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The good, the bad and the smugly

The good, the bad and the smugly: how to communicate well during the Covid-19 lockdown

They’re all at it. Banks, doctors’ surgeries, supermarkets, travel agents, courier companies we used just once four years ago – they’re all emailing us. Some are checking how we are. Some are letting us know how they are. And many are just trying to make an honest buck. But while some, like Sainsburys, have nailed it, others haven’t quite captured the right content or tone of voice. So, here are my thoughts on who’s communicating well – and not so well – during the Covid-19 lockdown.

If you’d like to improve your copywriting skills, I run several writing courses for the PRCA, including Proofing and Editing Your Own and Other People’s Writing on 7 May 2020.

Quick and honest

Anyone who knows anything about crisis comms will understand the need to get in touch with stakeholders pronto. Even if there isn’t much to say, that early and honest contact will pay dividends when the crisis is over.

Berkshire Aerial Services emailed me on 18 March 2020 (a week before the lockdown) with a simple but reassuring message.

 

 With the spread of coronavirus, you may be rightly concerned about the risks involved in having an installer visit your property. The situation in the UK is developing all the time and BAS (Berkshire Aerial Services) is committed to working hard to assess and reduce the risk of infection to our staff and customers and also reduce the impact to our operations. We are currently operating as usual. 

Okay, I would have written it in the first person, put BAS in brackets, removed the unnecessary “is committed to working hard” and shortened the middle sentence. But the writing still sounds honest and human. And it goes on to list what they’re doing, clearly and concisely, without bragging.

Keep it concise

Let me emphasise that ‘concise’ doesn’t mean ‘short’. Sometimes we do need to say a few words to soften a harsh approach and reassure our readers. ‘Concise’ means no wasted words.

However, my local theatre, took the ‘if we use lots of words, we’ll soften the blow’ approach a little too far with its pre-lockdown email.

As a valued patron, it is with great regret that we need to let you know that we have today decided to postpone our production of Anne Boleyn until the autumn.

Not only have they used the horribly insincere ‘valued patron’, they’ve used it in a dangling modifier. (Grammatically speaking, if you insist on using the ‘as a valued whatever’ opening, it should be ‘As a valued patron, you might like to know that…’ or ‘We are writing to our valued patrons to let them know…’) That, coupled with verbosity akin to Yes Minister’s Sir Humphrey, gives what is essentially a considerate message an insincere feel.

I’d have gone with:

“With the future of public events looking uncertain, we’ve decided to postpone our production of Anne Boleyn until the autumn. If you’ve already bought tickets, our box office will be in touch to arrange a refund.”

But it’s not just small businesses who are getting it wrong. Some of our biggest brands clearly aren’t thinking through their communications.

Trust Loaf to take a creative approach

As M&S and John Lewis send me ‘inspirational ideas for spring’ emailers, Loaf (the squidgy sofas and furniture company) has been true to its brand and taken the ‘you don’t need to spend money to have fun’ approach.

 Each week, Loaf sends out a daft little quiz/game/competition emailer. When the last thing on most people’s mind right now is forking out several thousand quid on a new sofa, this clever way of promoting its products (discreetly) means you never feel you’re being sold to. The answers to the games are a week and a click away on their ‘laid-back’ blog.

They haven’t given up on selling (see ‘clear out’ in red above) but they are burying it at the bottom of their emails, under the fun stuff.

This isn’t just isolation marketing…

M&S on the other hand, can’t resist trying to sell us something. Maybe I’m being unfair. Maybe I fit the ‘she’s got enough income/savings to redecorate and do a beauty makeover now that all her meetings are on Zoom’ target group. Maybe others are only receiving emails on how M&S is supporting the NHS right now. (Which they are.)

 Plants are a proven mood-booster. Go faux if you lack a green thumb. 

Turn the blank wall behind your desk into an inspiring gallery with photographs, artwork and magazine tears.

Either way, couldn’t M&S have made the home office shots a bit more realistic and the copy a tad less patronising? “Magazine tears.” Huh?

That nice chap from the warehouse

I fully appreciate that retail has been really hard hit just now and that without sales there’s no income. I’m not criticising any organisation trying to push their wares. (Heavens, what kind of hypocrite would that make me? Why am I writing this blog post?)

