October 1, 2024 • 44 mins
We're doing a deep dive into the essential skills of writing remarkable customer support emails! Kate Chupp from the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success team joins us to discuss the balance between technical and creative writing, how empathy can be effectively conveyed through written communication, and offer practical, actionable strategies for sharpening your writing skills.
If you haven't already listened to them, we recommend going back and listening to our episodes about aligning support goals and tone with your company values:
Whether you’re new to customer support or a seasoned pro, this episode will provide valuable insights to help you enhance your email clarity, build stronger customer relationships, and improve your overall customer experience!
We want to hear from you! Share your support stories and questions with us at happytohelp@buzzsprout.com!
To learn more about Buzzsprout visit Buzzsprout.com.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Priscilla (00:00):
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, Priscilla Brooke.
Today we're talking aboutwriting, specifically how to
write well in customer support.
We'll cover the importance ofbeing intentional about your
written communication anddiscuss several actionable tips
and strategies you can implementtoday.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
(00:23):
Well, h ere we go, episode 15.
Jordan it does not feel likewe've done 15 episodes.
I know.
In some ways it feels likewe've done like way more than
that and in some ways it feelslike this is our third episode
of the podcast, it's true.
So I think this episode is goingto be really beneficial for
anyone who is new to customersupport, because we're going to
kind of get nitty gritty aboutwriting styles.
(00:44):
Was new to customer supportbecause we're going to kind of
get nitty gritty about writingstyles, and this is definitely
something that I don't considermyself a expert in.
But the good news is we havesomeone on the Buzzsprout
podcaster success team who is anexpert in writing, and so she
is coming on today to talk aboutwriting and to give us some
tips and to talk throughdifferent strategies that you
can use in your writing tobetter show empathy or better
(01:07):
clarify an issue that you'rerunning into, and so I'm really,
really excited about that.
Yeah, so Kate Chupp is joiningus.
She is our newest member of theteam.
She's only been here for aboutsix months.
Kate, welcome to the pod.
Kate (01:21):
Thank you, excited to be here.
Priscilla (01:23):
We always kick off our episodes by shouting someone
out who's made our day recently.
Has someone made your dayrecently that you want to shout
out from the podcast?
Kate (01:32):
I'd love to shout out the good people of Grumpy's Food
Truck.
Priscilla (01:36):
Grumpy's Food Truck.
Grumpy's.
Kate (01:38):
Food Truck.
What is that?
It is a breakfast sandwich foodtruck in my town and, I think,
the best breakfast in my town.
Our whole house is kind ofobsessed with their sandwiches,
so I go about once a weekprobably.
I like try to limit myself tojust going once a week, and so I
went this morning and by thetime I got up to the front of
(02:01):
the line they already had myorder on the grill, knew what I
wanted.
Oh, that's so great.
Priscilla (02:08):
Yes.
Kate (02:09):
I just haven't been like a regular somewhere before and it
feels so special to gosomewhere where they know your
order, they remember you, likethat's just some good customer
service right there.
Priscilla (02:20):
Yeah, I feel like that's something that we all
kind of have, that want is to bea regular somewhere, like, yeah
, I want to go to the cornerdiner and have them know exactly
what I want you know, and Iwonder if it's from, like when
we were growing up and watchingsitcoms, you know, very location
based, like how I Met yourMother, they're always at that
same bar.
Or Gilmore Girls, they're alwaysat Luke's Diner or something
(02:41):
like that, where it's like wesaw it so much in television
that now it's like, oh my gosh,I'm a regular here, I'm
fulfilling a dream.
They know who I am.
It's so cool to have thatexperience.
And you're right, it's customerservice.
It's someone remembering youand going out of their way to
make you feel included or valuedor just known.
On that level.
(03:01):
That's really fun.
And it's fun that it's like afood truck in your town.
So shout out to the person atGrumpy's who recognizes Kate.
There you go and gets herbreakfast ready.
That's so great, all right.
So today we're talking aboutall things writing.
Kate, can you tell me and ourlisteners a little bit about
what has kind of led to thatpassion and the expertise that
(03:22):
you have around writing?
Kate (03:23):
I studied English with a creative writing emphasis in
college and published somepoetry and creative nonfiction
from that and got to edit withthis amazing magazine called
Ecstasis.
Wow, just loved getting to bearound so much writing and see
so many people's writing stylesand creativity.
(03:45):
Yeah, you're in it.
Yes, yes, that's so cool.
I love that.
Writing just gives you time toarticulate your thoughts and to
like think through what youactually mean to say yeah.
Where other forms ofcommunication is more like
processing in real time orthings like that, with writing
you kind of get to think throughit and helps me slow down a lot
(04:07):
and a lot of writing.
I think it pulls out moremeaning than you see on the
surface because you have moretime to think through it and
dive into it.
I just think that's superspecial.
Priscilla (04:19):
That's really fun.
Yeah, when Kate started, youknow, when she was going through
the interview process, one ofthe things that really stuck out
to us was how good of a writershe was and is.
I mean, she really had a verystrong written portion of her
application that really pushedher over the top when we were
bringing her onto the team.
And since then she has justbeen such a leader in the way we
(04:40):
write in our support team andthe way that we communicate with
podcasters and theintentionality around it too.
Like we've always had a focuson being intentional about how
we write.
I mean, if you go back andlisten to some of our older
episodes, you'll hear theintentionality around our tone
that we write in or ourcommunication goals.
But there's something that Katebrings to it that is like this
(05:01):
extra level of knowledge.
I mean I went to school foradvertising and communication.
Writing was not something thatI felt like an expert in.
And so Kate, coming into theteam, has really kind of
sharpened our writing skills foreveryone on the team.
I want to kind of start byclarifying a little bit.
You know there's so manydifferent ways to write.
There's like very technicalwriting, and then Kate was
saying like there's creativewriting, and I think customer
(05:24):
support kind of falls in themiddle of that.
Like there's some technicalstuff, but there's also a lot of
creative strategies that youhave to use in order to
communicate the things you wantto communicate with customers,
and so I feel like it's a veryunique type of writing because
at some points you have to getreally technical and some points
you have to be really creativeabout how you're talking to
(05:44):
people, and so I think it justfalls nicely in the middle there
, which can make it really hard.
Honestly, it can make it reallyhard to do well, okay, so let's
start at the beginning and talkabout why it's important to be
able to write well for customersupport.
You don't have to be the bestwriter in the world like Kate,
but you do need to be able to bea solid writer and comfortable
(06:05):
with it and enjoy it to anextent, because it's such a big
portion of the job, and so oneof the biggest reasons that we
need that is because, withcustomer support, you are
representing a brand or aproduct Doesn't mean you have to
be the best in the world, butyou need to be able to
communicate well so that you cancommunicate accurately as a
representation of the productthat you're serving.
Kate (06:25):
And you're taking out some of the other forms of
communication, like bodylanguage and expressions or tone
of voice that you get through,like a phone support or
something like that.
Priscilla (06:35):
So it's all down to the words that you're using,
yeah, written communication andjust strictly written
communication takes away so muchof those like person to person
cues that help communicatethings.
I think we talked about it inour episode on tone.
I was thinking that too.
The yeah we talked about Ithink his name was Albert
Morabian and he did a study onnonverbal communication and
(06:59):
verbal communication and hefound that, like the majority of
in-person communication isnonverbal.
Yeah, so Cool, if we're talkingface to face, most of the
communication between us isnothing that I'm saying, it's
all how I'm acting or theinflection or the hand gestures
that I'm using, and so I thinkit was something like 7% of that
(07:21):
communication is your likeverbal, actual words.
Wow.
So if you take out all of thatcommunication and then you go
just to written now, you'relosing so much of the
communication that you havethat's nonverbal because all of
it is writing.
And so it's so important to beintentional about what you're
saying, the words you're puttingdown, because that's all you
(07:42):
have, and so you can almost gointo an email expecting that
it's going to be misinterpreted,because there's just no way
around that.
To an extent, the importantthing when you're talking about
customer service is clarity.
That is the top, at least.
The way that we focus on how wecommunicate in our customer
support team is.
The emphasis is on clarity.
(08:03):
We want to make sure that whenwe're emailing you, everything
is clear, that our empathy isclear, the steps on how to
unlock your episodes are clear,my understanding your problem
that's clear, everything.
Clarity is like the mostimportant goal with our writing
is that we're clear?
And so perfection is not alwaysgoing to be aligning with clear.
(08:24):
So, for example, sometimes itwill be clearer to put a comma
in the middle of a sentence toshow a pause, even if,
technically, that comma shouldnot be there.
Yeah, totally.
As you're listening to thesetips that we're going to talk
through, don't get too caught upin the perfection of it, but
just remember that the goal isclarity.
We're not following an AP stylebook, we're not following
(08:46):
Chicago style and making surethat we never do anything wrong.
Kate (08:49):
And we don't want to seem like AI.
Priscilla (08:51):
Exactly, exactly.
I think I said it on theepisode with Sarah Hatter,
something like there's a lot ofhumanity in a well-placed comma
or a misplaced comma.
Yeah, because AI is probablynot going to mistake that.
You know that robot knowsexactly where every semicolon
goes, but I don't.
And so putting a semicolon inthe wrong spot or accidentally
(09:13):
mistyping a word, that canactually show humanity and it
can make it more personal,spending too much time like
perfecting that can actuallymake it look less or feel less
personal and less human,absolutely Okay.
And then the last thing I wantto say, before we kind of jump
into these actionable tips, isthat the best writing starts
with understanding the questionfully.
(09:33):
And so we're going to get intothese kind of like strategies.
But if you don't understand thequestion that someone is asking
, if you don't have the contextthat you need to understand it,
it doesn't matter how good yourwriting is, it's not going to
help, right?
So there is an aspect of goodwriting that really is good
understanding and good listeningand reading, and good listening
(10:00):
Exactly with the interpretingof the questions that are coming
in.
But you're really good atwriting.
Your writing might sufferbecause you aren't able to
interpret the questionscorrectly, and so you need to
focus on that side of things.
So today we're going to talkreally about the writing side,
but I also want to encourageanyone listening who feels like
gosh, my emails are alwaysmissing the mark, but I write
(10:21):
them really well.
