Words Matter
Join us for a weekly look at the world of content.
As I continue to work through the task of settling my later mother’s estate I continue to be amazed at the language that many organizations use when communicating with someone dealing with often complex transactions during an emotional period of grief.
Take for instance an invoice I received this week in relation to her last few months at her care-home. When I called to ask a question about an item on the invoice I was asked for the debtor number.
I wasn’t sure I heard them correctly so I gave them the invoice number that was printed in a large font at the top of the document (twice), I was told ‘Oh no, I need the number at the bottom of the invoice that starts with two letters.’ And sure enough when I scanned down the document there it was labeled Debtor No.
I asked the person I was talking to if this was the equivalent of an account number. Which she confirmed. - So why not use the label Account No. or Customer No.?
‘Debtor’ is a term that is loaded with negative and emotional baggage. My mother was never in debt her whole life. She would have been horrified to find such a label attached to her name.
This tells me that this particular organization only sees the people they deal with purely in terms of a financial transaction rather than as individuals.
We need to be very careful with the choice of words we use in our content. Even if you use a particular term internally as part of your process, it may not be suitable in a different context when read by someone outside your organization.
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Weekly #CX Thought
Not every aspect of customer experience is a direct interaction; often it’s an observation rather than a transaction.
Content Discovery Workshops - Now Booking for Q2/24
THE CONTENT POOL is offering a special discount on our two-day Content Discovery Workshops for newsletter subscribers and readers.
We are now booked for through to the end of February. That leaves two slots for March available, plus we have just opened up workshop scheduling for Q2/2024, and we wanted to make sure that as a newsletter reader you got an early opportunity to lock-in a date.
As a reminder during these on-site in-person workshops workshop we will:
Develop your content vision
Identify opportunities to leverage your content in new ways
Map out the path to transform your enterprise content.
It will be followed by two deliverables:
Key observations document
High-level content transformation plan
A quick overview of the standard workshop format can be found at https://the-content-pool.com/workshops/
If you would like more details, or you like to discuss reserving a date for yourself and your team to benefit from a Content Discovery workshop, just email us at info@4jsgroup.com
Sitting on the Desk
The Storytelling Animal - Jonathan Gottschall
Mariner Books (2012)
If you check out my LinkedIn profile you’ll see the first word under my name is ‘storyteller.’ I am a strong believer in the power of story, and it's a topic that has come up a couple of times on calls in the past week while discussing the power of the story in customer experience, but also its place as part of IT systems implementation.
I have several books on the impact of storytelling in business on my bookcase, but this one is one of my favorites as it looks at why stories resonate with us as a species. It lays out the concept that in some ways stories are like life’s ‘flight simulators’ in that they prepare us for how to deal with change. - And that’s an approach I like to take with all my clients.
Be It Ever So Humble…
What’s the hardest working corporate document you publish?
What document has the longest circulation and “shelf life.?
What document style has withstood literally centuries of technology changes and is as familiar today as it was 400 years ago?
Don’t know? - Look in your wallet, or on your desk. I bet you can easily lay your hand on an example.
The answer – your business card.
The business card has been around since the 17th Century. The first “trade cards” were developed in London and were used as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to merchant’s stores, as there was no formal street numbering system at the time. By the 19th Century the concept had become combined with the French “carte de visite” (or visiting card) that also first appeared in the 17th Century, to produce the modern business card that we all recognize.
So why do I consider it the hardest working document you produce?
Just think of all the thinks a business card must accomplish:
Say who you are.
Say what your job is.
Let people know how to contact you (and as technology increases so does the number of contact choices.)
Give the company name (and maybe a division name)Let people know what the company does.
Project the company’s culture and values through use of design, color and maybe even the type of card stock
All in a space just 3 ½ x 2 inches.
The business card can be a great marketing tool. And with relatively cheap production costs it’s easy to produce a set for almost every occasion.
I don’t give out as many as I used to, but you never know when you might need one. As well as a ‘digital card’ that I have on my phone I still have stocks of a a variety of printed ones for different occasions:
One for The Content Pool,
One as a freelance writer,
One to promote my last major book release
Plus I sometimes get special ones done for specific events like book signings and conferences or conventions.
Take a look at your business card, what does it say about you and your business?
In The Bookstore
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Till next time - have fun paddling in The Content Pool.
Alan Porter
The Content Pool™ is a division of the 4Js Group LLC
Indeed! I would add that all the words around death itself matter too. I was never fond of saying "passed away" or "left us" when explaining that someone has died.