[This article was originally published by Help Desk Migration by Relokia]

In an era when 41% of consumers say live chat is their top support channel, and 73% report high satisfaction with chat compared to email, the way companies communicate matters more than ever (Pylon). Effective customer service writing isn’t just a nicety; it’s a critical driver of trust, retention, and real connection.

In this interview, writing expert Leslie O’Flahavan shares her decades of experience helping service teams craft clear, empathetic, and human-centered messages. From boosting agent confidence to balancing structure with warmth, her insights show how good writing shapes CX.

Leslie’s journey into customer service writing

Q: Leslie, you’ve been helping people write better for nearly three decades through E-WRITE. What first drew you to customer service writing, and how did this focus take shape over the years?

My lifelong mission is to help people learn to write well at work. I’m doubly motivated to help customer service agents write better email, chat, social media, and SMS responses because these people work in a high-pressure environment, and they rarely get the support they need to develop the writing skills particular to each customer service channel.

Over the years, I’ve addressed all types of customer service and self-service writing, including knowledge base articles, responses to ratings and reviews, and strategies for accurately measuring the quality of customer service writing.