Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 840 Computer Service and Repair E-Mail Customer support may require a great deal of time spent answering e-mails from cus- tomers and clients. When writing e-mails to customers and clients, avoid computer jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations, just as you would when speaking with a customer or when writing customer-facing materials. Communicating in writing with other technicians is not the same as communicating in writing with customers and clients. While it might be perfectly acceptable to use an acronym or abbrevia- tion on a customer repair ticket, you should avoid acronyms and abbreviations when communicating with customers. Automatic Responses Using an automatic e-mail response can show customers or clients that you care about them and their problems. Automatic responses are programs provided by e-mail service providers that create an automatic response to a received e-mail. Th e response gives the illusion that someone has just read the e-mail sent by the customer or client and will be answering the request very soon. Th is allows for an immediate reply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An automatic response can also be used to notify customers that you are out of the offi ce for a brief time. Some e-mail client software, such as Microsoft Outlook, will allow you to set up an auto response. Internet Acronyms and Emoticons Internet acronyms are very popular with all forms of electronic communication, but they should never be used in customer support communication. Internet acronyms became especially popular when text messaging started because they save a lot of keystrokes. Th e following are some examples of Internet acronyms: ■ LOL: Laugh out loud ■ BTW: By the way ■ OMW: On my way ■ IMO: In my opinion ■ TL DR: Too long did not read You may receive Internet acronyms or emoticons from customers, but you should never respond in these terms as it may come across as unprofessional. Emoticons are pictorial representations of faces or emotions made from key- board symbols. Th e word is a combination of the words emotion and icon. Digital versions of emoticons are called emojis by various companies and users. Th ey are most often used to express emotions in e-mails, letters, and text messaging. Figure 24-10 lists some common emoticons. If you have trouble communicating with customers using e-mail, practice regularly in a business format. Try sending a few e-mails every day to friends and Emoticon Emotion :) Smile or happy :O Shock :( Frown or sad ) Wink Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 24-10 Emoticons are pictorial representations of faces or emotions made from keyboard symbols.