With H2H in mind, we look at some ways to increase the personality, emotional intelligence, and overall ‘human touch’ of your copy and communications. How can brands stop speaking like a business and start speaking like a human?
Language and Tone
As higher numbers of people are using voice commands on their mobiles and tablets, they look for increasingly more natural communications. Formal and unnatural language is hard to read, and can frustrate and alienate consumers, so it is important to create copy and content that is as close to natural speech as possible.
Find a balance between formal and totally informal – slang and emoji’s are not necessary, however a relaxed tone with a human voice is. The customer service page can be a good place to start, choosing language that is relatable and friendly to encourage feedback and engagement.
Customer Service
Great customer service will boost a brand’s reputation, creating loyal customers who keep coming back. However, many brands offer only cold, business-like communications which tend to frustrate customers. 83% of US consumers prefer dealing with a human being over digital channels, so it is a wrong move to offer only ‘human-less’ services.
Human communications should not only be kept for complaints and problems, instead, offer friendly, chatty service constantly both in-store and online. An online shop assistant can be a fantastic way to introduce the human element to the digital experience – though it requires technology to pull it off on a big scale.
Introducing AI does not have to negate the ‘humanity’ that people enjoy, in fact, it seems that brands who use AI can generate greater levels of customer trust. So long as the customer is aware that they are talking to a bot rather than a human. To further improve this experience, a brand should sense when a human should step in and take over, to provide the best CX possible.
Be Flawed
Showing your flaws, admitting you were wrong, and openly and genuinely apologizing are all very human characteristics, and so you should employ them for your brand whenever necessary. Companies that have acted honestly, admitted fault, who apologized in a meaningful way and who have done everything possible to remedy the situation can actually see a boost in trust and reputation.
Emotional Data
Data can show demographics and generalised information that can be useful to a brand, however, it can also show ‘emotional data’ which can be used to create stronger relationships between the consumer and the company. By tapping into the emotions of the consumer, a brand can make more relevant, engaging and human experiences. For example, eBay created the first ever ‘emotion powered’ pop-up which used biometric sensors to monitor which items had the strongest emotional reaction in their customers, turning emotion into intelligence.
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