Draft a professional customer-facing response tailored to the situation and relationship. Use when answering a product question, responding to an escalation or outage, delivering bad news like a delay or won't-fix, declining a feature request, or replying to a billing issue.

/draft response If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md). Draft a professional, customer facing response tailored to the situation, customer relationship, and communication context. Usage Examples: /draft response Acme Corp is asking when the new dashboard feature will ship /draft response Customer escalation — their integration has been down for 2 days /draft response Responding to a feature request we won't be building /draft response Customer hit a billing error and wants a resolution ASAP Workflow 1. Understand the Context Parse the user's input to determine: Customer : Who is the communication for? Look up account context if available. Situation type : Question, issue, escalation, announcement, negotiation, bad news, good news, follow up Urgency : Is this time sensitive? How long has the customer been waiting? Channel : Email, support ticket, chat, or other (adjust formality accordingly) Relationship stage : New customer, established, frustrated/escalated Stakeholder level : End user, manager, executive, technical, business 2. Research Context Gather relevant background from available sources: ~~email: Previous correspondence with this customer on this topic Any commitments or timelines previously shared Tone and style of the existing thread ~~chat: Internal discussions about this customer or topic Any guidance from product, engineering, or leadership Similar situations and how they were handled ~~CRM (if connected): Account details and plan level Contact information and key stakeholders Previous escalations or sensitive issues ~~support platform (if connected): Related tickets and their resolution Known issues or workarounds SLA status and response time commitments ~~knowledge base: Official documentation or help articles to reference Product roadmap information (if shareable) Policy or process documentation 3. Generate the Draft Produce a response tailored to the situation: 4. Run Quality Checks Before presenting the draft, verify: [ ] Tone matches the situation and relationship [ ] No commitments beyond what's authorized [ ] No product roadmap details that shouldn't be shared externally [ ] Accurate references to previous conversations [ ] Clear next steps and ownership [ ] Appropriate for the stakeholder level (not too technical for executives, not too vague for engineers) [ ] Length is appropriate for the channel (shorter for chat, fuller for email) 5. Offer Iterations After presenting the draft: "Want me to adjust the tone? (more formal, more casual, more empathetic, more direct)" "Should I add or remove any specific points?" "Want me to make this shorter/longer?" "Should I draft a version for a different stakeholder?" "Want me to draft the internal escalation note as well?" "Should I prepare a follow up message to send after [X days] if no response?" Customer Communication Best Practices Core Principles 1. Lead with empathy : Acknowledge the customer's situation before jumping to solutions 2. Be direct : Get to the point — customers are busy. Bottom line up front. 3. Be honest : Never overpromise, never mislead, never hide bad news in jargon 4. Be specific : Use concrete details, timelines, and names — avoid vague language 5. Own it : Take responsibility when appropriate. "We" not "the system" or "the process" 6. Close the loop : Every response should have a clear next step or call to action 7. Match their energy : If they're frustrated, be empathetic first. If they're excited, be enthusiastic. Response Structure For most customer communications, follow this structure: Length Guidelines Chat/IM : 1 4 sentences. Get to the point immediately. Support ticket response : 1 3 short paragraphs. Structured and scannable. Email : 3 5 paragraphs max. Respect their inbox. Escalation response : As long as needed to be thorough, but well structured with headers. Executive communication : Shorter is better. 2 3 paragraphs max. Data driven. Tone and Style Guidelines Tone Spectrum Situation Tone Characteristics Good news / wins Celebratory Enthusiastic, warm, congratulatory, forward looking Routine update Professional Clear, concise, informative, friendly Technical response Precise Accurate, detailed, structured, patient Delayed delivery Accountable Honest, apologetic, action oriented, specific Bad news Candid Direct, empathetic, solution oriented, respectful Issue / outage Urgent Immediate, transparent, actionable, reassuring Escalation Executive Composed, ownership taking, plan presenting, confident Billing / account Precise Clear, factual, empathetic, resolution focused Tone Adjustments by Relationship Stage New Customer (0 3 months): More formal and professional Extra context and explanation (don't assume knowledge) Proactively offer help and resources Build trust through reliability and responsiveness Established Customer (3+ months): Warm and collaborative Can reference shared history and previous conversations More direct and efficient communication Show awareness of their goals and priorities Frustrated or Escalated Customer: Extra empathy and acknowledgment Urgency in response times Concrete action plans with specific commitments Shorter feedback loops Writing Style Rules DO: Use active voice ("We'll investigate" not "This will be investigated") Use "I" for personal commitments and "we" for team commitments Name specific people when assigning actions ("Sarah from our engineering team will...") Use the customer's terminology, not your internal jargon Include specific dates and times, not relative terms ("by Friday January 24" not "in a few days") Break up long responses with headers or bullet points DON'T: Use corporate jargon or buzzwords ("synergy", "leverage", "paradigm shift") Deflect blame to other teams, systems, or processes Use passive voice to avoid ownership ("Mistakes were made") Include unnecessary caveats or hedging that undermines confidence CC people unnecessarily — only include those who need to be in the conversation Use exclamation marks excessively (one per email max, if any) Situation Specific Approaches Answering a product question: Lead with the direct answer Provide relevant documentation links Offer to connect them with the right resource if needed If you don't know the answer: say so honestly, commit to finding out, give a timeline Responding to an issue or bug: Acknowledge the impact on their work State what you know about the issue and its status Provide workaround if available Set expectations for resolution timeline Commit to updates at regular intervals Handling an escalation: Acknowledge the severity and their frustration Take ownership (no deflecting or excuse making) Provide a clear action plan with timeline Identify the person accountable for resolution Offer a meeting or call if appropriate for the severity Delivering bad news (feature sunset, delay, can't fix): Be direct — don't bury the news Explain the reasoning honestly Acknowledge the impact on them specifically Offer alternatives or mitigation Provide a clear path forward Sharing good news (feature launch, milestone, recognition): Lead with the positive outcome Connect it to their specific goals or use case Suggest next steps to capitalize on the good news Express genuine enthusiasm Declining a request (feature request, discount, exception): Acknowledge the request and its reasoning Be honest about the decision Explain the why without being dismissive Offer alternatives when possible Leave the door open for future conversation Response Templates for Common Scenarios Acknowledging a Bug Report Acknowledging a Billing or Account Issue Responding to a Feature Request You Won't Build Outage or Incident Communication Following Up After Silence Follow up and Escalation Guidance Follow up Cadence Situation Follow up Timing Unanswered question 2 3 business days Open support issue Daily until resolved for critical, 2 3 days for standard Post meeting action items Within 24 hours (send notes), then check at deadline General check in As needed for ongoing issues After delivering bad news 1 week to check on impact and sentiment When to Escalate Escalate to your manager when: Customer threatens to cancel or significantly downsell Customer requests exception to policy you can't authorize An issue has been unresolved for longer than SLA allows Customer requests direct contact with leadership You've made an error that needs senior involvement to resolve Escalate to product/engineering when: Bug is critical and blocking the customer's business Feature gap is causing a competitive loss Customer has unique technical requirements beyond standard support Integration issues require engineering investigation Escalation format:

draft-response