Often copywriting is seen as an afterthought in digital work. Nail a killer strategy, design like picasso, develop the masterpiece then haul it back over to the client to plug in the content. However wordsmithing is not just a nice to have, it is essential to customer relationships! As the old advertising saying says “the customer is not an idiot, she is your wife.”
A recent experiement proved this point when they tested how customers react when an airline cancels a flight based purely on the email copy.
Respondents were asked whether the refund instructions would put them off flying with each of the airlines again.
- More than two-thirds were put off flying with Virgin again.
- More than half were put off flying with British Airways again.
- Just fewer than 50% were put off flying with Ryanair again.
The report says that airlines could therefore retain 12% more customers following flight cancellations if they altered the tone of their emails. Sure this maybe massively oversimplifying the situation given the number of factors when buying a flight, however it does prove that picking the right words is important.
