It's not enough just a reply and this step is critical before the reply the inquiry.

In the daily work of foreign trade, we will deal with many customers' inquiries, and we believe that everyone has their own methods to respond to inquiries. Today, I would like to discuss the question of reply to an inquiry with you through a case.
 


The enquiry case:
Can you send me a couple of samples of these XXX? Maybe 2 per each?
I will pay for the shipping and samples the  cost.
Let me know my next steps.
Thanks,
XXX
 
Let's take a look at the email above. Although the inquiry content is to discuss the delivery of samples, we noticed that the title of the email is missing at the beginning. This means that the customer is still strange with us, and there is still a long distance before the final order is completed.
 
From the word "maybe", we konw that the customer is relatively restrained, not that kind of strong customer type. The following "I will pay for...." further confirms our conjecture. In fact, few customers will take the initiative to bear the cost of samples and freight. General customers will only agree to pay one fee at most, so when we meet a customer who pays in full, we must win.
 
"Let me know my next steps." This sentence shows that customers do not really know the next operation steps, such as how to deliver goods, how to pay, and so on. In this way, it seems that the customer is likely to be new to foreign trade procurement and not very familiar with the process, but because of shamed, he can't pull himself down to ask, so "steps" is used at the end of this sentence.
 
After analyzing the inner activities of customers, we can respond to inquiries in a targeted manner. However, it should be noted that there must be a basic control over the length and content, and it is necessary to clearly respond to customer inquiries.
 
So you can reply like this:
Hi XXX
Thanks for your prompt reply.
Yes, we can provide the free samples to you and you can prepay the shipping cost, after we will send out the samples.
The shipping cost to XXX by XXX is XXX, could you please pay us the shipping cost by XXXX? You can find the XXXX information as following:
XX 银行信息 XX
By the way, we are promoting the XXXX at present, XXX 产品详细介绍
I would like to send you these samples for your reference, maybe you will be interested in the future.
If any question please feel free to contact me, thanks.
XXX
 
In this reply email we mentioned that the sample is free, as long as the customer pays the freight. This is done to get closer to the customer. Some foreign traders may think that it is not necessary, because the customer is still in the sample seeking stage, and the sample is not guaranteed. But I believes that when the customer has already shown his sincerity, it is necessary for us to properly win over the order.


 
You may have noticed that I recommended another product in the email. This is actually unnecessary to say, why should I write it? In fact, it is difficult for us to avoid some external factors, which lead us to do this. For example, the boss asked to send a recently popular product together. At this time, we have to do it, and we all understand the reasons. Although I agreed to the boss's request, I have to ask the client for advice. Only after the customer agrees can we send it. Don't make decisions without the customer's consent, which will only arouse the customer's resentment.
 
Therefore, if there is no external influence, the editor suggests that there is no need to write this part of the content. If you want to write, try to introduce it in the tone of a statement or a bystander, so as to avoid customers' resentment due to excessive sales.
 
Well, back to the reply email above, we can summarize the following points:
1.When introducing the sample fee and courier fee, try to be brief. So that customers will not be afraid of business because of cumbersome processes and operations.
2. For such honest customers, we also need to be more honest. Including bank information in the email is our performance.
3. Customers don't like sales promotion, so we can use words like "By the way" to weaken it when we talk about it.
4. To leave a space for yourself, "in the future." in the reply is a show
 
Analysis, reply, and follow-up constitute a whole of inquiry reply. During this process, if we work harder, we will have more chances.