Dont Blow Your Email for the Sake of a Word!
| Category: Customer Service | Date: 2003-11-03 |
A prolific writer on...writing, Rudolf Flesch, was fond of telling this story:
Each year, he and his wife would exchange presents with some old friends. One year, the Flesches subscribed in the name of their friends to a magazine they knew they would like to read. The couple duly received a card notifying them that a gift subscription in their favor had been entered.
A month or two later, the intended recipients mentioned, with much embarrassment, that no magazines had arrived. Flesch got on to the phone immediately.
A lady listened politely and promised to attend to the matter right away. But many more phone calls were to be made, and many strongly worded letters written, including one to the Better Business Bureau, before the first issue arrived in the mailbox - almost a year later!
After all that the company wrote the Flesches a letter of apology. But how did they begin their letter, after all those months of intense embarrassment and aggravation?
"Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you have encountered with your gift subscription."
Flesh points out that the word inconvenience, as the dictionaries define it, suggests little more than a temporary or slight disturbance or annoyance, as in " I hope the new arrangement will not inconvenience you."
"Perhaps its only human nature," he philosophizes, "that whatever happens to me is to be taken with the utmost gravity; but whatever happens to you - even if its my fault - is never more than an inconvenience; just a slight spot of bother, hardly worth mentioning."
Why do I say over this story - apart from what it teaches us about Customer Service?
Im a fairly experienced writer, but I have to confess that, from time to time, people misunderstand what Im trying to say in an email communication. On occasion, this happens because of the difficulty in conveying the nuances of speech in a written message.
But more often than not, all the frustration could have been avoided, had I taken a few more seconds to read my message over again before clicking on the "send" button. Even more so, had I tried harder to put myself in the shoes of the people who would be reading it.
Perhaps, the very convenience of the email medium, the ease and speed with which I can dash off and transmit messages, is part of the problem. Were I an "old-fashioned" executive who dictated something to my secretary for typing, I would probably go over it carefully again when she would present her handiwork to me for signing.
Im all for informality in writing. Im in favor of writing the way you speak - as if the recipient were sitting on the other side of your desk. When writing, I always try to distance myself from the nervous habits and inhibitions that my schoolteachers, bless em, tried to bequeath to me.
But informality should never be at the expense of clarity. When youre distributing messages to a mass audience, this becomes even more critical.
Dont sink the ship for the sake of a single word!
About the Author
Azriel Winnett publishes "Effective Communication", a provocative free ezine focusing on human communication and interpersonal relationships. Look at past issues or subscribe at
hodu.com
:To contact see details below.
http://www.hodu.com
Each year, he and his wife would exchange presents with some old friends. One year, the Flesches subscribed in the name of their friends to a magazine they knew they would like to read. The couple duly received a card notifying them that a gift subscription in their favor had been entered.
A month or two later, the intended recipients mentioned, with much embarrassment, that no magazines had arrived. Flesch got on to the phone immediately.
A lady listened politely and promised to attend to the matter right away. But many more phone calls were to be made, and many strongly worded letters written, including one to the Better Business Bureau, before the first issue arrived in the mailbox - almost a year later!
After all that the company wrote the Flesches a letter of apology. But how did they begin their letter, after all those months of intense embarrassment and aggravation?
"Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you have encountered with your gift subscription."
Flesh points out that the word inconvenience, as the dictionaries define it, suggests little more than a temporary or slight disturbance or annoyance, as in " I hope the new arrangement will not inconvenience you."
"Perhaps its only human nature," he philosophizes, "that whatever happens to me is to be taken with the utmost gravity; but whatever happens to you - even if its my fault - is never more than an inconvenience; just a slight spot of bother, hardly worth mentioning."
Why do I say over this story - apart from what it teaches us about Customer Service?
Im a fairly experienced writer, but I have to confess that, from time to time, people misunderstand what Im trying to say in an email communication. On occasion, this happens because of the difficulty in conveying the nuances of speech in a written message.
But more often than not, all the frustration could have been avoided, had I taken a few more seconds to read my message over again before clicking on the "send" button. Even more so, had I tried harder to put myself in the shoes of the people who would be reading it.
Perhaps, the very convenience of the email medium, the ease and speed with which I can dash off and transmit messages, is part of the problem. Were I an "old-fashioned" executive who dictated something to my secretary for typing, I would probably go over it carefully again when she would present her handiwork to me for signing.
Im all for informality in writing. Im in favor of writing the way you speak - as if the recipient were sitting on the other side of your desk. When writing, I always try to distance myself from the nervous habits and inhibitions that my schoolteachers, bless em, tried to bequeath to me.
But informality should never be at the expense of clarity. When youre distributing messages to a mass audience, this becomes even more critical.
Dont sink the ship for the sake of a single word!
About the Author
Azriel Winnett publishes "Effective Communication", a provocative free ezine focusing on human communication and interpersonal relationships. Look at past issues or subscribe at
hodu.com
:To contact see details below.
http://www.hodu.com
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