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. When I proposed that...
Writing Matters Blog
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 communication, and...
Five Email Bad Habits That Make People Dislike You
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Did your mother say this to you? Mine did, especially during my hypercritical middle school years when I’d decide I didn’t like a kid because their Trapper Keeper...
No More “Nonpologies” – Learn to Apologize to Customers Like You Mean It
There are about 1,000 varieties of insincere apology. There’s the smirking “Sorry if you were offended” apology which blames the person you insulted. There’s the oblique, passive voice “Mistakes...
Announcing my new Lynda.com course, “How to Write Customer Service Email”
My Lynda.com course is live! Yep, you read that right! My first Lynda.com course, "How to Write Customer Service Email" is ready to view, and I am thrilled to share it with you. The course is made...
Your Reading List: Get Up to Speed on Bots in Customer Service
Preparing to use bots in your customer care organization? Confused about what a bot is and how one works? Is the robot army marching toward us? Maybe? Probably! As customer service professionals,...
10 Writing Skills Agents Need to Chat With Customers
Customers really like live chat. Recent studies show customers are more satisfied with chat than email or phone (73 percent satisfaction for chat compared to 61 percent and 44 percent for email and...
10 Awesome Things I Got to Do While Filming a Lynda.com Course
I've just completed filming my first Lynda.com course, and I am on a work-related high. (Really.) It was a great experience. After months of working on the scripts and storyboards for my course, How...
Don’t Jekyll-and-Hyde Your Customers: Why Customer Service Should Also Use Your Company’s Brand Voice
If your company’s advertising makes your product sound fun, practical or hip and your customer service emails, chats or tweets sound scoldy or legalistic, you’ve got a problem. It’s not good for...
Resources for Writing Great Chat to Customers
Whether you're just launching chat in your contact center or you're trying to help veteran chat agents do a better job, we have lots of resources for you. Check out these resources for writing great...
Resource List: Copyright-Cleared and Royalty-Free Images
For selfish reasons, I'm offering you this list of places to find copyright-cleared and royalty-free images. My scattered list of these sites is driving me crazy, and I need to keep track of these...
Register for my webinar: How to Write to Customers in Your Company’s Brand Voice
In partnership with SOCAP, I'm leading a two-part online course on July 26 and August 2 at: How to Write to Customers in Your Company's Brand Voice. Each webinar will run from 2 pm to 3 pm ET....