Author:Abbie Mandry

10 things every service writer should know

Over the last few months we’ve been mystery shopping and studying service emails from some of the UK’s biggest brands. We’ve also been working with well-known market researcher ICM to find out what in an email makes customers happy, buy and feel that their query’s been resolved first time.

There’ll be more about that study in our next blog. But for now here are 10 tips, taken from our research, to help you craft that perfect service email:

1. Look for what your customers really want
Good readers write the best emails. That’s because good readers understand what your customers really want. If someone says: “I’m going on holiday tomorrow, what time will my delivery arrive?” The direct question is: “what time will my delivery arrive?” But the problem is that the delivery may arrive when they’re away. A good reply would answer the question and also give a solution to the problem: “Between 9 and 6, but we can deliver to a neighbour or where you’re going if you need it for your holiday.”

Try this: Read your customer’s email at least twice (and you’ll only have to answer it once).

2. Put your answer first (and make it clear)
What customers want most is an answer to their question. So put it first in your response (save your ifs and buts for later) and make it as direct and confident as possible. Do the legwork for your customer too. Apply your terms to their situation instead of copy / pasting your Ts & Cs, or giving them a link to every FAQ answer.

Try this: To make your writing clear keep your sentences short (25 words or less) and use commonly used words (these are normally shorter too). If you want a rough guide to how easy your emails are to read, word processors like Microsoft Word have readability checkers built-in. (This blog has a readability score of 70. That’s around the reading age of a 12–13 year old and about the same as a Harry Potter book.)

3. See if you’ve created more questions

In our mystery shopping study some businesses answered our question — but raised several more. So they’d likely get another email from us (costing both them and us time and money). Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, read your answer again and ask yourself: “have I created any more questions?” If the answer’s yes, answer those too.

Try this: Saying “could” or “may” can result in your customer feeling uncertain and coming back to you for further clarification. Try to be more definite and use “will” instead.

4. Meet and match your customer
Relationships are built on trust — and we find it easier to trust people who are like us. Look at how your customer has written to you. Are they formal or informal, direct or chatty? Flex your style to suit your customer’s personality and you’re much more likely to get along.

Try this: Look at how your customer greets you. If they say: “Hi”, then “Hi” back and using their first name is OK. If they start with a traditional: “Dear Sir / Madam”, then something more formal’s required.

5. Mind your tone
In service studies a helpful and friendly attitude comes top of the list of consumers’ wants. It’s strongly linked to service outcomes like satisfaction, repeat buying and advocacy as well. Attitude comes across through what you say, but also how you say it or your ‘tone of voice’.

Try this: Nowadays it’s acceptable to write the way we speak — perhaps with a little more polish and fewer uhms and errs though. This style of writing helps you to sound warm, accessible and engaged. It also gives your customer a strong sense of being in a conversation with a real person, something that creates a bond and loyalty.

6. Avoid jargon and business speak
There are lots of names (and acronyms) that mean something to everyone in your industry. But they may not mean anything to your customers. The business world has its own way of singing from the same hymn sheet. At the end of the day this kind of language isn’t everyone’s core competency, so going forward, kick business speak into the tall grass (and leave it there).*

Try this: When you have to use a legal term, or you need a quick ‘industry way’ to refer to something that comes up a lot, explain it the first time you use it.

7. Always check your spelling and grammar

Poor spelling and grammar makes your writing more difficult to understand. It’s also one of the ways that a reader will gauge how credible and trustworthy you are. So become best friends with your spelling and grammar checker (and make sure it’s set to UK not US English).

8. Say what can be done, not just what can’t
Sometimes you have to say no, sorry, can’t do it. Instead of leaving it there, try to find workarounds and alternatives. For our study we asked some insurance companies if an iPad was covered if we left it in our car. Some said no. Some said yes, but to a value less than its worth. One said: “yes, though probably not its entire value — but have you looked at your home insurance? They often cover personal possessions too.” We know where we would take our business.

9. Keep your footer brief (and read it)
Try to keep that bit of legalese at the bottom of your email as brief as possible. Consumers are naturally suspicious of small print. The more of it there is, the more they’ll think you’re trying to pull a fast one. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of what’s there and see if you can work with your legal team to make it easier to understand too.

