copywriters

Choose Your Own Adventure

When I was a kid, I read RL Stine’s Give Yourself Goosebumps books. Anyone who was born in the mid 80’s will know what I’m talking about. If you weren’t, these books fell into the ‘choose your own adventure’ category. Fast forward to present day and I’m reminded of these books every time I call my bank – I choose my own adventure and it often turns into a nightmare!

Don't let your IVR become a nightmare for callers.

Don’t let your IVR become a nightmare for callers.

So how do you ensure your phone system’s menu (or Interactive Voice Recording) doesn’t become a nightmare for unsuspecting callers? Keep reading to find out.

Problem #1

The biggest mistake companies make when recording their menu prompts is choosing a staff member to record them. Sure, this is quick and easy – but often times that’s how the recordings sound to incoming callers. What’s more, over time these get rerecorded by other team members and end up a mix-match of varying voices and quality.

Solution?

Have a professional Voice Artist recording your messages. This will ensure you have a consistent sound across all levels of your phone system. A professional Voice Artist will also deliver a pitch perfect, measured read which provides your callers with a clear easy-to-follow menu system.

Problem #2

When a client or potential lead enters your menu system, they’re most likely thinking about several things at once. “What’s for lunch?” “What I’m going to do when I get off the phone” “What time is that meeting?” So when you throw 5 to 7 menu options at them, they get flustered and forget what their options were in the first place! The result? They hang up. *click*

Solution?

Try keeping your menu levels to a maximum of 3 or 4. We also recommend placing the command (Press 4) at the end of the subject (For account payable
) as this helps the caller navigate your menu and reduces caller drop outs. Our copywriters are experts in this field.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg! If you’d like to discover more helpful hints on improving your IVR menus and avoiding IVR nightmares, check out our Call Flow Tips Infographic here.

– Lachy

Content Is King

With the sweeping success of iPads and the mind-boggling reach of the internet, the publishing world has heard the same thing over and over again; print media’s days are numbered. Glossy magazines are experiencing dwindling sales and many have folded.

Editors around the world have come to the humble magazine’s defence and have said things like “you can’t read an iPad in the bath” and “you can’t get that tactile feel and pictures aren’t the same on a screen.” But you can’t just sit back and hope that Apple doesn’t release a water-proof iPad and that digital displays won’t improve. So what’s the answer?

Many publishers have taken the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach; jumping on the digital bandwagon and really expanding their impressive brand’s online presence.  What these big names have is just that; big names. Many have profited from their branding and expanded their reach to online mediums. Others, and I’d hate to name and shame, have not been as successful. They have diluted their brand through gimmicky online mediums and tacky Facebook pages.Conent-is-king

The most important point to take from this transition from printing press to pixels is that ‘content is king’. This sentiment has been echoed in many a magazine office. In her recent biography Former Vogue Australia Editor Kirstie Clements finished on a message of prevailing integrity, “The mediums have changed and will change again, but honest, intelligent content is still key.”

While the our Copywriters love a good sound effect and character voice as much as the next guy, we know that as soon as you say something like “just give us a call for more information” on the end of an on hold message you’ve lost your credibility. Ultimately if you have a potential customer who is waiting On Hold for you to return, getting them to give you a call doesn’t make sense and no amount of sound effects or music is going to disguise that fact.

No matter how great your website looks, or how interactive your new app is, content will always be important. So if you have a typo on your homepage or a clichĂ© in your On Hold production, don’t shrug it off. Take this opportunity to breathe new life into your content. And if you don’t know where to start, talented and modest copywriters will be happy to show you ways to deliver your business’ message to your callers in pithy 50 to 60 word bursts.

– Emily

Re-energising Your Script

I’ve discovered an epidemic – don’t worry, it’s not contagious! Update Inspiration Paralysis, or UIP, is where a long term client feels compelled to update their production, but becomes starved for dazzling new script ideas. The good news is there’s an antidote
 and it comes in the form of our creative copywriters!

If you think you’re suffering from UIP, inoculate yourself by reading the below tips us copywriters use to refresh and re-energise tired scripts.

Tired tone?
Adjusting tone is one of the simplest ways to re-energise your production and keep your core ideas intact. Think about how you want your clients to perceive your business and what mood you want to inspire when your clients listen to your message.

Take this message, for example;

[Company name] has fast become one of Victoria’s most reputable commercial joinery fit-out companies in the construction industry, and we work with some of Australia’s largest builders, developers and architects.  

Look at the mood this message inspires. It’s casual and a little bit dry – a simple stating of facts. We can safely say this message doesn’t do a lot to arouse callers’ emotions. The below example is the same message, rewritten with a more emotive tone.

Some buildings are destined to be landmarks and some are talked about even before their doors open to the public – [Company name] sets these standards, so let us make your vision a reality.  Enquire about project development today.

This shift in tone alters how it’s perceived by the audience and impresses upon the client the true level of the business’ expertise.

What’s your angle?
Another way to re-energise your production is to change the way you frame information in messages. To do this, stop telling your clients why you’re so good or why you’re the experts and start demonstrating it by using examples. Take a moment to look at your current messages and think about what it is you’re promoting, at its basic level. Is it speed, price or availability and convenience? Once you’ve done that, offer your clients an example of how you do this.

For example:
We’re currently involved in some huge projects that draw on our decades of industry experience and ability to provide customised joinery solutions for our clients.  The best part is you can view our work for yourself today: we’ve just completed our work on [a], [b], [c] and [d].  Find out more in a moment.

The lengthy list of examples dilutes the whole impression! Rather than having one message with four points, and replace it with four messages with one powerful example each.

For example:

first complex of its kind, boasting cutting-edge innovation and eco-friendly design right in the heart of Southbank.  [Company name] is proud to have played a part in this monumental development, providing a quality kitchen fit-out for 360 apartments.  This project allowed us to showcase the true scope of our design capabilities, as we produced over 20 varying kitchen layouts


So there you have it. Overcoming Update Inspiration Paralysis is simple when you apply the above techniques to your production! If you’d like help on updating your next production, contact your Creative Coordinator – they help dozens of clients overcome UIP everyday!

– Carly Wise