„Well done! You are now registered. “
„Congratulations! This was your personal best!“
“Have you been interrupted while shopping?”
“Remember: Your competitors keep tabs on new developments.”
Simple messages. Yet less targeted, they might sound like this:
„You have been registered.”
„Your training time was 14:07 minutes.“
„Do you want to resume your previous session?“
„You can now download the Whitepaper.“
There are many models and concepts on how to interact with customers. What they all need, however, is good writing. And the quality of the copy should be even better, when texts are short and user contacts frequent. Push notifications are required for virtually all apps and registration processes – and as such they are an integral part of all customer communications. Or at least, they should be.
The corporate language – including attitude, vocabulary, and tonality – shapes a corporate brand just as much as any visual design does. Equally, brand language and verbal tonality are vital brand elements also n marketing products and services.
Apps often address younger target groups, and the frequently originate from Start-ups themselves. Is it surprising then that the sound we hear is more direct, more emotional, even friendlier?
Nudging
Life-style, nutritional, and fitness apps can serve to have a closer look at emerging communicative attitudes in corporate communications. As we all know, good intentions often beat the personal stamina when it comes to exercising, dieting etc. etc. In order to sell their products or services, app designers are under pressure to address users in a way that keeps them going. Indoctrinations or guilt trips rarely work to motivate a user to keep exercising or losing weight. Push notifications are needed that keep people’s spirits going:
“Hey, this was really good!”
“Congratulations, you have exercised 3 times!”
“Had a short break? Continue where you left off!”
These ways of addressing target groups can also inform other forms and goals of communications, for example:
- Onboarding – after buying or starting a membership
- Re-engagement – to re-vitalise inactive users
- Warning – when notifying users on impending delays or limitations in order to avoid annoyance
“Congratulations! You have finished the article! Can I help you in any other way?”
This post was first published in German in my blog
http://www.elvira-steppacher.de/blog/de/