But if John Lewis is going to ask some of their team to share how they’re spending Easter at home, couldn’t they at least have asked Bob in Packaging to say a few words?


Is it only me that finds it odd that the three people quoted in the ‘making the most of Easter at home’ email are from marketing? Matt is the ‘Partner & Head of Loyalty & CRM’,  Olivia is ‘Partner & Loyalty Marketing Manager’ and Faye is ‘Partner & Marketing Executive’.

Thames Water gets WIIFM

When I’m not banging on about getting rid of clichés during my teaching and training, I’m constantly reminding students to think ‘What’s in it for me’ (WIIFM). Not me the writer, of course, me the audience.

I’ve had a few emails from rail companies thanking their employees for keeping the trains running right now. Which is nice. But it does run the risk of sounding a bit self-congratulatory.

Thames Water gets the balance right with its plain English style and ‘what we’re doing for you’ approach.

 

It’s a challenging time for us all, but at Thames Water we’re doing all we can to make sure the essential services we deliver remain a constant you can rely on.

Our teams are out on the front line, making sure our pipes and treatment works are delivering – supplying fresh to, and taking wastewater from, 15 million people, including the region’s key workers, hospitals and care facilities. 

Respectful and realistic

 No industry has been harder hit during Covid-19 than the travel industry. While others might be able to get straight back to work pretty sharpish (I’m thinking hairdressers, builders and other trades), the travel industry is only too well aware that few us will be rushing to book a flight anywhere soon.

We’ve been helping our customers discover their smile for decades, and, while our holidays are on pause, that’s not about to change. Let us inspire your future trips from the comfort of your sofa.

I like Tui’s ‘dreaming doesn’t have to stop’ approach. Using words such as ‘pause’, ‘inspire’ and ‘future’, they get round the potentially negative response from cash-strapped, locked-in customers. Nice.

Zoom almost nails it

I could write a whole blog on Zoom alone. I’ll save that for another time. Suffice to say that the virtual meetings company is currently experiencing the best of times and the worst of times.

As millions of us flock to the site to run our business or keep in touch with friends and family, Zoom has come under a lot of criticism for its security breaches.

As Eric shared last week, our commitment to strengthening and improving Zoom is our number one priority. We wanted to reach out with a quick overview of our latest release, and highlight the number of new enhancements created specifically for ensuring the security and privacy of our product. For more information of these changes, please reference our Release Notes. 

The majority of their emails are good. Lots of short sentences and paragraphs. Well structured. Focused on key issues first. But surely someone by now would have pointed out the dreadful “Dear Valued Customer” (with initial caps!!!) and “we wanted to reach out”. ‘We wanted to give you an overview’ would have sounded more sincere.

And the winner is… 

My top award for ‘how to communicate well during the Covid-19 lockdown’ has to go to Sainsbury’s.

 

Dear Lorraine

I’ve written to you regularly over the past few weeks as we adapt the way we work to keep our shelves full while keeping you and our colleagues safe. We continue to make changes in line with government guidelines and in response to feedback from you and our colleagues. I am writing today to tell you about measures we are taking to protect our customers and colleagues and to update you on our product availability and how we continue to support our elderly and vulnerable customers. 

Not only does Sainsbury’s write regularly, the words sound as if they’re actually coming from Chief Executive Mike Coupe. There is no attempt to ‘sound good’; it is good.

And it’s not just my opinion. I’ve spoken to loads of people, people who not only don’t notice ‘content and tone of voice’ let alone care about it, and they too say how good Sainsburys have been.

Incidentally, I received an email from Argos this morning, which was equally well written. In fact, the style was identical. Hang on a minute, thinks I, isn’t Argos and Sainsbury’s…? Yup. I scrolled to the bottom and there was ‘my friend’ Mike.

What we can learn from Covid-19 communications

All of these, and more, teach us what every good copywriter has always known. Know Your Audience. Know who they are, what they want and why they want it. But, above all, remember they’re real people.

If you’d like to improve your copywriting skills, I run several writing courses for the PRCA, including Proofing and Editing Your Own and Other People’s Writing on 7 May 2020.