By Tam
Not to sound hateful, but I’ve been waiting for an apology and not in the I-told-you-so way. More in the you-broke-my-stuff way.
I’ll explain.
Three, my network, went down last week. I went to work with only the train window to keep me company.
A state of semi-bliss shared by nobody else, apparently.
The shutdown happened on my commute, on route to a day’s work that includes – amongst other things – writing apology notes for brand teams.
When missteps happen, someone has to explain them. If you’re a big enough company, you have a copywriter do it for you. They’ll make sure you sound normal, even likeable, in everything you put out, apologies included.
Hence my interest into how Three would do it.
As phone networks come, their tone is pretty spicy. I like it. It’s carefree, funny. Their language doesn’t try and be inclusive.
A giant disco sized ball drop was going to test their grovel. (When competitor companies write apology notes, it’s professional voyeurism for a copywriter.)
There are a few ways to say sorry. The most important being you’ve got to sound like you mean it, or else you’ll be seen right through. Talk human, act corporate.
(Our client EE always balance their apologies with actions, for example. They also always thank their customers for sticking around. It’s nice.)
Three took a scattergun approach to saying sorry. They swung from childish tweets to emails that sounded like your plumber and your spam box at the same time.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you’re going to have a big bold tone of voice, you should make it count when you’re saying sorry. You don’t have to ditch it: you just have to be a little bit more human about it.
Jack W sometimes runs a workshop on writing great apologies (something he’s forced himself to have quite a lot of experience in). Here are his four steps for doing it well:
STEP ONE: ADMIT WHAT YOU DID
Say what went wrong: Our phone network went down. We sent your parcel to the wrong address. I ate your delicious cold plums. Whatever it was, own it, so that the person you’re saying sorry to knows that their actual grievance has been addressed.
STEP TWO: UNDERSTAND AND EMPATHISE WITH THE SPECIFIC EMOTION YOU CAUSED
A good way to be human is to show a basic understanding of how emotions work. Don’t panic – we’re not asking for a full therapy session. Just an acknowledgement that when you couldn’t use your phone for a couple of days because of our actions, that might have been annoying for you. Easy.
STEP THREE: SAY SORRY. PROPERLY.
Not sorry for any inconvenience caused, or please accept our apologies. That feels like a box-ticking exercise, a way of managing the reaction of the person you’re apologising to. Say sorry, like your mum taught you.
STEP FOUR: MAKE IT RIGHT
Say what you’re going to do to make the situation better. If you can, give something away. So: Last week, our phone network went down for two days – we understand how frustrating that must have been and we’re sorry. We’re going to take 25% off your bill this month and give you a free pizza to make up for it. Text PIZZA to this number to claim.
Are you listening Three? We said Pizza.
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We run a one-hour course on writing better apologies. If you think your organisation could benefit from learning how to saying better sorries (and making better connections in the process), get in touch