by Leslie O'Flahavan | Apr 6, 2020 | Customer Service Writing, Featured, Plain Language Writing Courses, Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
On a typical day, most customers will understand what you mean even if you use less-than-graceful words when you speak or write. For example, lots of customers dislike the phrase “No problem!” but they’ll look past it if you’re providing great service. They’ll give...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Jan 13, 2019 | Featured, Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
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 criticized by customers in public (gasp). We’re using purpose-built tools...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | May 5, 2016 | Featured, Plain Language Writing Courses, Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
By Leslie O’Flahavan, E-WRITE and Rich Weborg, OneReach If your customers have opted-in to receive texts from your company, they probably realize that some of your texts are going to be automated. They understand that sometimes texts from your company were sent by an...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Mar 20, 2015 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
Last week, I stayed at the Hotel Allegro in Chicago. My stay was OK, maybe a C minus. The hotel’s under construction, the wi-fi was sketchy, you have to leave the hotel to go to its 312 Chicago restaurant, and the room was really small. I might stay there again,...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Feb 7, 2013 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
I recently read Ashley Verrill’s write-up on “The Great Social Customer Service Race,” an experiment by her company (Software Advice, Inc.) that put 14 top consumer brands to the Twitter support test. As you might imagine, some of the brands fared...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Jan 24, 2013 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
This article was first published in the Winter 2012 issue of CRM Magazine. In the last few years, almost everything about writing to customers has changed. The number of channels has gone from three (letters, faxes, and e-mails) to at least seven (letters, faxes,...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Aug 23, 2012 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
This guest post is by Andrea Ford, friend and colleague extraordinaire. Andrea is the Content Lead at Create Digital, an agency in Richmond, Virginia that works with Fortune 500 brands to help make their social media smarter. Create Digital specializes in three...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Jul 2, 2012 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
Check out our latest handy free download for wordslingers and communication campaigners: Guide to Writing for Social Media. We developed this 57-page guide for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The examples in the guide are health-related, but the advice about...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Jun 13, 2012 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
I really need your help. A few days ago I tweeted about a new resource I’m offering for download at my site, a Guide to Writing for Social Media, which we authored for the Centers for Disease Control. This is a really nice free resource; it’s 57 pages...
by Leslie O'Flahavan | Jun 6, 2012 | Social Media Writing Courses, Writing Matters Blog
If you’re using Twitter for customer service, you’ve got to live within your means. Yes, the 140-character limit is a struggle. It’s hard to solve a customer’s problem or answer a question in such tight quarters. Even the Pledge of Allegiance...