System messages and autoresponders

don't leave these to the tech team!

[tedster]

This one crept up on me with a client. It wasn't until I went on a good "tire kicking" spree that I discovered that tech folks should not be writing ANYTHING that goes to the customer. Not anything - not server error messages, nothing.

These automated messages carry a heavy load in communicating to customers, and yet site owners tend not to acknowledge this, or review the messages very often -- if at all.

One of the 3 largest carriers of parcels in the US replied to a recent request for tracking information with an email that had a subject line of "Re:" and a message that began something like this: We have parsed your recent message and retrieved the following data.

Then there was a blank space - and no data. Next came the advice that the recipient should call "the carrier's" customer service. But the email header said it came FROM the carrier's website. Apparently this kind of communication was an outsourced function. The CEO of "the carrier" certainly would not be happy to see this, but I doubt he/she ever gets to see these messages.

In another case, principal navigation links on a website were actually querying a database. But when a link malfunctioned, the visitor got a message saying "incorrect data form in query". The site visitor didn't even KNOW they just queried a database -- as far as they knew, they just clicked on a link and got scolded. Changing this message increased pages per visitor by a nice uptick.

I've found that re-writing all system messages and autoresponders in human language, with an eye to handling as many oddball situations well as is possible, makes a significant difference in customer ease. From my experience with Amazon, for example, I'd say they do this job extremely well -- and I've been taking a lesson from them.

Copy and content are more than an "on page" issue.

[molsmonster]

This all falls into the category of client/guest relations. It is sadly not recognized that poor communication can be a turn off to the client. Client/guest services should be of primary importance to any business, especially the smaller businesses trying to cut a niche for themselves. I love the old excuse,"the computer must have made an error." I want to scream,"it was not the computer which made the error, it was some one programming who made the error."

[hannamyluv]

I just did this a few weeks ago. I swear the the techs can make the simplest phrase far more complicated than it should be.

I only noticed it when testing something else that was going up on the site. I read an error message and thought "Oh, my God! Our customer's will have no idea what that means."

[rogerd]

Great point, tedster. Marketing people rarely see the messages coders put into form processors and the like. I've seen some odd or poorly written messages on otherwise professional sites.

Custom error pages are a good thing to check, too. Naturally, every site should have an attractive custom error page that displays site navigation options, popular topics, etc. But beware of the custom error page a coder uploads - if the "real" error page doesn't get designed, your visitors could get something that doesn't encourage them to stay on the site.