10. Think about what the customer will do next and help them to self-serve
 
You’ve followed the tips, have crafted the perfect service email and the tip of your cursor is positioned purposefully over that send button. Stop! Imagine what your customer will actually do when they read your email. Will they go on and buy something? Or compare you with others? Your response isn’t just about answering this email. It’s also your chance to shape what happens next. If they said they want an answer before buying, then steer them to your website as the fastest and most cost effective channel to use to make their order. If they’re comparing you to others, then an offer to price match could help you close the sale. Thinking one step ahead will reduce the number of calls and emails you have to handle, make things easier for your customer and even help you sell more.

If you’d like to find out more about how these tips can become part of your writing team’s DNA, take a look at our new Writing to Improve Service — 1 Day Workshops. Or drop us an email

*Rough translation: Some people don’t understand business speak, don’t use it.

Presley to Pavarotti and Perry – ‘well-known’ music most liked by waiting callers

In practice it’s never going to be as simple as just picking what customers say they like the most without carefully considering your situation. If you’re going to use ‘well-known’ music you’ll need to think about what tracks to choose and whether they’re suitable given things like the poor sound on phone lines, any associations that performing artists may have, wait times, your brand, lyrics and customers’ reasons for calling – the list goes on. As one of our social media followers recently pointed out, Chris Rea’s ‘Driving home for Christmas’ was not what he wanted to hear when he had to call a breakdown service during the festive season.

You’ll also need to think about how what you’ve chosen will work with messages as well. We’re still analysing the results from a study about these at the moment. But, the early signs are that some types of messages are very well liked too.

The ICM research

We asked the well respected pollsters ICM to conduct a survey with over 2000 consumers to find out what they like (and don’t like) to hear waiting for their calls to be answered.

This blog covers non-message options including several types of original artist music such a ‘Well-known popular music’ and ‘Well-known classical music’. And, other things that callers often hear whilst waiting such as: ‘News’, ‘Music by unknown contemporary artists’, ‘Classical music’ ‘Telephone system music’ (the type of music that often comes free with phone systems), ‘Silence’ and ‘Ring tones’.

So we could understand the big picture the survey was representative of 18+ adults in Great Britain in terms of gender, age, region and social grade. But, because we’ve also got a breakdown of responses by these categories, we can also spot smaller trends like preferences by age and social grade.

If you’ve a good understanding of the demographics of your callers we can use this information to create waiting experiences that better match your customers’ likely preferences.

Consumers said that they most like to hear well-known music

Figure 1: Top 3 – most ‘liked’ options

In our survey the option that most people liked was ‘Well-known popular music from any period’. This was closely followed by ‘Well-known classical music’ and ‘Well-known music from the last year’. What do these categories actually mean when it comes to artists? Maybe think of the top 3 as Elvis Presley, Luciano Pavarotti and Katy Perry.

We also thought that it would be interesting to see if the reason for calling made any difference to consumers’ preferences. So, we asked the same question in 2 scenarios: ‘when waiting to buy something’ and ‘when waiting to get help with a product or service bought previously’. The Top 3 stayed the same for both, so preferences for both sales and service lines could be similar.

It was revealing to see that 11% of people said that well-known popular music would not only make their wait more acceptable but may make them more prepared to wait a little longer (it was the best performing of all the options). In simple terms that could mean less abandonment, something that a previous study by Leicester University also found.

Age makes a big difference to listening preferences

Figure 2: Well-known music liking by age group

We were slightly surprised to see the strong overall liking for ‘Well-known classical music’, coming in at number two in our top three. When we break the data down by age groups you can see what’s behind this: a very strong preference for it in the 55-65 and 65+ groups.

The difference between ‘Well-known popular music from any period’ and ‘Well-known popular music from the last year’ is thought provoking as well. In the younger age groups the results for both music types are very close together (you can see that they actually change position in the 35-44 group). But, the difference seems to grow steadily in the older age categories.
‘Telephone system music’ and ‘Silence’ were most likely to cause callers to hang up

Figure 3: Bottom 3 – most ‘disliked’ options

The research also asked consumers what they didn’t like to hear, and what may make them hang up. Perhaps not surprisingly ‘Silence’ was bottom of this list at 49%. But ‘Telephone system music’ was next. An alarming 28% of respondents said that they may hang up because of it. That’s worrying news for anyone who’s using music that came free with their phone system.

