Response-to- Complaint Letter. Rhetorical Strategies for Writing

Transcription

1 Response-to- Complaint Letter Rhetorical Strategies for Writing

2 Timeliness Why? A faster response time means a more favorable customer perception Faster response times decreases negative word-of-mouth publicity Making contact quickly is essential to continuing a customer s story

3 Timeliness How-to Reflect immediacy with the date on the letter Use time-indicating words in the letter, like this morning or today or call with a short response if a written response is not immediate

4 Economic Fairness Why? Reparations answer the question, What can be done to fix the situation? Economic redress can include money, product replacement, or coupons

5 Economic Fairness How-to Include a coupon, check, or gift certificate in the response Give more than what is asked for if possible

6 Sincere Apology Why? Apologize for the inconvenience of the situation, even of not for specific elements of the transaction Font choice can be considered to convey friendliness

7 Sincere Apology How-to State the apology in clean, plain language: I am sorry; we are sorry; please accept our apology. Choose a friendly, yet professional, font to convey sincerity

8 Explanation Why? Give your customer the rationale for the policy or background information Providing an explanation lends perceived fairness to a decision An explanation allows the customer to see the big picture

9 Explanation How-to Take responsibility for what went wrong Use facts to support what happened Situate the customer s experience in the context of a bigger picture Include a plan for why and how it won t happen again

10 Establish Credibility Why? Confidence is important. Project character in your response A customer sees the organization as a whole, even if it was another department s fault.

11 Establish Credibility How-to Sign the letter with a title Communicate firmly when taking responsibility and delivering the solution

12 Attentiveness Why? Taking the complaint seriously The complaint must be viewed as legitimate Customers always expect a response to a complaint letter Impacts word-of-mouth activity and repurchase intentions A manger response shows an increased level of attentiveness

13 Attentiveness How-to Write a response letter every time Use words that convey the gravity of the situation Avoid taking anything personally Ask for another perspective and revise Ask a supervisor to sign or co-author the letter

14 Politeness Why? Bring polite contributes to a customer s overall satisfaction Personalization contributes to satisfaction Complicated by personal, situational and cultural variations

15 Politeness How-to Add a personal salutation Address specific concerns in the complaint Use modal verbs communicate a negative message, such as can, could, may, might (not should, must and will) Use down graders (just, somehow, think) Use politeness strategies more when referring to the person complaining and less when talking about the organization

16 Being Positive Why? Customers respond more favorably to letters with positive messages in them Negative surprises further anger the customerthey are already unhappy

17 Being Positive How-to Give more text space to positive messages and less to the negative Limit negative messages as much as possible

18 Alternatives Why? Alternatives allows the complaining person control in the situation Choices provide a distraction from a negative message

19 Alternatives How-to Give possible options to keep control in the hands of the customer

20 Friendly to Professional Typeface* *Mackiewicz, J. (2005). How to use five letterforms to gauge a typeface's personality: A research driven method. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 35 (3),

21 Friendly to Professional Typeface*

22 Friendly to Professional Typeface*