… received a friendly email from an online vendor.

It included several exclamation points.

It thanked me for making their success possible.

It was written in a light, conversational tone.

One problem: the purpose of the email was to tell me that their support team was really busy and they had no idea when they’d get back to me, much less fix the problem I had contacted them about.

Friendly conversational enthusiasm is nice; I’m a big fan. But that’s extra – your clients aren’t paying for that.

If you can’t provide the fundamental service I hired you to provide, cheerfulness won’t move the needle.