It could be that yourunderstanding is the thing
that's lacking a little bit andthat needs to be sharpened in
order to make your writingreally shine.
As a support leader, one of thethings you can do to help
encourage the people on yourteam to really lean into reading
and understanding the questionswell is giving them time to
(10:43):
actually do that.
I think a lot of times we focusa lot on speed in customer
support and less time onunderstanding or less time on
crafting the response.
And so I would say the bestresults are going to be finding
that balance of working quicklybut also giving your team time
and margin enough to understandthe emails that are coming in,
(11:06):
understand the questions thatare being asked so that when
they're writing that responseback they can be really
intentional about how they writebut also be intentional about
answering all the questions andunderstanding fully the context
of the email that comes in.
Kate (11:18):
I remember when I was interviewing for Buzzsprout, we
talked about how you woulddefine success and, priscilla,
you told me that it's not aboutgetting to inbox zero, it's
about communicating well andgiving them a quality
interaction, and thatenvironment, and that being a
value of ours at Buzzsprout,really does help with the
(11:38):
written communication.
Piece of it.
Priscilla (11:40):
Yeah, if you tell your team, hey, we're not
focused on the fastest responsetime in the world, we're not
focused on always having inboxzero, but then you turn around
and that's all you focus on andthat's all you talk about,
they're not going to believethat, that actually you don't
care about inbox zero.
And so it's really important tonot only communicate that to
your team hey, this is not themost important part of the day
(12:01):
or important aspect of this job,but to actually live it out and
to actually say, hey, whatwe're going to celebrate today
is these quality emails or theseremarkable experiences that
Kate had with a customer, thatshe gave that customer.
That's the thing we're going tocelebrate, not the 10 minute
response time that happened thismonth.
If this is your first timelistening to Happy to Help, I
(12:22):
would recommend that you go backand you listen to two episodes.
We have one about defining yourtone, your support tone, and
then one about setting yourcommunication goals.
Those two episodes, along withthis one, are going to be really
helpful for anyone who's tryingto define what that looks like
for their team and trying toreally sharpen that writing
(12:42):
skill.
So I would say, go there, butwe'll give you a little bit of a
refresher On what we talkedabout in those episodes.
So I think it's important,before you start critiquing your
writing or the writing ofpeople on your team, that you
are aligned and that your teamis aligned With the goals of
your communication For yoursupport and the tone that you've
set.
(13:02):
And so if you haven't done that, for your support and the tone
that you've set, and so if youhaven't done that, I would not
start nitpicking writing stylesor clarity, things like that.
I would focus on those biggeroverarching ideas first.
What are the goals here?
What's the tone we're trying tohit?
Because once you've establishedthat, then you can go into the
writing and say did this meetthe goal?
Did this align with the tone?
In what ways could we changethings so that is more aligned
(13:25):
with the tone?
But if you don't have that setbeforehand, it's going to be
really hard to accuratelycritique writing in that way.
To sharpen that skill and makesure you know, one of the things
we talked about when we weretalking about setting your
communication goals was toreally align those goals with
your company values.
You know, for example, one wehave at Buzzsprout is to take
(13:48):
the time to find the bestsolution.
So when we were puttingtogether our tone guide, we took
that into account.
It means we're actually focusedon understanding the email and
the context of the situation,and then that trickles down into
how I'm actually writing anemail is.
I'm going to take the time toexplain this a little bit more
(14:08):
clearly, even though it takes mea little bit longer.
So, when you are setting yourgoals and your tone, keep in
mind that all of that shouldalign with your company values
as a whole, and then it'lltrickle down all the way to when
you actually are putting yourfingers to the keyboard and
typing out phrases and figuringout how to structure a sentence.
All of that is going to fall inline then under your company
(14:30):
values, which is just reallyimportant, so that everything is
in alignment.
Right, that is the top.
Kate (14:36):
I think rule key that I would say is make sure it aligns
with your values.
Because even if you have aperfectly grammatical email, if
it's not empathetic or if it'snot aligning with what you want
to communicate to the customer,then that's just, that's not it,
that's not good writing.
Priscilla (14:54):
Yeah, there's like all these different facets of
good writing.
Right, because you can write areally beautifully written rude
email.
Right, you can write varyingsentences and it can be
completely off of what your toneshould be Keep coming back to
those values and those goals,Yep.
And so go listen to thoseepisodes if you want more
(15:16):
information into that, becausethat is really helpful, I think,
when you're getting into thenitty gritty of the actual
writing.
So let's get into someactionable tips, and a lot of
this is not going to begroundbreaking.
I also want to say like yeah,some of this is going to be like
OK.
Yeah, I learned that when I wasin middle school, and it is
stuff that is that simple attimes, but we as adults, I think
(15:39):
, sometimes forget that that isimportant to think about.
Oh yeah, the first tip I havefor anyone who is trying to make
their writing better is towrite how you speak.
It's good to be human and to nottry to be perfect.
We talked about this a minuteago when we were talking about
the AI and how you can soundrobotic if you're too perfect
(15:59):
with your writing.
But what I mean is, like youknow, if you are the kind of
person who says like in asentence, that's OK.
Say like in your email.
But what I mean is like youknow, if you are the kind of
person who says like in asentence, that's okay.
Say like in your email Ifyou're the kind of person who
makes a little joke or you kindof have that like witty banter,
it's okay to include some ofthat and show some of your
personality in the email.
So I think a good example ofthis is contractions.
(16:21):
I find that when I write Idon't use contractions and I
will go back into my writing andadd them in and I don't know
what it is about my writing thatI never think in contractions,
but I speak in contractions andso when I go back and I look at
my emails, I add in mycontractions, because I know
that it makes it moreconversational if I add them in.
Kate (16:42):
Do you have like an example of that?
Priscilla (16:44):
Okay, so an example is like if someone writes in and
says, do you guys have a annualbilling option?
And I write back and say we donot have an annual billing
option, well, yeah, okay, that'sfine, but if I say, no, we
don't have an annual billingoption, Much more casual Sounds,
so much more conversational.
That's not how you talk.
In that sense I'm not writinghow I talk.
(17:05):
I do not like green eggs andham.
I do not like them, sam, I amExactly.
But that's such a like atangible tip when you are
writing an email, go back andadd in the contractions.
If you don't think incontractions like I, don't, go
back and add them in.
We also have like a lot ofwords in Buzzsprout support that
we don't use because they arenot real words that we would use
(17:28):
in our real life.
So I think we talked about thisagain with Sarah Hatter, but
the idea that we don't use theword inconvenience when we're
saying, oh, I'm so sorry for theinconvenience because we
wouldn't say that to someone inreal life.
Kate (17:41):
Those are like flag words for when you're talking to AI or
talking to like a robot kind ofthing too, yeah.
Priscilla (17:47):
Or a customer support person who is tired and, at the
end of the day, and you're like, oh, you're thankful for my
feedback.
Well, now I know that myfeedback is going to go in a
bucket of feedback that no one'slooking at.
That does not feel likeanyone's going to respond to
this or take it seriously.
That makes me feel like anumber.
That doesn't make me feel likeyou're actually caring about me.
Even if you are, that's theother thing.
(18:09):
You could care about thatperson and say I'm sorry for the
inconvenience and it doesn'tcome across that way, so you
don't get the benefit ofactually caring about them.
And so being intentional abouthow you communicate that and not
using those kind of words thatyou wouldn't use in real life,
can be a really, really goodstrategy to keep your
conversation and your emailshuman and personal Key number
(18:32):
two is to use an active voice.
Kate (18:34):
I struggle with this one.
Priscilla (18:37):
Yes, me too.
Yeah, this active versuspassive voice is not something
that I would have even thoughttoo much about before Kate was
here, like really thinking abouthow an active voice versus a
passive voice can have such animpact on the clarity of an
email, but it really can.
So, anyway, you can keepexplaining to us the difference
(18:57):
between active and passive, kate, because I think there are some
people who know exactly whatyou're talking about, and then
there are some people who areprobably like I need a refresher
.
Kate (19:05):
I for sure did a refresher not that long ago, not gonna
lie.
Perfect, yes, yeah.
So for those of us who haven'theard those terms since eighth
grade, no-transcript.
(19:40):
So can you?
Priscilla (19:41):
give us an example, kate, of a sentence that would
be passive and one that would beactive, so we can kind of see
the difference in how that comesacross.
Kate (19:50):
Like if somebody said to you I love you versus you are
loved, they're both the samesentiment.
If somebody said to you I loveyou versus you are loved,
they're both the same sentiment.
But the I love you is just morepunchy and like direct and it
means more.
It means more yes.
Priscilla (20:03):
Yeah, like, imagine if your significant other never
said I love you, but they alwaysjust said you are loved.
You'd be like am I?
Though?
It's starting to make mequestion if you love me or not,
because you just keep saying I'mloved but you're not actually
putting that ownership onyourself.
And so, yeah, I think, havingthat active voice especially,
obviously we're not telling ourcustomers that we love them all
the time, but when you'retalking to customers and you're
(20:28):
trying to empathize with themand you're trying to say I
understand what you're goingthrough or I understand that
this is really a frustratingsituation, like, if you're
passive about it, it's not goingto come through in that same
kind of authentic way.
It's going to feel much moreabsent.
It's this person doesn'tactually care about me, they're
just saying what they feel likethey have to say so again.
Kate (20:44):
We're into the like inconvenience thing, so it's
like the sorry for theinconvenience versus I am so
sorry that you have had to dealwith this.
Priscilla (20:52):
Yes, yeah, that's a great example.
All right, so we know thatpassive voice is not as good as
active voice when we're talkingabout, like, customer support,
but there are times when I thinkpassive voice can be helpful.
Kate (21:05):
Yes, Sometimes we do need to use the passive voice.
Again, all of these keys.
The highest thing is that it'sgoing to align with our values
and align with our communicationgoals.
So we all have the times incustomer support where the
customer is maybe in the wrong,maybe they just didn't see
something you know, and sosaying something like you filled
(21:27):
out the form wrong is not goingto align with our values.
So that is when a passive voiceof like it looks like the form
isn't filled out correctly,where we're taking that
ownership away in the name ofmaintaining values and
empathetic support is a reallygood idea.
