Your brand has a Voice. This voice has already been established through the many touchpoints your insured has with your brand: social, email, sales representatives, call centers, reviews… the list goes on, but let’s concentrate on your brand voice as your policy holders HEAR it - in the world of automation instead of text on paper.
If you’re using automated calls, then you know they are a quick and easy way to get a message across to your policy holders, but lousy automated voices experiences are barely tolerated anymore. In fact, these poor experiences will be more harmful to your brand than helpful.
It’s time to kick robo-call relicts to the curb.
Don’t use a Robot Voice. This isn’t Start Wars. There is just no reason to continue the façade, as you must know (from personal experiences) that there is never a scenario where a poorly executed robo-call creates loyalty. Your Robot Voices aren’t fooling anyone. It is no longer ok to communicate with policy holders in a way that shows you don’t care.
So now that I got that out of my system lets talk about your brand’s HUMAN Voice!
What, you don’t have one yet? We’ll, as SPLICE’s Audio Engineer, I have some suggestions for you to look out for when considering giving your brand the right voice:
Use descriptive words or phrases to determine YOUR voice.
You’re likely further along than you think. Technically you’ve already got a Human Voice - this is harnessed within each and every one of your employees, as they embody your company’s values and represents your brand with each spoken word. Whittle this voice down to a few key words that embody your brand and your company goals. At SPLICE we are Safe, Easy and Fun, and we have used this as a foundation for any communications or touchpoints with clients. Do the same in your organization to find your voice.
Be consistent at every touchpoint.
At SPLICE, we have a roster of carefully selected Voice Talents who will deliver a message consistently - each time. When looking to find your brand’s voice, you need to make sure that your voice is consistent and contextually accurate. For example, you wouldn’t want to receive a message letting you know that your payment is late in a tone of voice that comes across as patronizing or makes you feel like you’ve done something wrong.
Call centers may be a great way to deliver messages, but how do you ensure that the delivery and script are consistent? Come on, let’s get real. We humans can be flawed, we’ve got our ups and downs. Even the most positive person has bad days, and their voice carries a tone, intonation, speed, and inflection that will have an emotional impact on your insureds. So make sure you keep your messaging consistent, when using automation, and give your policy holders an option to transfer to a real human if they choose to.
What’s the message? Determine when you should reach out.
Believe it or not, your policy holder wants to hear from you! They want a connection, but this must be real and, more importantly, it must provide value. At every touchpoint, you have the opportunity to delight your insureds. So think about their journey with you, and find the areas that could use some improvement. Let’s use the following experience as an example:
Brian got into a car accident, and ended up with some minor damage to his vehicle. He likes a self-serve approach, so he submits his automobile claim online. Although the process is quick and easy, he is not sure if he has submitted the claim properly, and there is some uncertainty about what will happen next. A great proactive automated message in this scenario, would be to let Brian know that there is an email waiting in his inbox with his claim details, and that a claims adjuster will contact him in 24 hours. No guess work for Brian = a great experience.
Believe it can be better!
We’re human, we’ve got emotions and every interaction that we have has an emotion related to it. Map out your insured’s journey with your brand and discover what their feelings are at each step. Then you’ll be ready to see if you can improve those negative experiences. Let’s use the area of paying premiums as an example:
No one loves paying their bills, so there will likely be some negative emotion when it’s time to shell out money. But you can make this less painful, for your policy holders, by proactively letting them know that their credit card has expired, or that a payment was missed, and offer simple and quick ways to resolve this.
Messaging like this is especially important if your insureds have automated billing set-up, as they have given you all the information relating to their payment (including the expiry date). Meaning that they know you could have reminded them. Will you choose not to?
All in all, a brand voice should reflect who you are as a company - what you promise and deliver. If you are able to determine the voice that fits your brand, be consistent, contextually accurate, and never stop improving their journey, then your policy holders will have a more positive experience with you - creating that brand stickiness you’re after.
If you have any question about how we ensure our messaging meets these standards, give us a call!