written from scratch and the tone wobbles. Too formal on Monday, too chatty on Friday, missing the booking time either way.
Good templates are a starting paragraph, not a script. They save the structure so you can spend your attention on the job detail from the record.
If your team still pastes from a Word file, the template is in the wrong place. It needs to sit next to the contact, with gaps for the live job.
Write like the last good email
Take a message that worked. Cut the fluff. Leave a gap for the job detail. Save that. Do not start from a 'professional template' you would never send to a neighbour.
If your team talks like ordinary Australians, the template should too. Customers can hear when the voice changes.
Fewer templates, used more
You need a handful: new enquiry, quote sent, booking confirm, job done, invoice sent. A library of forty will not get opened. People cannot remember what is in there, so they write from scratch anyway.
Review the set twice a year. If nobody used one, delete it. If everyone rewrites the same paragraph, that paragraph is not a template yet.
- ✓Enquiry reply: we got it, here is what happens next
- ✓Quote follow-up: the live quote, the date you will check
- ✓Booking confirm: time, place, what to expect
- ✓Invoice note: what it covers, how to pay, who to ask
“We had a folder of templates from a course. Nobody touched them. Then we saved four emails we had actually sent that week, left blanks for the name and the job, and those four get used every day.”
Always add the live detail
Templates fail when nobody edits them. The record should give you the name, job and date so the send is still personal. A confirm that says 'your appointment' with no time is worse than writing it yourself.
If filling the gaps takes longer than writing the email, the template is too long or the record is too empty.
Tone without a committee
Agree on a few rules. Use the customer's name. Mention the actual job. Avoid leftover legal paragraphs unless they are required. Do not thank them for their 'valued enquiry' if you would not say that on the phone.
One person can own the starter set. Everyone can improve a line when a better one goes out.
If you rewrite it every time, it is not a template
Shorten it until you would actually click it. Then keep it next to the contact so you are filling gaps, not copying from a Word file on a shared drive that might be the 2022 version.
Steal the last good email
Take a message that worked. Cut the fluff. Leave a gap for the job detail. Save that. Do not start from a professional template you would never send to a neighbour.
If your team talks like ordinary Australians, the template should too. Customers can hear when the voice changes.
Read it out loud. If you would not say it on the phone, do not save it.
A handful, used every day
You need a few: new enquiry, quote sent, booking confirm, job done, invoice sent. A library of forty will not get opened. People cannot remember what is in there, so they write from scratch anyway.
Review the set twice a year. If nobody used one, delete it. If everyone rewrites the same paragraph, that paragraph is not a template yet.
One person can own the starter set. Everyone can improve a line when a better one goes out.
- ✓Enquiry reply: we got it, here is what happens next
- ✓Quote follow-up: the live quote, the date you will check
- ✓Booking confirm: time, place, what to expect
- ✓Invoice note: what it covers, how to pay, who to ask
Fill the live detail or do not send
Templates fail when nobody edits them. The record should give you the name, job, and date so the send is still personal. A confirm that says 'your appointment' with no time is worse than writing it yourself.
If filling the gaps takes longer than writing the email, the template is too long or the record is too empty.
Keep the template next to the contact. Copying from a Word file on a shared drive is how you send the 2022 version with the old ABN.
Agree the voice in a few rules
Agree on a few rules. Use the customer's name. Mention the actual job. Avoid leftover legal paragraphs unless they are required. Do not thank them for their valued enquiry if you would not say that on the phone.
You do not need a brand workshop. You need four emails you already sent well, saved, and reused.
Retire the ones nobody clicks
Look at the last month. If a saved message was not used, delete it. Clutter is why people write from scratch.
If a template is used but always rewritten, shorten it. The rewrite is the real template trying to get out.
Match the phone voice
Record one good call if you have to, and write the email like that. Australians can hear a template that came from a course.
Thank you for your valued enquiry can go. We got your message, here is what happens next can stay.
Foxtra templates sit on the contact so you are filling gaps, not copying from a Word file. Save the emails you already send well, keep the set small, and always add the live detail from the record.
Shorten it until you would actually click it. A handful of starters beats a library nobody opens.
Save the emails you already send well, keep the set small, and always add the live detail from the record. If you rewrite it every time, it is not a template yet.
Four starters you will click beat forty you will hide. Keep them short, keep them near the record, and fill the live detail every time.