(21:48):
So again, just always go backto those higher values.
It's not all about getting itperfectly correct.
Priscilla (21:54):
Yeah, I think that's so important.
It is one thing when we'retalking with a customer and we
want to take ownership ofcheering them on or we want to
take ownership of explaining aprocess, so that should be
active.
But what happens when you'remet with this idea of oh, if I
talk in an active voice rightnow, I'm going to be assigning
ownership of the problem to mycustomer and I don't want to
(22:18):
make them feel shame for messingup the form.
I don't want to make them feellike anything that will stop
them from wanting to come backto this product or come back to
me and, you know, feelcomfortable coming with
questions.
And so using a passive voicestrategically in those kind of
interactions yeah, exactly, canlike help you to leave the
(22:39):
ownership out of it.
It doesn't matter who filled outthe form wrong.
The form was filled out wrong.
That is the reality and we'regoing to move past it.
But if I say that in an activevoice, it can feel a little bit
harsher, it can feel a littlebit more pointed, and so in that
case, using a passive voice canactually help everyone feel a
little bit better about it andnot assign blame.
I think that's such a good tip.
(23:01):
That's brilliant.
Yeah, the next tip we have isabout being intentional about
what you write.
So, kate, you want to talkabout that a little more.
Kate (23:08):
Yes, okay.
So this one.
I like to think about that.
Every part of your email orwritten communication has a
purpose for being there.
So, on a sentence level, likeyou're looking at each sentence
of does this need to be here?
And then, within a sentencelike do all of these words need
to be here in order for me tomake a clear point?
(23:30):
This one's the hardest one forme, because we often process,
when we're talking and I'll saythings three different ways to
try to actually understand whatI'm trying to say and
communicate it in the clearestway.
So often that just ends up witha lot of repetition and what
you're saying.
And so when you're writing, itcan also.
I do this a lot, where I'lltype three sentences where I'm
(23:53):
saying the exact same thing indifferent ways.
But then the key with writtencommunication and writing is
that you do have time to rereadit, to edit and to think about
what you really mean to say.
And so, sure, write those threesentences, but then read back
over it and think about, like,okay, how can I combine these?
(24:14):
Which one of these is theclearest way to say this?
Priscilla (24:17):
Yeah, when you were doing the deep dive with us, you
talked to us about askingquestions to ourselves while
we're in the process of writingit, like does this word or
sentence need to be here?
Have I said anything twice thatdoesn't need to be said twice?
How could I make these twosentences one clearer sentence?
And kind of doing that likethose questions in our heads as
we're reviewing an email, cancut down some of the like fat to
(24:40):
really get to the importantparts of the email Totally,
which I think is really a goodpractice to put into place when
you're going through your emailsand trying to solidify them to
be as clear as possible.
I also think it's a good tipbecause I think we have all been
in a situation as supportspecialists where we get an
email from a customer and it'sjust one block of text.
(25:01):
There's no breaks in it, there'snothing.
It's just a ton of words and noone wants to respond to that
email.
Once you actually sit and readit, it can be the simplest
question, but because they spentso many words explaining the
situation, it can feel sooverwhelming to even want to
read it, and so we don't want tosend an email to a customer
(25:22):
that they don't want to readbecause it's too long, that by
the time they get to the endwhere there's actually stuff
that they need to do, they havealready checked out.
I just think it's reallyimportant to like be aware of
that when you're writing.
It doesn't need to be soclinical where there's no
personality in it and there's,you know it's only this is what
you do, this is what you do.
This is what you do.
(25:42):
You don't want to like cull itdown that much, but you do want
to be aware of getting rid ofunnecessary duplicates or
unnecessary words that just kindof add fluff.
Kate (25:54):
Yeah, I don't know about you, but when I'm reading like
some of the emails I write, I'musing podcast every single
sentence and then I read over itand I'm glazed out on what I
actually said.
I'm just like whoa, I saidpodcast a ton and if you're yeah
, sometimes that'll happen withrepeat words where you just kind
of blank out so what could yousub in or where can you take out
those extras?
Priscilla (26:14):
Yeah, do you have any examples showing how you could
take a sentence and make it alittle bit more streamlined?
Okay, yes.
Kate (26:20):
So I'll just use a fictional company as an example
here.
I live in Colorado and it's athing here that if you go on
backpacking trips or things, youcan rent a llama to go with you
.
Oh stop, I've always wanted todo it, that's amazing.
I've never gotten to do it.
So this is for the llama rentalcompany.
So we have a customer, tom,let's call him, write in and be
(26:44):
like I am renting a llama but Idon't want to take care of it.
Do we have to feed them?
Do we have to clean up afterthem?
Great question, tom.
So a example of an email thatwould have more duplicates and
be less clear hey, tom of thellama, care, including
transportation and feeding andthe general well-being.
You and your guests will justhave to enjoy the trip and you
(27:18):
won't have to worry aboutanything.
Yeah, that's wordy.
Yeah, very wordy.
You're really saying two thingshere.
You're saying don't worry, tom,you don't have to do anything,
and here's what we're going toprovide for you instead.
And so a more like, streamlinedversion of that would be like
hey, Tom, that's a greatquestion.
You will have a guide who willtake care of the llama,
(27:39):
including transportation,feeding and cleanup.
You and your guests will justget to enjoy the trip and can
interact with the llamas as muchor as little as you'd like.
Priscilla (27:47):
Simple, clear.
It's so much more streamlined,yeah, simple and clear, and you
don't lose the personality.
Making things more precise orclear doesn't mean that you have
to lose all personal touch,right, all right, so let's move
on to the next one, which isabout paying attention to
(28:08):
sentence structure and to emailstructure.
This is a cool one, yeah.
Kate (28:13):
So you might remember in school you had like a thesis and
then your paragraphs and yourclosing statement.
And that's not what I'm talkingabout, but like the structure of
how you would format a writtencommunication.
So the first thing that wealways want to do is to just
answer the question right offthe bat.
If they're asking how do Ichange billing plans, or
(28:35):
anything like that, you want toanswer that in the first couple
sentences.
So if they're skimming and theyjust want a quick answer, we're
getting to the point with them,and then we always try to
educate and provide context.
So we'll do that.
Next of like, here's some moreinformation about how to do this
in the future, or why we havethis system set up like this,
(28:58):
things like that.
And then my favorite tip isthen you want to wrap it up with
an action statement.
So, is there anything that theyneed to do now or that you need
to do now?
Yeah, and why is that Like, whydo you want to have that at the
end?
Yeah, I think, especiallybecause we sometimes will do the
education part and put someextra things in there to end on,
(29:18):
like here's what you need to donow.
That like call to action pieceis just helpful to read the
email and be like okay, now I'mgoing to go do this kind of
thing, yeah, and it's at likethe forefront of their mind when
they finish reading the wholething.
They don't forget about it ifit's up top, interesting, right,
and sometimes that's us tooLike we'll say I'm going to look
(29:39):
into this and get back to you,or like you're saying what
you're going to do, and I alwaysthink that indicates like
here's the next steps of likewe're going to continue taking
action on this, and itcommunicates the value, too, of
this isn't just going to getlost.
We haven't just given you ananswer, we're going to continue
taking steps on this, and thatcan be really impactful for your
(30:00):
customer.
Priscilla (30:01):
Yeah, I really like having this kind of loose
structure in place because itallows you as the support
specialist, it gives you kind ofa path to follow.
You know we care a lot aboutremarkable support experiences.
Everyone listening to thisprobably cares about providing a
remarkable support experience.
A remarkable support experience, let's say someone writes in
and they say do you guys have anannual plan?
(30:22):
And we write back and answerthe question no, we do not, or
no, we don't.
That is adequate, right?
They now know the answer.
They've asked the question,they got the answer.
So, ok, okay, box checked, sure, but is that a remarkable
experience?
No, is it better to educatethem a little bit on why we
(30:43):
don't have an annual plan, maybeto validate and understand why
they might want it, but toexplain to them our rationality
about why we don't have it?
That is what takes it from aadequate response to something
more remarkable.
You care enough about yourcustomer that you want to
educate them on how to use yourtool.
So when it comes to thisprocess or the structure of the
(31:05):
email, if you answer thequestion first, you get right up
front with giving them theinformation they specifically
asked for.
Then they can choose if theywant to keep reading or they can
choose not to if they're in arush.
They've gotten their answer,they can move on.
But if you move then into thehere, let me explain to you why
we do it this way.
That gives them a little bitmore insight.
They get to know your brand alittle bit more, why you think
(31:41):
the way you do.
And then I love what Kate wassaying going back and then
clarifying at the end what thosenext steps are.
And that structure will alsobring clarity to the customer,
because at the end of the emailthey're getting a refresher on
what is expected of them.
That's clear at the end.
So you've gone through maybe aparagraph of explaining the
education or the reasoningbehind how you have a feature
set up, a way you do, but thenyour last sentence is reminding
them, just to be clear, this isthe answer, or just to be clear,
this is your next step or whatI'm going to do.
Kate (31:58):
It helps with that clarity .
Also, sometimes there's notnext steps, but that ending
action statement is please letus know.
If you have any more questions,that's one we'll use a lot.
Priscilla (32:08):
That is like keeping the door open.
Keeping the door open?
Yeah, it allows them thefreedom to ask a follow up
question if they have one, andyou never want to end an email
and make someone feel like theycan't come back and so having
that sentence at the end, let meknow.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
If any of this doesn't makesense and you know we want to
explain this another way like,bring it back to me.
I want to make sure the mostimportant thing is that you
(32:30):
understand it and can go andaccomplish it yourself.
All right, so the next tip isvarying your sentences.
I feel like this just makes fora more enjoyable read when it
comes to reading an email that'sone paragraph, two paragraphs
If every single sentence isstructured the exact same way
first you're going to do this,then you're going to do this,
then you're going to do this,then you're going to do this.
(32:52):
But this is where the creativewriting part of it comes in, I
feel like, because varying upthose sentences you know, using
different types of words andsentence structure that can like
really make it a more enjoyableread, which is more engaging to
the person who's reading it.
Kate (33:05):
And it shows that we're interested and engaged with them
, because if you're just like,you can do this, you can do this
, you can do this.
