Hello My Curious Colleagues! This Tuesday 6/11/24, on Episode #106 of the My Curious Colleague Podcast, I’m Curious about…Creating FAQs that Boost your Agent’s Confidence & Your Consumers’ Experience.
🌟 Tune in to discover how to craft the perfect FAQ that empowers your agents and enhances your consumer's experience.
Here's a sneak peek of some of what you'll learn:
🔹 🗣️Voice Matters: Ensure your FAQs reflect your brand's voice, especially for social media channels.
🔹 🔐 Transparency is Key: Balance sharing necessary information while keeping proprietary details confidential.
🔹 💪 Empower Your Agents: Equip your team with up-to-date product info and images to boost their confidence and engagement.
Don't miss this episode, packed with actionable tips to elevate your contact center! 🚀
🔗 Check it out now: www.mycuriouscolleague.com P.S. Visit my new website for past episodes, YouTube videos, and grab your free official sticker! 🎉
SPONSORSHIP: My new website – mycuriouscolleague.com - is sponsoring today’s episode. Do, check out my new website at www.mycuriouscolleague.com for more content, including past podcast episodes, YouTube videos, and even a free official sticker! Show your support for our function and for the My Curious Colleague Podcast. Let's keep learning together! 🙌
TRANSCRIPT: https://dashboard.transistor.fm/shows/my-curious-colleague-cpg-cx/episodes/106-curious-about-creating-faqs-that-boost-your-agent-s-confidence-your-consumers-experience/transcripts
#contactcenter #customerexperience #faq #customerengagement
#cpgcx #marketingtips #podcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Denise Venneri (00:01):
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast
with your host, me, DeniseVenneri. We'll be talking all
things consumer relations with afocus on consumer product goods
organizations and the brandspecialist and analyst roles and
responsibilities. So if you likeCPGs, like I like CPGs,
(00:22):
marketing, insights, and caringdeeply for your consumers, well,
take a listen. Hello, my curiouscolleagues. In this week's
episode, I'm curious aboutcreating FAQs that boost your
agents' confidence and yourconsumers' experience.
Now most people are familiarwith FAQs or frequently asked
(00:47):
questions on their favoritewebsites that they may visit.
Now, while there's some overlap,today, we're gonna be focusing
in and chatting about the FAQscreated for internal use by your
agents in your contact center. Ifound that marketers are
familiar with the concept of theFAQ, but surprised that they
(01:10):
often struggle with exactly whatto include for their contact
center. And if your goal in thecontact center is to partner and
guide the marketer in creatingtheir best FAQs, well, I've got
some tips for you. These aresome overarching FAQ tips to
consider before you really evenbegin to put pen to paper.
(01:34):
So this is a low lift. Take alook around. Does anybody have a
similar FAQ that you can sharewith the marketer? And I'm
thinking about something thatmay be, of course, similar in
nature. Is it a new product?
Is it a reformulated product? Isit a sweepstakes? And share that
(01:54):
with your marketer to leverageand get inspired by. Same thing
can be said for sharing publicrelations and sales targeted
FAQs. Ask your marketer to sharesome of these with you and make
sure they have their hands andtheir eyes on these so they can
also learn and get someinspiration.
(02:17):
The tip here essentially is toborrow with pride. But, again,
our goal is to guide themarketer to pivot the document
now for a different audience,which is your contact center
agents and ultimately yourconsumers. So they will have to
kind of think a tad differentlythere. Keeping the end in mind
(02:38):
is is very important. I mean,you wanna empower your agents to
feel confident when interactingwith your consumers to help
provide that great consumerexperience.
And you want to be deeply anticipatory,
reflecting your knowledge ofyour consumer when you go to
write the FAQs. Another tip isto be sure to reflect the voice.
(03:03):
Write the FAQs to be consumerfacing now and in the brand's
voice or tone. And as you know,this is especially important for
any FAQs that are modified forsocial media. This is one I know
that I've sometimes struggledwith and that is really to
(03:24):
understand the level oftransparency you can you can go
into with these FAQs.
Now there's gonna be some thingsthat are proprietary and
confidential, but where you canstrive for being as transparent
as business prudent. So a subpoint here would be, if you can,
(03:45):
utilize what I'll call a subbullet for an FAQ, an if pressed
statement, you've seen them, forthose appropriate situations to
go into more detail. After allthis, be sure to limit the info.
Keep your answers brief and moveto including links to articles
of relevant deeper information,if that's the best way to go.
(04:10):
Keep your agents in mind.
