Friendly, polite, empathic communication
Guidelines
- Thank the customer for contacting or responding to us or for their patience.
- Apologize explicitly for the inconvenience they’re reporting.
- Express empathy and understanding if there’s an opportunity.
- Use a friendly and polite tone, adding please and thank you consistently.
- Insert a extra greeting and farewell phrase that fit the situation.
- Use the same language that the customer contacted us.
- Make sure all your messages are free of grammar and/or spelling errors.
Examples
This message personally addresses the customer, with gratitude for their patience. It’s easy to follow and understand the next point of action. The tone is polite, positive, with an appropriate farewell phrase, error-free.
This message is impersonal. It sounds negative and it shows no empathy. As the parts of the message are not separated clearly, it’s also difficult to read it.
Positive and neutral communication
Guidelines
- Use reliable, committed expressions.
- Stay positive, emphasize what you CAN do for the customer.
- De-escalate where possible and necessary.
- Remain one team with our refurbed customer support.
Examples
This message is personal. It shows gratitude and it has a de-escalating effect by focusing on the offered solution. It manages the customer’s expectation by outlining the timeline for the nest steps.
This message is impersonal. It sounds unreliable (uses should and would) and it misses to offer further support for the customer.
Tone of Voice: Informal and Personal
The best customer experience is homogenous and unified across all channels and interaction. To achieve this we advise an alignment with the refurbed Tone of Voice. The refurbed Tone of Voice follows an "everyman" approach – using our eye-level, informal archetype, speaking with confidence and helping customers rest assured.
Guidelines
- Address customers as equals, by their first name and use informal style.
- Exception: if the customer explicitly states they prefer to be addressed with their surname and in a formal tone.
- Keep the tone consistent: once the tone is switched to formal, the formal tone has to be used consistently.
- Show respect and acknowledgement of cultural differences.
- Avoid large vocabulary or technical jargon.
- Write with optimism and honesty: explain honestly and openly what you CAN do for them.
- End your messages on a positive note, eg. offering further support.
Examples
The examples are in German as the difference between the informal and the formal tone is easy to see in German as opposed to English.
The following message is written in an informal tone, explaining the current update clearly, without technical jargon or too many details, starting with gratitude and ending with an offer for further assistance.
The following message is quite impersonal, it lacks a clear explanation of the situation, and is also not structured clearly. The quote is from an urgent case where the customer received messages from the refurbed Customer Support teams as well, creating an inconsistency in the tone of voice.