How to write
an email to/from India from ewriteonline.com/
This article will be especially
useful to you if you manage a contact center and employ offshore customer
service agents (in India, the Philippines, etc.) who write e-mail to American
customers. But if you’re more concerned with online writing for global
(non-American customers), please read our article Web Writing For The World:
Five Tips On Writing For Global Readers.
So, you’ve set up an offshore contact
center to handle customer inquiries. You realize that some of your American
customers may react negatively to agents who “sound foreign.” American
customers may have trouble understanding unfamiliar accents, so you’ve trained
your phone agents to sound American. But what about their e-mail? Their written
communication has a voice, too. E-mails from agents can “sound” offshore. But
to communicate successfully with American customers, offshore customer service
agents need to learn to write in American-ese. In this article you can read our
tips on how to help agents write e-mail to American customers, then read
examples of offshore e-mails, plus our analysis.
Truck
Or Lorry? Elevator Or Lift?
Most offshore agents speak British
(or Commonwealth) English as their first or second language. As we all know,
British English differs from American in some funny ways. In British, braces
hold up trousers and boots contain spare tires; in American, braces straighten
teeth and boots hold nothing but feet. But language always reflects culture,
and the cultural differences between British and American English can affect
how offshore agents communicate with American customers. British English tends
to be more formal and less direct than American English, traits that can cause
problems when offshore agents e-mail American customers.
Beyond
Accent Neutralization
Many offshore agents undergo accent
neutralization and cultural awareness training when they are hired to
communicate with American customers. Shelley Kwik-Mitchell, ClientLogic’s
regional performance director in Manila, describes the communication training
her agents receive: “We want our agents to understand their North American
customers, so we teach them about American names, currency, seasons, holidays,
and idioms. They learn about the difference between southern, Bostonian, and
Latino accents. We teach them about pronunciation differences — p and f, b and
v – and how to communicate effectively without an accent barrier.” And Sourav
Sinha of Greynium, a business process management company in Bangalore, has his
agents watch “Friends” for the insight it provides into American life and
language.
How
To Help Your Agents Write American-ese
But few companies provide training
in how to write American-ese. We only have to think of Dell’s 2004 decision to
route support requests from its corporate (read high value) customers to its US
agents and send individual (read lower value) customers to agents in India. The
implication about service quality is clear. Most offshore contact centers are
staffed by intelligent, hard-working, bi-lingual agents eager to provide
excellent support to American customers. But they need ongoing evaluation and
writing training; the grammar test they completed when they applied for the job
is just the start of knowing who these agents are as writers and helping them
improve their skills.
To enable your offshore agents to do
their job well, you have to incorporate writing skills into long-term training
plans. Good writing skills need maintainence. Companies that want agents to
communicate successfully with American customers need to invest in ongoing
writing training.
Quick
Fixes To Improve Offshore Agents’ Writing
Good training takes time and money.
But you don’t have to wait until your training plan is in place to begin your
efforts to upgrade your agents’ skills. In the meantime, provide access to
resources on American vs. British English: Colleen Cotter’s Lonely Planet’s USA
Phrasebook, Jeremy Smith’s American-British British-American Dictionary, or Wikipedia’s
article on American English. Choose a word or grammar issue
from each resource to review during weekly meetings.
Help agents recognize American
culture in American customer service writing. Collect e-mail exchanges between
American customers and onshore agents. Have offshore agents identify
differences between their writing style and the onshore agents’ style.
ClientLogic’s Shelley Kwik-Mitchell trains her staff to mirror the customer’s
tone in e-mail. “We tell our agents that their tone should be formal or
semi-formal, based on how the customer writes. If the customer writes an
informal e-mail the agents’ answer should be semi-formal.”
Today, American customers realize
they’re e-mailing offshore agents, but the responses they receive shouldn’t
remind them of physical or cultural distance. Each customer service e-mail
represents an opportunity to build rapport and business. When an offshore
agent’s writing seems too foreign, it’s harder for an American customer to feel
close.
Read two examples of e-mails written
by offshore agents, plus our analysis of why these e-mails won’t connect with
American customers.
Six
Tips For Writing American-ese
1.
Choose American Spellings
Write color instead of colour; honor
instead of honour. Write center, organize, and draft instead of centre,
organise, and draught.
2.
Arrange Information In An “American Order”
Americans are a bottom-line-up-front
people, so e-mails to Americans should avoid the indirect lead-in, the long
preamble, and the extensive greeting. American customers want their questions
answered directly and concisely. Even if you have to tell an American customer
no, do so up front, then provide an explanation or justification.
3.
Choose American Words
In American English, they are mobile
homes; in British English they are caravans. Americans say flashlight, subway,
and rent not torch, tube, or let.
4.
Use American Figures Of Speech
Americans may say a product has
passed the acid test, a company is above board, an upgrade has all the bells
and whistles, a new initiative is a lead balloon.
5.
Use American Grammar
Americans write that a community has
a drug problem, but the British write drugs problem. Americans study math not
maths. In American English, things happen on the weekend and athletes play on a
team; in British English it’s at the weekend and in a team.
6.
Adopt An American Tone
In American English, it’s “We’re glad to help” rather than
“It is our privilege to be of assistance to you.” American English tends to be
more casual: thanks rather than with gratitude and “Call me if you have
questions” rather than “Please feel free to contact me for any query or
clarification
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