Create easy KB search. Createeasy KB searches. And what I
mean by that is be sure to namethe FAQ doc with the date and
clear description for agents tosearch easily in your KB or also
known as knowledge base. Anotherlittle trick is to include the
(04:32):
link to the FAQs in theindividual product pages in KB
versus, say, just a masterlocation. And, of course,
there's gonna be times whenyou're gonna need to gain
appropriate approvals.
So I encourage the brand topartner with legal and
communications teams to approvethe FAQs when and where
(04:55):
appropriate. And the last tiphere is an easy one. Relax. Keep
in mind that this is a livingdocument and can be edited once
the new brand is in market, andyour understanding of the
consumer FAQs needs are moredefined. Let's get into the
(05:17):
specifics.
As I mentioned in a previousepisode, there's about 10 types
of initiatives in a brand'smarketing plan. That contact
center should have that line ofsight too, and many of them
suggest a creation of an FAQ.I'll link that episode in the
show notes for you. But for now,let's focus in on, you know,
(05:38):
scenarios 1, 2, and 3, and theyare new brands, new sub brands,
excuse me, and even for lineextensions. So, again, we're
gonna be thinking about newbrands or new sub brands and
even line extensions.
So I I I need to say right nowthat I have more of an
(06:00):
understanding of CPGs, consumerproduct goods, and in
particular, food and beverages.So be sure to use this as a
guide and modify for yourspecific types of products.
Alright. Here goes. Step number1.
Hold the product in your handsor be viewing the packaging flat
(06:24):
digitally. Grab your marketingplan pitch deck. The brand in
you may be pretty familiar withthe details of the launch.
However, I want you to try toview the launch a bit
differently. This time, closeyour eyes, if it's safe to do
so, and envision you are a brandnew consumer looking at the
(06:46):
product for the very first time.
In other words, try to putyourself in the shoes of your
consumer. This episode issponsored by the launch of my
very first website atwww.mycuriouscolleague.com.
There, you'll find links toepisodes of all my podcasts,
(07:08):
YouTube videos, downloadables,and links to the podcast
accolades. Yes. Accolades andrankings.
There's even a store feature forfuture products. Right now, my
official sticker with thehashtag CPGCX on it is available
for free. So go on now to ordera sticker and show your pride in
(07:29):
our function and show yoursupport of My Little Podcast.
Okay. If it's safe, it's nowtime to open your eyes.
We're gonna go into the firstquestion, and it's easy. What's
the product name and the productdescription. So, specifically,
what's your brand name? What'sthe new sub brand? And describe
(07:53):
the product briefly.
Be sure to include if it'sregular, low sodium or low
sugar, low fat or fat free, andother subgroupings such as
those. And be sure to includethe various varieties under this
new sub brand and theircorresponding UPC codes. Also,
what is the product'spositioning? Briefly share that
(08:18):
and also include an image offront of pack. Next question is
start ship.
When will these products startshipping? Here's a pro tip. Ask
if an early start ship ispotentially planned, and note
that. Why? So you can have theseFAQs completed and trained by
(08:40):
the earliest start ship date, soyour agents will be at the
ready.
Availability is next. This hasgotten more complicated over the
past, you know, 15 years. Is ita national launch? Is it
regional? Is it retailerspecific now and then maybe
later national?
Is it Amazon only? Is it DTC ordirect to consumer only? Or is
(09:05):
it some other? Next is the typeof product and timing. This one
sometimes trips people up.
They don't realize why and howthis might be important. Now it
it's actually a little bit morerelevant when you talk about
line extensions, not necessarilynew sub lines, but you never
know. So what you wanna askyourself is, is this an everyday
(09:28):
item? Is it seasonal? Is itlimited time only or LTO?
And then depending on thatanswer, you gotta dig into the
timing. So for seasonal orlimited time only, you're gonna
ask, what are the months and theyear associated with this
timing? So you're looking forthat range that this product
will be on shelf, Or is it apromotional product as part of a
(09:52):
sweepstakes contest? Again,you're looking for dates. And
why that's important, of course,is you wanna hold consumers'
hands when they're looking forthe product during specific
times of the year.
Now I mentioned images and theproduct images, the front, the
back, the sides, they're all soimportant. So maybe though not
(10:14):
so much you have to have it inthe FAQ unless it's really,
really highly relevant. Butperhaps it's in an appendix or
part of a PowerPoint trainingfor the agents from the brand.
But at least, like I hadmentioned, have one image of the
front of pack. Now think aboutthe the packaging.