That comes off as we're reallybored and don't really want to
answer their questions.
It comes off as like a cannedresponse that you're copying and
pasting.
Yeah exactly A time where it isgood to use similar sentence
structure is if you're directlycomparing two things, where
(33:28):
you're saying it's this optionor it's this option, oh yeah,
and using that repetition kindof indicates to our brains these
are the two same things and youcan pick one kind of thing.
And so that's when it can behelpful.
Priscilla (33:42):
Yeah, it can also be helpful when you're doing a very
step-by-step process, like ifyou're actually going to lay out
step one, step two.
Sometimes it can be helpful tohave those sentences kind of
line up.
This might be my favorite usingformatting strategically.
We are writing to people and wedon't have the ability to use
(34:04):
inflection right.
We just don't have that abilityin writing.
But we do have formatting, andso using formatting
strategically can help you tocommunicate inflection in a
written way.
You know, if you want to put anemphasis on a word, you can
italicize that word.
Or if you're trying to explainhow to find whatever it is for
your product, you might say I'mgoing to bold these headings, so
(34:27):
you need to go to setting andthen you need to go to details.
And if you bold it, then you'rekind of telling them what the
important thing is that theyneed to see.
So if someone's sk.
Bold it then you're kind oftelling them what the important
thing is that they need to see.
So if someone's skimming it,they're going to know.
Okay, I go to settings, then Igo to details.
That's where I get the answerI'm looking for, even if they
don't read the whole email.
Kate (34:45):
Yeah, I think some strategies that we have used is
like using numbers, so numberingthings, or if a customer asks
five questions in an email,we'll copy that bold their
question and then answer innon-bold below it.
Priscilla (35:01):
Yeah, talk about clarity.
I mean, if someone asks youmultiple questions, it can get
really muddy if you just takefour paragraphs to answer those
four questions.
But if you take their questionand use it as a header and then
answer it underneath, it makesit so much more clear to the
person who's reading it whateach answer aligns with.
And then the last tip we haveis using outside resources.
(35:25):
Within support, you work withall different types of people.
You're working with yourcustomers, but your customer
could go anywhere from being ayoung kid to being an older
person, or it could be someonewho's really technically savvy,
or someone who's not at all, orit could be someone that learns
really well via a writtendocument, or it could be someone
who works really well andlearns well with audio or visual
(35:47):
.
And so if you have the abilityto include other options, do
that.
So we're lucky at Buzz Sproutthat we have a lot of video
resources that we can pull inwhen we're talking to podcasters
.
So it might be that we writesomething out and explain it in
written form and then we saycheck out this video that's also
going to explain it, becausesome people learn better when
(36:09):
they're listening to something,and some people learn better
when they're reading it and youdon't know what that's going to
be, and so giving them twooptions or pulling in different
resources can really help whenit comes to clarifying a process
or answering a question for acustomer.
Kate (36:23):
Yeah, and I'm such a visual learner.
One of my favorite things we dois we'll take screenshots of
where the button is that theyneed to find or things like that
, so you can just visually seeit.
Priscilla (36:34):
And it's funny how, like you know, I said at the
beginning of the episode, likenone of these tips are going to
like be groundbreaking, and thereality is like that's not
groundbreaking.
Like include a screenshot afteryou explain where the button is
.
Include a screenshot with anarrow to it.
That feels like okay, yeah, butthe amount of like times that
you think I don't need toinclude a screenshot.
They're going to know wherethis button is.
(36:55):
I've told them it's the rightside of the page.
They're going to be able tofind it.
Sometimes they can't find it,yeah, even when you've told them
where it is, and so giving themthe screenshot just goes that
extra step.
Or it's very possible that theperson who you're writing with
maybe they're blind, maybe theycan't see it, maybe you need to
give them a little bit more,maybe a screenshot isn't going
to allow their screen reader tointerpret that, so maybe you
(37:18):
have to write it out and includea screenshot because you just
don't know the kind of personyou're talking to or what it is.
And so I think having likemultiple ways to learn something
or to teach something in anemail, written and verbal, and
in a video, if you can all ofthat can be really, really
helpful when it comes toproviding clarity.
Kate (37:39):
Something we'll also use in Buzzsprout is GIFs and emails
.
Or somebody says thank you,we'll send them a little GIF
back, and not directly likecommunicating information, but
communicates like personalityand things like that, and I feel
like it throws people off, butI love them.
Priscilla (37:58):
It really brings the personality into it.
And our first tip was be human.
Write how you speak.
Use a GIF like show yourpersonality was be human, write
how you speak.
Use a GIF like show yourpersonality.
That is such a big connectorwith your customers to show your
personality and to connect on arelational level.
So using a GIF, using an emojior a well-placed joke or
something like that, all of thatis really really helpful when
(38:19):
it comes to building thatrelationship side of things.
And that all falls under theumbrella of writing well.
So writing, especially forcustomer support, can be really
difficult, but the more you'reintentional about how you write,
the better you will become atit and it will take that room
for misunderstanding and it willshrink it as you use some of
(38:41):
these tips in your writtencommunication.
It's never going to be perfect.
There's always going to bespace for miscommunication.
With written communication.
There's never going to be aperfect situation, but using
some of these tips can helpbring that down and hopefully
can help strengthen theconnection between you and your
customer when you're limited towritten communication.
(39:02):
Written communication Okay.
Time for support in real lifeour segment where we discuss
real life support, experiencesand questions.
Jordan, what question do youhave for us today?
All right, so today.
Kate (39:16):
I have a question from Reddit and I thought this was a
really good one for you and Kate.
So it says hey everyone, I'mcurious about how you all
approach that crucial firstinteraction with a customer.
What techniques or strategiesdo you use to build a genuine
connection?
Priscilla (39:29):
right from the start.
That's good.
I mean that's good and I wouldsay, just like rewind and listen
to this full episode, go backand start over.
I mean that first interactionis so crucial because if
someone's never reached out toyour company before, this is the
first time they're getting anykind of like personal connection
to you.
And if you aren't intentionalabout that first interaction, it
(39:53):
could be really not a goodexperience.
And so you have to beintentional.
You know you want to find thatpersonal touch.
So spending some time, like wewere saying before,
understanding the context of thequestion, understanding their
account, knowing those kind ofthings, and then finding that
personal connection.
So for us, we work inpodcasting, which is really fun
(40:13):
because a lot of our podcastershave really fun content that
they're making podcasts about.
So if someone writes in andthey're having an issue with
some technical something buttheir podcast is about the
Denver Nuggets, well then we canuse podcast is about the Denver
Nuggets.
Well then we can use thatinformation about the Denver
Nuggets to make that connectionwith them.
You know you can go look up thescore of the game last night
(40:33):
and say, oh man, I see that theNuggets won last night's game,
something like that, to findthat connection.
Because imagine how strong thatis when you're writing into a
support team and they come backand they've taken the time to
know a little bit somethingabout your account that maybe
they wouldn't have already knownand then they bring it up and
it finds that personalconnection.
That's really important.
Kate (40:55):
Yeah, I love that, and I think it can be as simple as
making sure that you includetheir name.
Or, instead of just sayingclick on your episode title, you
list one of their actualepisode titles, like my
favorites of our podcasters iscalled Chickens Every Day.
It's like a podcast of like agrandpa and his grandson talking
about chickens.
That's so fun.
Even including your podcastChickens Every Day is looking
(41:19):
great Like including.
That indicates that you didn'tjust skim their email, that you
actually looked at their accountand you know what their episode
titles are.
Priscilla (41:27):
And things like that.
Yeah, and if you're not inpodcasting like, maybe you know
their location, maybe you knowthat they are based in Texas and
you can say something about theweather in Texas or you can,
you know, somehow connect thosethings and make it personal.
The goal is to find some kindof connection that's outside of
the product, specifically inthat first email, so that you
(41:51):
start to build that relationshipand it shows them right off the
bat hey, you're talking to areal person, you're talking to
Priscilla, who is on thepodcaster support team for
Buzzsprout.
Like, I am a person.
I think a lot of times,especially with customer support
right now and with AI where itis, there's a lot of skeptical
thought about am I going to geta person or am I going to get a
(42:12):
robot?
When I get a response here andso, right off the bat, showing
them hey, this is actually areal person, and I'm going to
make it clear that it's a realperson because I'm going to find
some kind of piece ofinformation to connect on.
I think that can be reallystrong.
Kate (42:26):
Not only that, when people are writing in to support,
they're probably dreading it.
They don't want to write in toyou.
So I think like, yeah, juststarting off, like being
friendly and thoughtful andintentional, it can make them go
okay, this is going to be allright, this isn't so bad.
Priscilla (42:43):
Yeah.
And then the other side of thattoo is you want to make sure
you're answering all theirquestions.
Right, because you can be superpersonal and if you don't
answer all their questions, theyreally aren't going to care.
It's not going to matter ifthey made a comment about the
Denver Nuggets, if they didn'tanswer your question about
annual plans, and so you want tohave that personal connection,
but you want to make sure thatyou're giving them a good
(43:05):
quality answer to the questionsthey're asking so that they have
confidence in reaching out toyou in the future.
It builds that trust betweenyou and the customer when they
know oh, if I write in, not onlyam I going to get a personal
response, I'm also going to getan accurate and thorough
response from this support team,because they're actually taking
(43:26):
the time to answer all of myquestions.
And then, on top of that, makesure you show your work to the
customer.
When you write an email back tothem, tell them that you logged
into their account and youlooked at their billing plan and
that you saw X, y and Z,because you can answer the
question.
But if you also tell them youdid that, that reminds them that
, oh, this person is really onmy team.
They're taking the time tofigure this out for me.
(43:47):
You might think it's a giventhat you did that, but they
might not know that that waspart of the process, and so you
kind of show your work a littlebit.
It builds that trust with yourcustomer.
I love that.
All right, so remember to shareyour questions with us by
emailing us at happy to help.
At buzzsproutcom, you can sendquestions in.
You can send stories in.
You can use our fan mail linkin our episode show notes to
(44:11):
send in any information.
You want to send in stories,questions.
We'd love to hear all of it,and each week we pick one
question or story to discuss.
So send them in.