What does it all mean for you?There are always going to be times when a customer will have to wait. Or, if you have a call back system, may actually prefer to. Our survey shows that customers thought that well-known music would make that wait more acceptable. But, as I’ve said before, be careful. Think about your context, the actual tracks you’ll play and how you’ll use messages as well.When it comes to actually choosing well-known music there’s a huge range of artists and genres to choose from. Bear in mind the demographics of your audience – in our test age had a big influence on liking for classical music for example. We use music psychology to help identify what’s best.If you do use well-known music you’ll probably need a licence from both the PPL (formerly called Phonographic Performance Limited) and PRS (Performance Rights Society). These organisations collect royalties on behalf of the performers and writers of music so that they get paid for all their good work.Licensing can be a little complicated. If you want to mix and match tracks and / or combine music with foreground messages you’ll need to ask a licensed agent. Since MUSICLINE joined us recently we’re now the only company in the UK licensed by PPL to provide music compilations for phone lines. We’ll simplify the whole process for you, helping you to select appropriate music, dub messages and pay the royalties due.The other key point that the research highlights is that if you’re using ‘out of the box’ options that come with your phone system, be careful. ‘Silence’, ‘Ring Tones’ and ‘Telephone system music’ were the most disliked by callers with some indication that they may hang up if they hear them.

In this blog we’ve only included the big picture results as there simply isn’t room to cover everything. But, if you’d like more of the nitty gritty, or some advice on what’s most suitable for your customers, just get in touch.

Notes on the research

ICM interviewed a random sample of 2,005 adults aged 18+ in GB, online between 10th-12th October 2014. Surveys were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.com.

Why natural speech self-service means you no longer have to choose to be sales, service or moral

Listening to TalkTalk’s and Three’s presentations about their IVRs at the Professional Planning Forum’s annual conference got me thinking. One of the main disadvantages with older touch-tone menu and option IVRs was that something always had to be the first option on the first menu. And, something else had to be the last option on the final menu. The effectiveness of options that are closer to the beginning are greater, especially if there are a lot of options and menus, as users get bored and impatient pretty quickly where IVRs are concerned.

My final street art pic – communication with a telecoms cabinet, spray paint, a sheep and some imagination. (I’ve spared you a tenuous link to this article, just chuckle and move on)What’s interesting is to see the basis on which organisations decide what to put where. Most choose what their overall objective is and then select positions for options based on this. This objective is a kind of ‘guiding principle’ (for want of better words). In a brief (and largely unnecessary) Asimov moment I once decided that this was the process by which the soul of a machine was being created by its Gods. Then, I remembered that what was being discussed was where to put ‘for groceries press 1’ and thought better of it.So, what are these principles? Well, I’ve come across 3 ish. Firstly there’s the ‘sales’ principle. Options to ‘buy’ anything are always at the top. And, sometimes accompanied by sales messages. The risk of a customer not finding their way to an advisor or application to purchase something is minimised and sales are maximised. Not surprisingly it’s a principle that’s used by customer service operations that are focussed on generating revenue as quickly as possible.Next there’s the service approach. This is more complex but I always think of it as a type of utilitarianism. Putting the most frequently chosen options first will mean that more people will get what they want quicker. Like the philosopher, social reformer and great utilitarian Jeremy Bentham said: “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong”. It’s also the principle that’s most likely to improve service satisfaction scores as well.The last principle is more of a moral one. Normally it will see those with the ‘greatest need’ being served first. For example, you might find assistance and emergency options placed at the top of the IVR (if they don’t have their own numbers).Inevitably natural speech self-service will become more commonplace because of the benefits that it provides for customers and businesses. Its prevalence is likely to accelerate as the price falls and it’s effectiveness rises as well. This change will also mean that organisations will no longer have to apply ‘principles’ to their touch-tone IVRs. And, service professionals everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief when they no longer have to bend technology around a set of ethics. But, I’ll miss not being able to understand the ethos of the business I’m being served by, when I’m using their IVR.