You're, you know, you're holdingthe product. There is this new
(10:36):
material for the packaging andor the lid, or how to get into
the product. Because if aconsumer cannot get into the
product, they cannot use theproduct or consume the product.
And, you know, you're out ofluck then. So you really wanna
make sure you can help themunderstand the packaging and how
to get into it.
(10:59):
Preparation. Is there any newprep behavior to use this
product or consume the product?Is it clear for consumers? Where
may a consumer get confused?Feel free to go into some sort
of central internal break roomand brainstorm with a couple of
trusted friends, and perhaps youcan steal from from that
(11:19):
session.
Now the ingredients label. Youmight wanna compare it to a
similar product for the brand.You know, take a look at your
package there. Is there aningredient new to the brand or
new to the subline that you maywant to have a definition or
glossary item for? Or can youanticipate consumers' questions
(11:40):
about maybe the placement of aningredient?
You know, used to be towards theend, and now it's towards the
top. Why is that? What are thebenefits? We're getting close to
the end of this list. Nutritionlabel.
Now some products require fullnutrition statement, some don't,
but if there's anything therethat may confuse a consumer that
(12:01):
needs explaining. So did didsome value go up or down or drop
off? You may wanna be at theready to explain that in
layman's term. Now look at thefront there, at the burst, I
call it, and that usually sayssomething like, now with, you
know, 20% more mushrooms,something like that. You know,
(12:21):
what does that mean to consumer?
In this case, alright. That kindis easy to understand, But what
can you anticipate or expectfrom them if a burst may be a
little bit more confusing? Andthen I've got here to round out
the list is what I'm callingtable stakes. So every FAQ
should have something like this,and they are: what is the SRP or
(12:44):
the suggested retail price? Thissupports your reimbursement
program.
Make sure you understand that.And things might be line priced.
That's fine too, but you wannaunderstand what it is and
confirm. What is the shelf lifebefore opening and after
opening, if relevant? What isthe storage timing before
(13:05):
opening and after opening?
And, what are the free of's, youknow, is it gluten, allergens,
you know, is it kosher? Thingslike that. And then also, which
becoming more and moreimportant, of course, is the
recycling instructions. Are theystandard as noted on the label
(13:25):
or is there something else? Isthere something special?
Make sure the directions areclear. If they're not, you may
need an FAQ. And then on theromance language, you may see
some ingredient sourcinginformation, which is great. I
love that providence and thingslike that, but be ready with the
layman's understanding to shareand or links created to deepen
(13:51):
the knowledge. Now I realizethis is a little bit more than
just a top line of my thoughtson this topic.
If you have a responsibility topartner with the brand to create
contact center internal FAQs andwant to share on a future
episode, do reach out to me onLinkedIn. Thank you so much for
(14:11):
your time. If you've learnedeven a kernel of an idea or was
inspired by this episode, pleaseconsider rating and reviewing
the podcast on Apple Podcasts.Be sure to share out the hashtag
CPGCX because CPGCX really andtruly rocks. You have been
(14:32):
listening to the My CuriousColleague podcast with Denise
Vineri.
Thank you for your time.
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast
with your host, me, DeniseVenneri. We'll be talking all
things consumer relations with afocus on consumer product goods
organizations and the brandspecialist and analyst roles and
responsibilities. So if you likeCPGs, like I like CPGs,
(00:22):
marketing, insights, and caringdeeply for your consumers, well,
take a listen. Hello, my curiouscolleagues. In this week's
episode, I'm curious aboutcreating FAQs that boost your
agents' confidence and yourconsumers' experience.
Now most people are familiarwith FAQs or frequently asked
(00:47):
questions on their favoritewebsites that they may visit.
Now, while there's some overlap,today, we're gonna be focusing
in and chatting about the FAQscreated for internal use by your
agents in your contact center. Ifound that marketers are
familiar with the concept of theFAQ, but surprised that they
(01:10):
often struggle with exactly whatto include for their contact
center. And if your goal in thecontact center is to partner and
guide the marketer in creatingtheir best FAQs, well, I've got
some tips for you. These aresome overarching FAQ tips to
consider before you really evenbegin to put pen to paper.
(01:34):
So this is a low lift. Take alook around. Does anybody have a
similar FAQ that you can sharewith the marketer? And I'm
thinking about something thatmay be, of course, similar in
nature. Is it a new product?
Is it a reformulated product? Isit a sweepstakes? And share that
(01:54):
with your marketer to leverageand get inspired by. Same thing
can be said for sharing publicrelations and sales targeted
FAQs. Ask your marketer to sharesome of these with you and make
sure they have their hands andtheir eyes on these so they can
also learn and get someinspiration.
