The Secret Sauce: A Killer Subject Line

Let’s talk about crafting a subject line that’ll make your support team sit up and take notice. Think of it as the movie trailer for your email – it needs to be snappy and to the point. Good examples:

• “Homepage images not displaying after recent update”
• “Need new image on homepage slider ASAP”

Bad examples:

• “HELP!!!”
• [blank subject line]

Remember, if it’s urgent, don’t be shy – slap that “Urgent” label right in the subject line!

The Main Event: Your Email Body

Alright, now for the meat and potatoes of your request. Here’s what you need to include:

1. The Problem: Spell it out like you’re explaining it to your gran.
2. The Steps: How can the support team recreate your issue? Be specific!
3. The Details: When did it start? What browser are you using? Any recent changes?
4. The Visual Aids: Screenshots and videos are your best friends here.

Pro tip: Use bullet points and short sentences. Nobody likes a wall of text!

One Task, One Email

Keep it simple, folks. One task per email means nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

The Waiting Game

Give the support team at least 24 hours to come back to you. We put a lot of time and energy into fire prevention to ensure systems continue. We triage support requests and give priority to problems that shut down business. If you haven’t heard back after that, please nudge us along.

When do you follow up:

• keep the follow up email brief and write it as a reply to your previous email, not as a new email request
• don’t follow up in one request about a totally different request

Templates to Get You Started

Need a hand getting started? We’ve got you covered with some handy templates for common issues.

Some Templates You Can Use

To help you get started with your support request, here’s a few templates you could use.

Example: Website Problem

Subject:
My homepage is showing an error message 502 below the slider.

Body:
The homepage of www.helpmenet.co.nz is showing a 502 error in the area just below the homepage slider

Steps to replicate:
Visit the homepage and click on the right arrow of the slider to see the issue.
Screenshot of the problem attached.
I can see the issue in Chrome and Firefox and on my mobile phone.

Recent website changes:
The slider was changed last week.
We recently performed a WordPress software update.

Thanks, Mr Customer.

Example: Website Change Request

Subject:
Increase font size on www.helpmenet.co.nz/blog

Body:
Please increase the font size on www.helpmenet.co.nz/blog from 20px to 24px. Thanks, Mr Customer.

Example: Website Feature Request

Subject:
Automatically add contact form emails to our mailing list database

Body:
When new entries are submitted through our contact form www.helpmenet.co.nz/contact/ we would like them to be automatically added to our Mailchimp database.

Access to our mailchimp database is:
Link: Mailchimp.com
Username: HelpMeNet
Password: Example
List to use: General list

My budget for this project is $200.
My timeframe for delivery is within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks, Mr Customer.

Example: Website Feature Request #2

Subject:
Add a photo slideshow to the top of our gallery page

Body:
On our gallery page [insert link to your gallery here] I would like to have a photo slideshow just like the one I saw on [insert link to example here]

My budget for this project is $150.
My timeframe for delivery is within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks, Mr Customer.

Remember, clear communication is key.

The more info you provide upfront, the faster your problem gets solved. It’s like giving your support team a treasure map instead of making them search the whole island!

Need more help? That’s what we’re here for at HelpMeNet.