Quick Info:
| Why care? | When a customer hears the same words that they use to describe something they need, it’s a fast connection. |
| Cost: | FREE |
| Who should do this: | Businesses who want to connect with their customers (aka everyone) |
| Platform: | Blogs, Emails, Social Media, and other written content |
| How? | Read on… |
Why is it important?
As much as we want to show off our knowledge, it’s not always the best way to connect with our customers.
Think about a doctor. If you have to go to the doctor, and they start throwing technical jargon at you without explanation, you won’t understand a thing, and that could make you feel overwhelmed and untrusting of the treatment they prescribe.
It’s the same with your business. You can use as many industry-related terms as you like, or try to sound intelligent by speaking in a way that would separate you from your audience. However, instead of being impressed, it’s way more likely that your customer will move on to find someone easier to understand and relate with.
That is why we need to treat the copy we write like an in-person conversation and echo the same language that our customer uses to make them feel heard & understood.
Gathering Information
The best way to understand your customers is to engage with them and listen to the words they use to engage back. You can do this in endless ways: use a poll on social media, send an email questionnaire, or post regular content on social media where you ask people to leave comments.
Pay attention to how they respond. What words are they using? Are there certain phrases or slang that come up more often? Pay extra close attention to the words they use when they describe their problems/frustrations.
Creating the Echo
Now that you know what words and phrases your customers use in daily life to describe their issues, you can be sure to use them across your content.
Turn customer questions into responses. You can do this using a couple of different formats:
Turn the customer’s statement into a question to get more information.
“I need to know more about X.” “You need to know more about X?” “Yeah. X and Y don’t work for me.” “Ok, here’s how to fix that.”
Reiterate the problem with the same words in a different order.
“I’m having issues with X and Y.” “If Y and X are giving you issues, here’s how we can help.”
Use their exact words in your solution.
“If you need to solve X and Y, then you need to try this product/service!”
Echoing their language proves that you’re listening to your customers, that you understand their issues, and (most importantly) that you care about them.
Brand Voice Guide
One way to keep ahead of the curve is by creating a dedicated guide for your brand voice.
Use it to keep track of the words to echo, your overall tone, words you use all the time, words you don’t use in your business, and anything else related to your brand voice.
Once you have a guide in place, echoing your customers will be a breeze.
Today’s task
✅ Go through your recent customer interactions and check their responses. Then, create a document where you can record all of the questions that people ask you and all of the praises they send you. You’ll be able to pull from these lists every time you create content. You’ll be amazed at how responsive your audience will be!
✅ Bonus points if you remember to add to them each week, so it’s always up to date.
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