(02:17):
The tip here essentially is toborrow with pride. But, again,
our goal is to guide themarketer to pivot the document
now for a different audience,which is your contact center
agents and ultimately yourconsumers. So they will have to
kind of think a tad differentlythere. Keeping the end in mind
(02:38):
is is very important. I mean,you wanna empower your agents to
feel confident when interactingwith your consumers to help
provide that great consumerexperience.
And you want to be deeply anticipatory,
reflecting your knowledge ofyour consumer when you go to
write the FAQs. Another tip isto be sure to reflect the voice.
(03:03):
Write the FAQs to be consumerfacing now and in the brand's
voice or tone. And as you know,this is especially important for
any FAQs that are modified forsocial media. This is one I know
that I've sometimes struggledwith and that is really to
(03:24):
understand the level oftransparency you can you can go
into with these FAQs.
Now there's gonna be some thingsthat are proprietary and
confidential, but where you canstrive for being as transparent
as business prudent. So a subpoint here would be, if you can,
(03:45):
utilize what I'll call a subbullet for an FAQ, an if pressed
statement, you've seen them, forthose appropriate situations to
go into more detail. After allthis, be sure to limit the info.
Keep your answers brief and moveto including links to articles
of relevant deeper information,if that's the best way to go.
(04:10):
Keep your agents in mind.
Create easy KB search. Createeasy KB searches. And what I
mean by that is be sure to namethe FAQ doc with the date and
clear description for agents tosearch easily in your KB or also
known as knowledge base. Anotherlittle trick is to include the
(04:32):
link to the FAQs in theindividual product pages in KB
versus, say, just a masterlocation. And, of course,
there's gonna be times whenyou're gonna need to gain
appropriate approvals.
So I encourage the brand topartner with legal and
communications teams to approvethe FAQs when and where
(04:55):
appropriate. And the last tiphere is an easy one. Relax. Keep
in mind that this is a livingdocument and can be edited once
the new brand is in market, andyour understanding of the
consumer FAQs needs are moredefined. Let's get into the
(05:17):
specifics.
As I mentioned in a previousepisode, there's about 10 types
of initiatives in a brand'smarketing plan. That contact
center should have that line ofsight too, and many of them
suggest a creation of an FAQ.I'll link that episode in the
show notes for you. But for now,let's focus in on, you know,
(05:38):
scenarios 1, 2, and 3, and theyare new brands, new sub brands,
excuse me, and even for lineextensions. So, again, we're
gonna be thinking about newbrands or new sub brands and
even line extensions.
So I I I need to say right nowthat I have more of an
(06:00):
understanding of CPGs, consumerproduct goods, and in
particular, food and beverages.So be sure to use this as a
guide and modify for yourspecific types of products.
Alright. Here goes. Step number1.
Hold the product in your handsor be viewing the packaging flat
(06:24):
digitally. Grab your marketingplan pitch deck. The brand in
you may be pretty familiar withthe details of the launch.
However, I want you to try toview the launch a bit
differently. This time, closeyour eyes, if it's safe to do
so, and envision you are a brandnew consumer looking at the
(06:46):
product for the very first time.
In other words, try to putyourself in the shoes of your
consumer. This episode issponsored by the launch of my
very first website atwww.mycuriouscolleague.com.
There, you'll find links toepisodes of all my podcasts,
(07:08):
YouTube videos, downloadables,and links to the podcast
accolades. Yes. Accolades andrankings.
There's even a store feature forfuture products. Right now, my
official sticker with thehashtag CPGCX on it is available
for free. So go on now to ordera sticker and show your pride in
(07:29):
our function and show yoursupport of My Little Podcast.
Okay. If it's safe, it's nowtime to open your eyes.
We're gonna go into the firstquestion, and it's easy. What's
the product name and the productdescription. So, specifically,
what's your brand name? What'sthe new sub brand? And describe
(07:53):
the product briefly.
Be sure to include if it'sregular, low sodium or low
sugar, low fat or fat free, andother subgroupings such as
those. And be sure to includethe various varieties under this
new sub brand and theircorresponding UPC codes. Also,
what is the product'spositioning? Briefly share that
(08:18):
and also include an image offront of pack. Next question is
start ship.
When will these products startshipping? Here's a pro tip. Ask
if an early start ship ispotentially planned, and note
that. Why? So you can have theseFAQs completed and trained by
(08:40):
the earliest start ship date, soyour agents will be at the
ready.