We would love to hear from you.
Well, thank you, kate forcoming.
It was really fun to have youon the podcast and to talk about
writing.
I think this is something thatwe can stand to focus on a
little bit more as we sharpenour skills and customer support,
(44:34):
and so I hope that this episodehas really inspired some people
to be intentional about theirwriting.
And thank you to everyone forlistening.
Now go and make someone's day.
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, Priscilla Brooke.
Today we're talking aboutwriting, specifically how to
write well in customer support.
We'll cover the importance ofbeing intentional about your
written communication anddiscuss several actionable tips
and strategies you can implementtoday.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
(00:23):
Well, h ere we go, episode 15.
Jordan it does not feel likewe've done 15 episodes.
I know.
In some ways it feels likewe've done like way more than
that and in some ways it feelslike this is our third episode
of the podcast, it's true.
So I think this episode is goingto be really beneficial for
anyone who is new to customersupport, because we're going to
kind of get nitty gritty aboutwriting styles.
(00:44):
Was new to customer supportbecause we're going to kind of
get nitty gritty about writingstyles, and this is definitely
something that I don't considermyself a expert in.
But the good news is we havesomeone on the Buzzsprout
podcaster success team who is anexpert in writing, and so she
is coming on today to talk aboutwriting and to give us some
tips and to talk throughdifferent strategies that you
can use in your writing tobetter show empathy or better
(01:07):
clarify an issue that you'rerunning into, and so I'm really,
really excited about that.
Yeah, so Kate Chupp is joiningus.
She is our newest member of theteam.
She's only been here for aboutsix months.
Kate, welcome to the pod.
Kate (01:21):
Thank you, excited to be here.
Priscilla (01:23):
We always kick off our episodes by shouting someone
out who's made our day recently.
Has someone made your dayrecently that you want to shout
out from the podcast?
Kate (01:32):
I'd love to shout out the good people of Grumpy's Food
Truck.
Priscilla (01:36):
Grumpy's Food Truck.
Grumpy's.
Kate (01:38):
Food Truck.
What is that?
It is a breakfast sandwich foodtruck in my town and, I think,
the best breakfast in my town.
Our whole house is kind ofobsessed with their sandwiches,
so I go about once a weekprobably.
I like try to limit myself tojust going once a week, and so I
went this morning and by thetime I got up to the front of
(02:01):
the line they already had myorder on the grill, knew what I
wanted.
Oh, that's so great.
Priscilla (02:08):
Yes.
Kate (02:09):
I just haven't been like a regular somewhere before and it
feels so special to gosomewhere where they know your
order, they remember you, likethat's just some good customer
service right there.
Priscilla (02:20):
Yeah, I feel like that's something that we all
kind of have, that want is to bea regular somewhere, like, yeah
, I want to go to the cornerdiner and have them know exactly
what I want you know, and Iwonder if it's from, like when
we were growing up and watchingsitcoms, you know, very location
based, like how I Met yourMother, they're always at that
same bar.
Or Gilmore Girls, they're alwaysat Luke's Diner or something
(02:41):
like that, where it's like wesaw it so much in television
that now it's like, oh my gosh,I'm a regular here, I'm
fulfilling a dream.
They know who I am.
It's so cool to have thatexperience.
And you're right, it's customerservice.
It's someone remembering youand going out of their way to
make you feel included or valuedor just known.
On that level.
(03:01):
That's really fun.
And it's fun that it's like afood truck in your town.
So shout out to the person atGrumpy's who recognizes Kate.
There you go and gets herbreakfast ready.
That's so great, all right.
So today we're talking aboutall things writing.
Kate, can you tell me and ourlisteners a little bit about
what has kind of led to thatpassion and the expertise that
(03:22):
you have around writing?
Kate (03:23):
I studied English with a creative writing emphasis in
college and published somepoetry and creative nonfiction
from that and got to edit withthis amazing magazine called
Ecstasis.
Wow, just loved getting to bearound so much writing and see
so many people's writing stylesand creativity.
(03:45):
Yeah, you're in it.
Yes, yes, that's so cool.
I love that.
Writing just gives you time toarticulate your thoughts and to
like think through what youactually mean to say yeah.
Where other forms ofcommunication is more like
processing in real time orthings like that, with writing
you kind of get to think throughit and helps me slow down a lot
(04:07):
and a lot of writing.
I think it pulls out moremeaning than you see on the
surface because you have moretime to think through it and
dive into it.
I just think that's superspecial.
Priscilla (04:19):
That's really fun.
Yeah, when Kate started, youknow, when she was going through
the interview process, one ofthe things that really stuck out
to us was how good of a writershe was and is.
I mean, she really had a verystrong written portion of her
application that really pushedher over the top when we were
bringing her onto the team.
And since then she has justbeen such a leader in the way we
(04:40):
write in our support team andthe way that we communicate with
podcasters and theintentionality around it too.
Like we've always had a focuson being intentional about how
we write.
I mean, if you go back andlisten to some of our older
episodes, you'll hear theintentionality around our tone
that we write in or ourcommunication goals.
But there's something that Katebrings to it that is like this
(05:01):
extra level of knowledge.
I mean I went to school foradvertising and communication.
Writing was not something thatI felt like an expert in.
And so Kate, coming into theteam, has really kind of
sharpened our writing skills foreveryone on the team.
I want to kind of start byclarifying a little bit.
You know there's so manydifferent ways to write.
There's like very technicalwriting, and then Kate was
saying like there's creativewriting, and I think customer
(05:24):
support kind of falls in themiddle of that.
Like there's some technicalstuff, but there's also a lot of
creative strategies that youhave to use in order to
communicate the things you wantto communicate with customers,
and so I feel like it's a veryunique type of writing because
at some points you have to getreally technical and some points
you have to be really creativeabout how you're talking to
(05:44):
people, and so I think it justfalls nicely in the middle there
, which can make it really hard.
Honestly, it can make it reallyhard to do well, okay, so let's
start at the beginning and talkabout why it's important to be
able to write well for customersupport.
You don't have to be the bestwriter in the world like Kate,
but you do need to be able to bea solid writer and comfortable
(06:05):
with it and enjoy it to anextent, because it's such a big
portion of the job, and so oneof the biggest reasons that we
need that is because, withcustomer support, you are
representing a brand or aproduct Doesn't mean you have to
be the best in the world, butyou need to be able to
communicate well so that you cancommunicate accurately as a
representation of the productthat you're serving.
Kate (06:25):
And you're taking out some of the other forms of
communication, like bodylanguage and expressions or tone
of voice that you get through,like a phone support or
something like that.
Priscilla (06:35):
So it's all down to the words that you're using,
yeah, written communication andjust strictly written
communication takes away so muchof those like person to person
cues that help communicatethings.
I think we talked about it inour episode on tone.
I was thinking that too.
The yeah we talked about Ithink his name was Albert
Morabian and he did a study onnonverbal communication and
(06:59):
verbal communication and hefound that, like the majority of
in-person communication isnonverbal.
Yeah, so Cool, if we're talkingface to face, most of the
communication between us isnothing that I'm saying, it's
all how I'm acting or theinflection or the hand gestures
that I'm using, and so I thinkit was something like 7% of that
(07:21):
communication is your likeverbal, actual words.
Wow.
So if you take out all of thatcommunication and then you go
just to written now, you'relosing so much of the
communication that you havethat's nonverbal because all of
it is writing.
And so it's so important to beintentional about what you're
saying, the words you're puttingdown, because that's all you
(07:42):
have, and so you can almost gointo an email expecting that
it's going to be misinterpreted,because there's just no way
around that.
To an extent, the importantthing when you're talking about
customer service is clarity.
That is the top, at least.
The way that we focus on how wecommunicate in our customer
support team is.
The emphasis is on clarity.
(08:03):
We want to make sure that whenwe're emailing you, everything
is clear, that our empathy isclear, the steps on how to
unlock your episodes are clear,my understanding your problem
that's clear, everything.
Clarity is like the mostimportant goal with our writing
is that we're clear?
And so perfection is not alwaysgoing to be aligning with clear.
(08:24):
So, for example, sometimes itwill be clearer to put a comma
in the middle of a sentence toshow a pause, even if,
technically, that comma shouldnot be there.
Yeah, totally.
As you're listening to thesetips that we're going to talk
through, don't get too caught upin the perfection of it, but
just remember that the goal isclarity.
We're not following an AP stylebook, we're not following
(08:46):
Chicago style and making surethat we never do anything wrong.
Kate (08:49):
And we don't want to seem like AI.
Priscilla (08:51):
Exactly, exactly.
I think I said it on theepisode with Sarah Hatter,
something like there's a lot ofhumanity in a well-placed comma
or a misplaced comma.
Yeah, because AI is probablynot going to mistake that.
You know that robot knowsexactly where every semicolon
goes, but I don't.
And so putting a semicolon inthe wrong spot or accidentally
(09:13):
mistyping a word, that canactually show humanity and it
can make it more personal,spending too much time like
perfecting that can actuallymake it look less or feel less
personal and less human,absolutely Okay.
And then the last thing I wantto say, before we kind of jump
into these actionable tips, isthat the best writing starts
with understanding the questionfully.
(09:33):
And so we're going to get intothese kind of like strategies.
But if you don't understand thequestion that someone is asking
, if you don't have the contextthat you need to understand it,
it doesn't matter how good yourwriting is, it's not going to
help, right?
So there is an aspect of goodwriting that really is good
understanding and good listeningand reading, and good listening
(10:00):
Exactly with the interpretingof the questions that are coming
in.
But you're really good atwriting.
Your writing might sufferbecause you aren't able to
interpret the questionscorrectly, and so you need to
focus on that side of things.
So today we're going to talkreally about the writing side,
but I also want to encourageanyone listening who feels like
gosh, my emails are alwaysmissing the mark, but I write
(10:21):
them really well.
It could be that yourunderstanding is the thing
that's lacking a little bit andthat needs to be sharpened in
order to make your writingreally shine.
As a support leader, one of thethings you can do to help
encourage the people on yourteam to really lean into reading
and understanding the questionswell is giving them time to
(10:43):
actually do that.
I think a lot of times we focusa lot on speed in customer
support and less time onunderstanding or less time on
crafting the response.
