Is your company or government agency using a tone of voice that connects with customers online, or is it using a stale, bureaucratic voice that repels them and breeds distrust or...
Blog
Getting Our Stories Straight: How to Deliver Consistent Communication in an Omnichannel World
You know that scene in the heist movie? The one that comes right after the criminals rob the bank but right before the cops bust in? When the ringleader says, “We’ve got to get...
Yes, Writing to Customers in Social Media Does Require Special Skills
Wow. It's been a decade since companies began offering customer service via social media, and we certainly have improved over the years! We've shed outsized fears about being...
Nine Tips for Helping Your Customer Service Agents Write Better-Faster Emails
With the rise of SMS, chat, and social media, is using email for customer service as quaint as sending postal mail? "Tell us about the old days, Grandpa. Did you really have to...
Recorded webinar: How to Write Like a Human in an Age of Speed
Last month, customer service expert Jeff Toister and I co-presented the webinar, "How to Write Like a Human in an Age of Speed." Jeff reported the results of his survey, "How...
Is Your Email Scorecard Making Agents’ Writing Worse?
Stay with me here as I connect this sad spelling test story to the task of scoring email quality in a contact center. When managers score agents’ email quality in a “gotcha”...
Can Bad Writers Improve? If You Coach Them, Yes
I can picture you. It’s the end of a busy week and you’ve finally carved out an hour or so to do a quality check on the emails your agents send to customers. From the “Sent”...
I’m featured in this USA Today article! “Five things your airline should never say”
I. Am. Pumped! Last October, I met consumer advocate and syndicated travel writer Christopher Elliott when he gave a wonderful presentation at a customer relations conference....
Yes, Boomers Do Want to Text Your Company for Customer Service
If your company is gearing up to offer customer service via text, that’s great! Your customers are going to love the convenience. Texting is their go-to channel for personal...