Paste what the customer wrote, then type what happened and what you have decided to do about it. Hemmingway writes the reply a helpful person on your team would send: it uses the customer's own details, says what went wrong, says what happens next and when, and ends. You check it against your records and send it from your own inbox or help desk.
You make the decision and it finds the words. It does not know your returns policy, your stock or your courier, so it promises only what you typed. Leave out the date and the reply will not contain one.
What makes it work
- Decide first. Refund, replacement, repair or no. A reply drafted before the decision is a holding message, and customers can tell.
- Paste the whole message. The second question is often at the bottom, and a reply that misses it means another email.
- Give a day. "Thursday" stops the customer chasing. "As soon as possible" starts it.
- If the answer is no, put the no first. Then the reason, once, and what you can offer instead.
An example
Asked for a reply signed by Callum to a customer whose oak shelf, order 48213, had not arrived after the five days the site promised and who had emailed twice, with the notes that the courier lost it, a new one ships tomorrow by next-day delivery to arrive Thursday, and the delivery charge is being refunded, a reply along these lines is what to expect:
Hello,
Your oak shelf, order 48213, should have reached you within five days, and you should not have had to email twice to find out where it is. The courier lost it. I'm sorry.
A new shelf ships tomorrow by next-day delivery, so it will be with you on Thursday. I am also refunding your delivery charge.
Callum
If you answer customers all day
The form suits one reply at a time. For a full inbox, the Inbox in the Hemmingway apps for Mac, Windows and Android drafts a reply to each email for you to read and send, and the model is available through an API for help desk software: see the docs. The guide to customer service replies has a structure and a checklist, and for a public review there is the review response generator.
Common questions
Is the customer service reply generator free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the reply is written in the chat.
Can it decide whether to give a refund?
No, and it should not. It does not know your policy or the customer's history. Tell it your decision and it writes the reply around it.
Can it answer live chat or social media messages?
Yes. Paste the message in and ask in the tone field for two or three lines. The same rules apply: their details, what happened, what is next.
Will it sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. Customers notice a script within a line, so cut any stock phrase that slips in before you send.