And so I would say the bestresults are going to be finding
that balance of working quicklybut also giving your team time
and margin enough to understandthe emails that are coming in,
(11:06):
understand the questions thatare being asked so that when
they're writing that responseback they can be really
intentional about how they writebut also be intentional about
answering all the questions andunderstanding fully the context
of the email that comes in.
Kate (11:18):
I remember when I was interviewing for Buzzsprout, we
talked about how you woulddefine success and, priscilla,
you told me that it's not aboutgetting to inbox zero, it's
about communicating well andgiving them a quality
interaction, and thatenvironment, and that being a
value of ours at Buzzsprout,really does help with the
(11:38):
written communication.
Piece of it.
Priscilla (11:40):
Yeah, if you tell your team, hey, we're not
focused on the fastest responsetime in the world, we're not
focused on always having inboxzero, but then you turn around
and that's all you focus on andthat's all you talk about,
they're not going to believethat, that actually you don't
care about inbox zero.
And so it's really important tonot only communicate that to
your team hey, this is not themost important part of the day
(12:01):
or important aspect of this job,but to actually live it out and
to actually say, hey, whatwe're going to celebrate today
is these quality emails or theseremarkable experiences that
Kate had with a customer, thatshe gave that customer.
That's the thing we're going tocelebrate, not the 10 minute
response time that happened thismonth.
If this is your first timelistening to Happy to Help, I
(12:22):
would recommend that you go backand you listen to two episodes.
We have one about defining yourtone, your support tone, and
then one about setting yourcommunication goals.
Those two episodes, along withthis one, are going to be really
helpful for anyone who's tryingto define what that looks like
for their team and trying toreally sharpen that writing
(12:42):
skill.
So I would say, go there, butwe'll give you a little bit of a
refresher On what we talkedabout in those episodes.
So I think it's important,before you start critiquing your
writing or the writing ofpeople on your team, that you
are aligned and that your teamis aligned With the goals of
your communication For yoursupport and the tone that you've
set.
(13:02):
And so if you haven't done that, for your support and the tone
that you've set, and so if youhaven't done that, I would not
start nitpicking writing stylesor clarity, things like that.
I would focus on those biggeroverarching ideas first.
What are the goals here?
What's the tone we're trying tohit?
Because once you've establishedthat, then you can go into the
writing and say did this meetthe goal?
Did this align with the tone?
In what ways could we changethings so that is more aligned
(13:25):
with the tone?
But if you don't have that setbeforehand, it's going to be
really hard to accuratelycritique writing in that way.
To sharpen that skill and makesure you know, one of the things
we talked about when we weretalking about setting your
communication goals was toreally align those goals with
your company values.
You know, for example, one wehave at Buzzsprout is to take
(13:48):
the time to find the bestsolution.
So when we were puttingtogether our tone guide, we took
that into account.
It means we're actually focusedon understanding the email and
the context of the situation,and then that trickles down into
how I'm actually writing anemail is.
I'm going to take the time toexplain this a little bit more
(14:08):
clearly, even though it takes mea little bit longer.
So, when you are setting yourgoals and your tone, keep in
mind that all of that shouldalign with your company values
as a whole, and then it'lltrickle down all the way to when
you actually are putting yourfingers to the keyboard and
typing out phrases and figuringout how to structure a sentence.
All of that is going to fall inline then under your company
(14:30):
values, which is just reallyimportant, so that everything is
in alignment.
Right, that is the top.
Kate (14:36):
I think rule key that I would say is make sure it aligns
with your values.
Because even if you have aperfectly grammatical email, if
it's not empathetic or if it'snot aligning with what you want
to communicate to the customer,then that's just, that's not it,
that's not good writing.
Priscilla (14:54):
Yeah, there's like all these different facets of
good writing.
Right, because you can write areally beautifully written rude
email.
Right, you can write varyingsentences and it can be
completely off of what your toneshould be Keep coming back to
those values and those goals,Yep.
And so go listen to thoseepisodes if you want more
(15:16):
information into that, becausethat is really helpful, I think,
when you're getting into thenitty gritty of the actual
writing.
So let's get into someactionable tips, and a lot of
this is not going to begroundbreaking.
I also want to say like yeah,some of this is going to be like
OK.
Yeah, I learned that when I wasin middle school, and it is
stuff that is that simple attimes, but we as adults, I think
(15:39):
, sometimes forget that that isimportant to think about.
Oh yeah, the first tip I havefor anyone who is trying to make
their writing better is towrite how you speak.
It's good to be human and to nottry to be perfect.
We talked about this a minuteago when we were talking about
the AI and how you can soundrobotic if you're too perfect
(15:59):
with your writing.
But what I mean is, like youknow, if you are the kind of
person who says like in asentence, that's OK.
Say like in your email.
But what I mean is like youknow, if you are the kind of
person who says like in asentence, that's okay.
Say like in your email Ifyou're the kind of person who
makes a little joke or you kindof have that like witty banter,
it's okay to include some ofthat and show some of your
personality in the email.
So I think a good example ofthis is contractions.
(16:21):
I find that when I write Idon't use contractions and I
will go back into my writing andadd them in and I don't know
what it is about my writing thatI never think in contractions,
but I speak in contractions andso when I go back and I look at
my emails, I add in mycontractions, because I know
that it makes it moreconversational if I add them in.
Kate (16:42):
Do you have like an example of that?
Priscilla (16:44):
Okay, so an example is like if someone writes in and
says, do you guys have a annualbilling option?
And I write back and say we donot have an annual billing
option, well, yeah, okay, that'sfine, but if I say, no, we
don't have an annual billingoption, Much more casual Sounds,
so much more conversational.
That's not how you talk.
In that sense I'm not writinghow I talk.
(17:05):
I do not like green eggs andham.
I do not like them, sam, I amExactly.
But that's such a like atangible tip when you are
writing an email, go back andadd in the contractions.
If you don't think incontractions like I, don't, go
back and add them in.
We also have like a lot ofwords in Buzzsprout support that
we don't use because they arenot real words that we would use
(17:28):
in our real life.
So I think we talked about thisagain with Sarah Hatter, but
the idea that we don't use theword inconvenience when we're
saying, oh, I'm so sorry for theinconvenience because we
wouldn't say that to someone inreal life.
Kate (17:41):
Those are like flag words for when you're talking to AI or
talking to like a robot kind ofthing too, yeah.
Priscilla (17:47):
Or a customer support person who is tired and, at the
end of the day, and you're like, oh, you're thankful for my
feedback.
Well, now I know that myfeedback is going to go in a
bucket of feedback that no one'slooking at.
That does not feel likeanyone's going to respond to
this or take it seriously.
That makes me feel like anumber.
That doesn't make me feel likeyou're actually caring about me.
Even if you are, that's theother thing.
(18:09):
You could care about thatperson and say I'm sorry for the
inconvenience and it doesn'tcome across that way, so you
don't get the benefit ofactually caring about them.
And so being intentional abouthow you communicate that and not
using those kind of words thatyou wouldn't use in real life,
can be a really, really goodstrategy to keep your
conversation and your emailshuman and personal Key number
(18:32):
two is to use an active voice.
Kate (18:34):
I struggle with this one.
Priscilla (18:37):
Yes, me too.
Yeah, this active versuspassive voice is not something
that I would have even thoughttoo much about before Kate was
here, like really thinking abouthow an active voice versus a
passive voice can have such animpact on the clarity of an
email, but it really can.
So, anyway, you can keepexplaining to us the difference
(18:57):
between active and passive, kate, because I think there are some
people who know exactly whatyou're talking about, and then
there are some people who areprobably like I need a refresher
.
Kate (19:05):
I for sure did a refresher not that long ago, not gonna
lie.
Perfect, yes, yeah.
So for those of us who haven'theard those terms since eighth
grade, no-transcript.
(19:40):
So can you?
Priscilla (19:41):
give us an example, kate, of a sentence that would
be passive and one that would beactive, so we can kind of see
the difference in how that comesacross.
Kate (19:50):
Like if somebody said to you I love you versus you are
loved, they're both the samesentiment.
If somebody said to you I loveyou versus you are loved,
they're both the same sentiment.
But the I love you is just morepunchy and like direct and it
means more.
It means more yes.
Priscilla (20:03):
Yeah, like, imagine if your significant other never
said I love you, but they alwaysjust said you are loved.
You'd be like am I?
Though?
It's starting to make mequestion if you love me or not,
because you just keep saying I'mloved but you're not actually
putting that ownership onyourself.
And so, yeah, I think, havingthat active voice especially,
obviously we're not telling ourcustomers that we love them all
the time, but when you'retalking to customers and you're
(20:28):
trying to empathize with themand you're trying to say I
understand what you're goingthrough or I understand that
this is really a frustratingsituation, like, if you're
passive about it, it's not goingto come through in that same
kind of authentic way.
It's going to feel much moreabsent.
It's this person doesn'tactually care about me, they're
just saying what they feel likethey have to say so again.
Kate (20:44):
We're into the like inconvenience thing, so it's
like the sorry for theinconvenience versus I am so
sorry that you have had to dealwith this.
Priscilla (20:52):
Yes, yeah, that's a great example.
All right, so we know thatpassive voice is not as good as
active voice when we're talkingabout, like, customer support,
but there are times when I thinkpassive voice can be helpful.
Kate (21:05):
Yes, Sometimes we do need to use the passive voice.
Again, all of these keys.
The highest thing is that it'sgoing to align with our values
and align with our communicationgoals.
So we all have the times incustomer support where the
customer is maybe in the wrong,maybe they just didn't see
something you know, and sosaying something like you filled
(21:27):
out the form wrong is not goingto align with our values.
So that is when a passive voiceof like it looks like the form
isn't filled out correctly,where we're taking that
ownership away in the name ofmaintaining values and
empathetic support is a reallygood idea.
(21:48):
So again, just always go backto those higher values.
It's not all about getting itperfectly correct.
Priscilla (21:54):
Yeah, I think that's so important.
It is one thing when we'retalking with a customer and we
want to take ownership ofcheering them on or we want to
take ownership of explaining aprocess, so that should be
active.
