All systems nominal
What 1.2M support emails taught us about tone
Lena Marsh
Co-founder · Head of Engineering
9 min read
We read the replies to 1.2 million support emails our agents sent last year. The lesson was not subtle: customers reward warmth and brevity, and punish anything that sounds like a template.
Short beats thorough
Replies under 60 words got 31% fewer follow-up questions than replies over 120. Answer the question first; explain second, only if needed.
Warm beats formal
Using the customer’s first name and one plain-English sentence of empathy lifted satisfaction scores more than any other single change.
Nobody has ever wanted to be “reached out to”.
What we changed
Banned twelve phrases across every playbook.
Capped first replies at 80 words.
Moved apologies after the answer, not before.
Lena Marsh
Builds the agent runtime, the console and most of the guardrails. Wrote the 30-day guide every new client reads.
