Copywriters are always focussed on the customer, but we’re forgetting one of the most important parts of customer experience, the frontline.
A couple of years ago, I worked on a project in updating the call scripts for a Manchester based call centre. This was because customer service staff, who are passionate and knowledgable, don’t have the time or skill needed to create a script and a knowledge base that reflects the tone of the brand.
This sounds odd, after all, you shouldn’t script what comes naturally – personality, friendliness, empathy and rapport. However, when you ask a customer support operative to write down what they know, they use formal, school language and write an essay. Then this is used for training, so newbies read the script, word for word. So when you speak to someone on the phone or in store, you sound like you’re addressing Rumpole of the Bailey.
Also, what people forget, is when you’re in store, an agent or adviser will swivel their screen around to show the customer what’s written on the screen. If this isn’t clear, structured or reflecting the brand, you’ve taken them out of that experience you’ve painfully pored over.
All internal comms, even the internal new update emails, need to adhere to brand tone of voice to make sure everyone gets used to reading and speaking using certain language.
Once everyone has become accustomed to seeing sentences start with 'and', the use of 'need' instead of 'required' and not leading with brand names or feature lists, it should limit the amount of times this is fed back to a copywriter during approval rounds. And, frontline staff will talk to customers like this without even thinking about it.
Tone of voice is part of a copywriter’s mantra, but it should not be restricted to channel nor profession, it’s up to everyone to represent the brand and, more importantly, speak to customers in a way they understand.