But what happens when you'remet with this idea of oh, if I
talk in an active voice rightnow, I'm going to be assigning
ownership of the problem to mycustomer and I don't want to
(22:18):
make them feel shame for messingup the form.
I don't want to make them feellike anything that will stop
them from wanting to come backto this product or come back to
me and, you know, feelcomfortable coming with
questions.
And so using a passive voicestrategically in those kind of
interactions yeah, exactly, canlike help you to leave the
(22:39):
ownership out of it.
It doesn't matter who filled outthe form wrong.
The form was filled out wrong.
That is the reality and we'regoing to move past it.
But if I say that in an activevoice, it can feel a little bit
harsher, it can feel a littlebit more pointed, and so in that
case, using a passive voice canactually help everyone feel a
little bit better about it andnot assign blame.
I think that's such a good tip.
(23:01):
That's brilliant.
Yeah, the next tip we have isabout being intentional about
what you write.
So, kate, you want to talkabout that a little more.
Kate (23:08):
Yes, okay.
So this one.
I like to think about that.
Every part of your email orwritten communication has a
purpose for being there.
So, on a sentence level, likeyou're looking at each sentence
of does this need to be here?
And then, within a sentencelike do all of these words need
to be here in order for me tomake a clear point?
(23:30):
This one's the hardest one forme, because we often process,
when we're talking and I'll saythings three different ways to
try to actually understand whatI'm trying to say and
communicate it in the clearestway.
So often that just ends up witha lot of repetition and what
you're saying.
And so when you're writing, itcan also.
I do this a lot, where I'lltype three sentences where I'm
(23:53):
saying the exact same thing indifferent ways.
But then the key with writtencommunication and writing is
that you do have time to rereadit, to edit and to think about
what you really mean to say.
And so, sure, write those threesentences, but then read back
over it and think about, like,okay, how can I combine these?
(24:14):
Which one of these is theclearest way to say this?
Priscilla (24:17):
Yeah, when you were doing the deep dive with us, you
talked to us about askingquestions to ourselves while
we're in the process of writingit, like does this word or
sentence need to be here?
Have I said anything twice thatdoesn't need to be said twice?
How could I make these twosentences one clearer sentence?
And kind of doing that likethose questions in our heads as
we're reviewing an email, cancut down some of the like fat to
(24:40):
really get to the importantparts of the email Totally,
which I think is really a goodpractice to put into place when
you're going through your emailsand trying to solidify them to
be as clear as possible.
I also think it's a good tipbecause I think we have all been
in a situation as supportspecialists where we get an
email from a customer and it'sjust one block of text.
(25:01):
There's no breaks in it, there'snothing.
It's just a ton of words and noone wants to respond to that
email.
Once you actually sit and readit, it can be the simplest
question, but because they spentso many words explaining the
situation, it can feel sooverwhelming to even want to
read it, and so we don't want tosend an email to a customer
(25:22):
that they don't want to readbecause it's too long, that by
the time they get to the endwhere there's actually stuff
that they need to do, they havealready checked out.
I just think it's reallyimportant to like be aware of
that when you're writing.
It doesn't need to be soclinical where there's no
personality in it and there's,you know it's only this is what
you do, this is what you do.
This is what you do.
(25:42):
You don't want to like cull itdown that much, but you do want
to be aware of getting rid ofunnecessary duplicates or
unnecessary words that just kindof add fluff.
Kate (25:54):
Yeah, I don't know about you, but when I'm reading like
some of the emails I write, I'musing podcast every single
sentence and then I read over itand I'm glazed out on what I
actually said.
I'm just like whoa, I saidpodcast a ton and if you're yeah
, sometimes that'll happen withrepeat words where you just kind
of blank out so what could yousub in or where can you take out
those extras?
Priscilla (26:14):
Yeah, do you have any examples showing how you could
take a sentence and make it alittle bit more streamlined?
Okay, yes.
Kate (26:20):
So I'll just use a fictional company as an example
here.
I live in Colorado and it's athing here that if you go on
backpacking trips or things, youcan rent a llama to go with you
.
Oh stop, I've always wanted todo it, that's amazing.
I've never gotten to do it.
So this is for the llama rentalcompany.
So we have a customer, tom,let's call him, write in and be
(26:44):
like I am renting a llama but Idon't want to take care of it.
Do we have to feed them?
Do we have to clean up afterthem?
Great question, tom.
So a example of an email thatwould have more duplicates and
be less clear hey, tom of thellama, care, including
transportation and feeding andthe general well-being.
You and your guests will justhave to enjoy the trip and you
(27:18):
won't have to worry aboutanything.
Yeah, that's wordy.
Yeah, very wordy.
You're really saying two thingshere.
You're saying don't worry, tom,you don't have to do anything,
and here's what we're going toprovide for you instead.
And so a more like, streamlinedversion of that would be like
hey, Tom, that's a greatquestion.
You will have a guide who willtake care of the llama,
(27:39):
including transportation,feeding and cleanup.
You and your guests will justget to enjoy the trip and can
interact with the llamas as muchor as little as you'd like.
Priscilla (27:47):
Simple, clear.
It's so much more streamlined,yeah, simple and clear, and you
don't lose the personality.
Making things more precise orclear doesn't mean that you have
to lose all personal touch,right, all right, so let's move
on to the next one, which isabout paying attention to
(28:08):
sentence structure and to emailstructure.
This is a cool one, yeah.
Kate (28:13):
So you might remember in school you had like a thesis and
then your paragraphs and yourclosing statement.
And that's not what I'm talkingabout, but like the structure of
how you would format a writtencommunication.
So the first thing that wealways want to do is to just
answer the question right offthe bat.
If they're asking how do Ichange billing plans, or
(28:35):
anything like that, you want toanswer that in the first couple
sentences.
So if they're skimming and theyjust want a quick answer, we're
getting to the point with them,and then we always try to
educate and provide context.
So we'll do that.
Next of like, here's some moreinformation about how to do this
in the future, or why we havethis system set up like this,
(28:58):
things like that.
And then my favorite tip isthen you want to wrap it up with
an action statement.
So, is there anything that theyneed to do now or that you need
to do now?
Yeah, and why is that Like, whydo you want to have that at the
end?
Yeah, I think, especiallybecause we sometimes will do the
education part and put someextra things in there to end on,
(29:18):
like here's what you need to donow.
That like call to action pieceis just helpful to read the
email and be like okay, now I'mgoing to go do this kind of
thing, yeah, and it's at likethe forefront of their mind when
they finish reading the wholething.
They don't forget about it ifit's up top, interesting, right,
and sometimes that's us tooLike we'll say I'm going to look
(29:39):
into this and get back to you,or like you're saying what
you're going to do, and I alwaysthink that indicates like
here's the next steps of likewe're going to continue taking
action on this, and itcommunicates the value, too, of
this isn't just going to getlost.
We haven't just given you ananswer, we're going to continue
taking steps on this, and thatcan be really impactful for your
(30:00):
customer.
Priscilla (30:01):
Yeah, I really like having this kind of loose
structure in place because itallows you as the support
specialist, it gives you kind ofa path to follow.
You know we care a lot aboutremarkable support experiences.
Everyone listening to thisprobably cares about providing a
remarkable support experience.
A remarkable support experience, let's say someone writes in
and they say do you guys have anannual plan?
(30:22):
And we write back and answerthe question no, we do not, or
no, we don't.
That is adequate, right?
They now know the answer.
They've asked the question,they got the answer.
So, ok, okay, box checked, sure, but is that a remarkable
experience?
No, is it better to educatethem a little bit on why we
(30:43):
don't have an annual plan, maybeto validate and understand why
they might want it, but toexplain to them our rationality
about why we don't have it?
That is what takes it from aadequate response to something
more remarkable.
You care enough about yourcustomer that you want to
educate them on how to use yourtool.
So when it comes to thisprocess or the structure of the
(31:05):
email, if you answer thequestion first, you get right up
front with giving them theinformation they specifically
asked for.
Then they can choose if theywant to keep reading or they can
choose not to if they're in arush.
They've gotten their answer,they can move on.
But if you move then into thehere, let me explain to you why
we do it this way.
That gives them a little bitmore insight.
They get to know your brand alittle bit more, why you think
(31:41):
the way you do.
And then I love what Kate wassaying going back and then
clarifying at the end what thosenext steps are.
And that structure will alsobring clarity to the customer,
because at the end of the emailthey're getting a refresher on
what is expected of them.
That's clear at the end.
So you've gone through maybe aparagraph of explaining the
education or the reasoningbehind how you have a feature
set up, a way you do, but thenyour last sentence is reminding
them, just to be clear, this isthe answer, or just to be clear,
this is your next step or whatI'm going to do.
Kate (31:58):
It helps with that clarity .
Also, sometimes there's notnext steps, but that ending
action statement is please letus know.
If you have any more questions,that's one we'll use a lot.
Priscilla (32:08):
That is like keeping the door open.
Keeping the door open?
Yeah, it allows them thefreedom to ask a follow up
question if they have one, andyou never want to end an email
and make someone feel like theycan't come back and so having
that sentence at the end, let meknow.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
If any of this doesn't makesense and you know we want to
explain this another way like,bring it back to me.
I want to make sure the mostimportant thing is that you
(32:30):
understand it and can go andaccomplish it yourself.
All right, so the next tip isvarying your sentences.
I feel like this just makes fora more enjoyable read when it
comes to reading an email that'sone paragraph, two paragraphs
If every single sentence isstructured the exact same way
first you're going to do this,then you're going to do this,
then you're going to do this,then you're going to do this.
(32:52):
But this is where the creativewriting part of it comes in, I
feel like, because varying upthose sentences you know, using
different types of words andsentence structure that can like
really make it a more enjoyableread, which is more engaging to
the person who's reading it.
Kate (33:05):
And it shows that we're interested and engaged with them
, because if you're just like,you can do this, you can do this
, you can do this.
That comes off as we're reallybored and don't really want to
answer their questions.
It comes off as like a cannedresponse that you're copying and
pasting.
Yeah exactly A time where it isgood to use similar sentence
structure is if you're directlycomparing two things, where
(33:28):
you're saying it's this optionor it's this option, oh yeah,
and using that repetition kindof indicates to our brains these
are the two same things and youcan pick one kind of thing.