Availability is next. This hasgotten more complicated over the
past, you know, 15 years. Is ita national launch? Is it
regional? Is it retailerspecific now and then maybe
later national?
Is it Amazon only? Is it DTC ordirect to consumer only? Or is
(09:05):
it some other? Next is the typeof product and timing. This one
sometimes trips people up.
They don't realize why and howthis might be important. Now it
it's actually a little bit morerelevant when you talk about
line extensions, not necessarilynew sub lines, but you never
know. So what you wanna askyourself is, is this an everyday
(09:28):
item? Is it seasonal? Is itlimited time only or LTO?
And then depending on thatanswer, you gotta dig into the
timing. So for seasonal orlimited time only, you're gonna
ask, what are the months and theyear associated with this
timing? So you're looking forthat range that this product
will be on shelf, Or is it apromotional product as part of a
(09:52):
sweepstakes contest? Again,you're looking for dates. And
why that's important, of course,is you wanna hold consumers'
hands when they're looking forthe product during specific
times of the year.
Now I mentioned images and theproduct images, the front, the
back, the sides, they're all soimportant. So maybe though not
(10:14):
so much you have to have it inthe FAQ unless it's really,
really highly relevant. Butperhaps it's in an appendix or
part of a PowerPoint trainingfor the agents from the brand.
But at least, like I hadmentioned, have one image of the
front of pack. Now think aboutthe the packaging.
You're, you know, you're holdingthe product. There is this new
(10:36):
material for the packaging andor the lid, or how to get into
the product. Because if aconsumer cannot get into the
product, they cannot use theproduct or consume the product.
And, you know, you're out ofluck then. So you really wanna
make sure you can help themunderstand the packaging and how
to get into it.
(10:59):
Preparation. Is there any newprep behavior to use this
product or consume the product?Is it clear for consumers? Where
may a consumer get confused?Feel free to go into some sort
of central internal break roomand brainstorm with a couple of
trusted friends, and perhaps youcan steal from from that
(11:19):
session.
Now the ingredients label. Youmight wanna compare it to a
similar product for the brand.You know, take a look at your
package there. Is there aningredient new to the brand or
new to the subline that you maywant to have a definition or
glossary item for? Or can youanticipate consumers' questions
(11:40):
about maybe the placement of aningredient?
You know, used to be towards theend, and now it's towards the
top. Why is that? What are thebenefits? We're getting close to
the end of this list. Nutritionlabel.
Now some products require fullnutrition statement, some don't,
but if there's anything therethat may confuse a consumer that
(12:01):
needs explaining. So did didsome value go up or down or drop
off? You may wanna be at theready to explain that in
layman's term. Now look at thefront there, at the burst, I
call it, and that usually sayssomething like, now with, you
know, 20% more mushrooms,something like that. You know,
(12:21):
what does that mean to consumer?
In this case, alright. That kindis easy to understand, But what
can you anticipate or expectfrom them if a burst may be a
little bit more confusing? Andthen I've got here to round out
the list is what I'm callingtable stakes. So every FAQ
should have something like this,and they are: what is the SRP or
(12:44):
the suggested retail price? Thissupports your reimbursement
program.
Make sure you understand that.And things might be line priced.
That's fine too, but you wannaunderstand what it is and
confirm. What is the shelf lifebefore opening and after
opening, if relevant? What isthe storage timing before
(13:05):
opening and after opening?
And, what are the free of's, youknow, is it gluten, allergens,
you know, is it kosher? Thingslike that. And then also, which
becoming more and moreimportant, of course, is the
recycling instructions. Are theystandard as noted on the label
(13:25):
or is there something else? Isthere something special?
Make sure the directions areclear. If they're not, you may
need an FAQ. And then on theromance language, you may see
some ingredient sourcinginformation, which is great. I
love that providence and thingslike that, but be ready with the
layman's understanding to shareand or links created to deepen
(13:51):
the knowledge. Now I realizethis is a little bit more than
just a top line of my thoughtson this topic.
If you have a responsibility topartner with the brand to create
contact center internal FAQs andwant to share on a future
episode, do reach out to me onLinkedIn. Thank you so much for
(14:11):
your time. If you've learnedeven a kernel of an idea or was
inspired by this episode, pleaseconsider rating and reviewing
the podcast on Apple Podcasts.Be sure to share out the hashtag
CPGCX because CPGCX really andtruly rocks. You have been
(14:32):
listening to the My CuriousColleague podcast with Denise
Vineri.
Thank you for your time.
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