And so that's when it can behelpful.
Priscilla (33:42):
Yeah, it can also be helpful when you're doing a very
step-by-step process, like ifyou're actually going to lay out
step one, step two.
Sometimes it can be helpful tohave those sentences kind of
line up.
This might be my favorite usingformatting strategically.
We are writing to people and wedon't have the ability to use
(34:04):
inflection right.
We just don't have that abilityin writing.
But we do have formatting, andso using formatting
strategically can help you tocommunicate inflection in a
written way.
You know, if you want to put anemphasis on a word, you can
italicize that word.
Or if you're trying to explainhow to find whatever it is for
your product, you might say I'mgoing to bold these headings, so
(34:27):
you need to go to setting andthen you need to go to details.
And if you bold it, then you'rekind of telling them what the
important thing is that theyneed to see.
So if someone's sk.
Bold it then you're kind oftelling them what the important
thing is that they need to see.
So if someone's skimming it,they're going to know.
Okay, I go to settings, then Igo to details.
That's where I get the answerI'm looking for, even if they
don't read the whole email.
Kate (34:45):
Yeah, I think some strategies that we have used is
like using numbers, so numberingthings, or if a customer asks
five questions in an email,we'll copy that bold their
question and then answer innon-bold below it.
Priscilla (35:01):
Yeah, talk about clarity.
I mean, if someone asks youmultiple questions, it can get
really muddy if you just takefour paragraphs to answer those
four questions.
But if you take their questionand use it as a header and then
answer it underneath, it makesit so much more clear to the
person who's reading it whateach answer aligns with.
And then the last tip we haveis using outside resources.
(35:25):
Within support, you work withall different types of people.
You're working with yourcustomers, but your customer
could go anywhere from being ayoung kid to being an older
person, or it could be someonewho's really technically savvy,
or someone who's not at all, orit could be someone that learns
really well via a writtendocument, or it could be someone
who works really well andlearns well with audio or visual
(35:47):
.
And so if you have the abilityto include other options, do
that.
So we're lucky at Buzz Sproutthat we have a lot of video
resources that we can pull inwhen we're talking to podcasters
.
So it might be that we writesomething out and explain it in
written form and then we saycheck out this video that's also
going to explain it, becausesome people learn better when
(36:09):
they're listening to something,and some people learn better
when they're reading it and youdon't know what that's going to
be, and so giving them twooptions or pulling in different
resources can really help whenit comes to clarifying a process
or answering a question for acustomer.
Kate (36:23):
Yeah, and I'm such a visual learner.
One of my favorite things we dois we'll take screenshots of
where the button is that theyneed to find or things like that
, so you can just visually seeit.
Priscilla (36:34):
And it's funny how, like you know, I said at the
beginning of the episode, likenone of these tips are going to
like be groundbreaking, and thereality is like that's not
groundbreaking.
Like include a screenshot afteryou explain where the button is
.
Include a screenshot with anarrow to it.
That feels like okay, yeah, butthe amount of like times that
you think I don't need toinclude a screenshot.
They're going to know wherethis button is.
(36:55):
I've told them it's the rightside of the page.
They're going to be able tofind it.
Sometimes they can't find it,yeah, even when you've told them
where it is, and so giving themthe screenshot just goes that
extra step.
Or it's very possible that theperson who you're writing with
maybe they're blind, maybe theycan't see it, maybe you need to
give them a little bit more,maybe a screenshot isn't going
to allow their screen reader tointerpret that, so maybe you
(37:18):
have to write it out and includea screenshot because you just
don't know the kind of personyou're talking to or what it is.
And so I think having likemultiple ways to learn something
or to teach something in anemail, written and verbal, and
in a video, if you can all ofthat can be really, really
helpful when it comes toproviding clarity.
Kate (37:39):
Something we'll also use in Buzzsprout is GIFs and emails
.
Or somebody says thank you,we'll send them a little GIF
back, and not directly likecommunicating information, but
communicates like personalityand things like that, and I feel
like it throws people off, butI love them.
Priscilla (37:58):
It really brings the personality into it.
And our first tip was be human.
Write how you speak.
Use a GIF like show yourpersonality was be human, write
how you speak.
Use a GIF like show yourpersonality.
That is such a big connectorwith your customers to show your
personality and to connect on arelational level.
So using a GIF, using an emojior a well-placed joke or
something like that, all of thatis really really helpful when
(38:19):
it comes to building thatrelationship side of things.
And that all falls under theumbrella of writing well.
So writing, especially forcustomer support, can be really
difficult, but the more you'reintentional about how you write,
the better you will become atit and it will take that room
for misunderstanding and it willshrink it as you use some of
(38:41):
these tips in your writtencommunication.
It's never going to be perfect.
There's always going to bespace for miscommunication.
With written communication.
There's never going to be aperfect situation, but using
some of these tips can helpbring that down and hopefully
can help strengthen theconnection between you and your
customer when you're limited towritten communication.
(39:02):
Written communication Okay.
Time for support in real lifeour segment where we discuss
real life support, experiencesand questions.
Jordan, what question do youhave for us today?
All right, so today.
Kate (39:16):
I have a question from Reddit and I thought this was a
really good one for you and Kate.
So it says hey everyone, I'mcurious about how you all
approach that crucial firstinteraction with a customer.
What techniques or strategiesdo you use to build a genuine
connection?
Priscilla (39:29):
right from the start.
That's good.
I mean that's good and I wouldsay, just like rewind and listen
to this full episode, go backand start over.
I mean that first interactionis so crucial because if
someone's never reached out toyour company before, this is the
first time they're getting anykind of like personal connection
to you.
And if you aren't intentionalabout that first interaction, it
(39:53):
could be really not a goodexperience.
And so you have to beintentional.
You know you want to find thatpersonal touch.
So spending some time, like wewere saying before,
understanding the context of thequestion, understanding their
account, knowing those kind ofthings, and then finding that
personal connection.
So for us, we work inpodcasting, which is really fun
(40:13):
because a lot of our podcastershave really fun content that
they're making podcasts about.
So if someone writes in andthey're having an issue with
some technical something buttheir podcast is about the
Denver Nuggets, well then we canuse podcast is about the Denver
Nuggets.
Well then we can use thatinformation about the Denver
Nuggets to make that connectionwith them.
You know you can go look up thescore of the game last night
(40:33):
and say, oh man, I see that theNuggets won last night's game,
something like that, to findthat connection.
Because imagine how strong thatis when you're writing into a
support team and they come backand they've taken the time to
know a little bit somethingabout your account that maybe
they wouldn't have already knownand then they bring it up and
it finds that personalconnection.
That's really important.
Kate (40:55):
Yeah, I love that, and I think it can be as simple as
making sure that you includetheir name.
Or, instead of just sayingclick on your episode title, you
list one of their actualepisode titles, like my
favorites of our podcasters iscalled Chickens Every Day.
It's like a podcast of like agrandpa and his grandson talking
about chickens.
That's so fun.
Even including your podcastChickens Every Day is looking
(41:19):
great Like including.
That indicates that you didn'tjust skim their email, that you
actually looked at their accountand you know what their episode
titles are.
Priscilla (41:27):
And things like that.
Yeah, and if you're not inpodcasting like, maybe you know
their location, maybe you knowthat they are based in Texas and
you can say something about theweather in Texas or you can,
you know, somehow connect thosethings and make it personal.
The goal is to find some kindof connection that's outside of
the product, specifically inthat first email, so that you
(41:51):
start to build that relationshipand it shows them right off the
bat hey, you're talking to areal person, you're talking to
Priscilla, who is on thepodcaster support team for
Buzzsprout.
Like, I am a person.
I think a lot of times,especially with customer support
right now and with AI where itis, there's a lot of skeptical
thought about am I going to geta person or am I going to get a
(42:12):
robot?
When I get a response here andso, right off the bat, showing
them hey, this is actually areal person, and I'm going to
make it clear that it's a realperson because I'm going to find
some kind of piece ofinformation to connect on.
I think that can be reallystrong.
Kate (42:26):
Not only that, when people are writing in to support,
they're probably dreading it.
They don't want to write in toyou.
So I think like, yeah, juststarting off, like being
friendly and thoughtful andintentional, it can make them go
okay, this is going to be allright, this isn't so bad.
Priscilla (42:43):
Yeah.
And then the other side of thattoo is you want to make sure
you're answering all theirquestions.
Right, because you can be superpersonal and if you don't
answer all their questions, theyreally aren't going to care.
It's not going to matter ifthey made a comment about the
Denver Nuggets, if they didn'tanswer your question about
annual plans, and so you want tohave that personal connection,
but you want to make sure thatyou're giving them a good
(43:05):
quality answer to the questionsthey're asking so that they have
confidence in reaching out toyou in the future.
It builds that trust betweenyou and the customer when they
know oh, if I write in, not onlyam I going to get a personal
response, I'm also going to getan accurate and thorough
response from this support team,because they're actually taking
(43:26):
the time to answer all of myquestions.
And then, on top of that, makesure you show your work to the
customer.
When you write an email back tothem, tell them that you logged
into their account and youlooked at their billing plan and
that you saw X, y and Z,because you can answer the
question.
But if you also tell them youdid that, that reminds them that
, oh, this person is really onmy team.
They're taking the time tofigure this out for me.
(43:47):
You might think it's a giventhat you did that, but they
might not know that that waspart of the process, and so you
kind of show your work a littlebit.
It builds that trust with yourcustomer.
I love that.
All right, so remember to shareyour questions with us by
emailing us at happy to help.
At buzzsproutcom, you can sendquestions in.
You can send stories in.
You can use our fan mail linkin our episode show notes to
(44:11):
send in any information.
You want to send in stories,questions.
We'd love to hear all of it,and each week we pick one
question or story to discuss.
So send them in.
We would love to hear from you.
Well, thank you, kate forcoming.
It was really fun to have youon the podcast and to talk about
writing.
I think this is something thatwe can stand to focus on a
little bit more as we sharpenour skills and customer support,
(44:34):
and so I hope that this episodehas really inspired some people
to be intentional about theirwriting.
And thank you to everyone forlistening.
Now go and make someone's day.
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