Mind you, I have no problem with excellent customer service itself–my beef is with businesses always wanting to claim that they provide excellent customer service in their sales copy.

It’s kind of like the boy who cried wolf–so many businesses say it but few truly deliver, so customers don’t believe it when they see it these days.

In fact, a study from American Express showed 60% of consumers feel businesses aren’t making customer service a high priority.  And only 29% of U.S. consumers said their recent shopping experiences exceeded their expectations. (I’m actually surprised it was that high!

Be Specific to Be Believable in Sales Copy

Whenever I’m writing copy for a client, I quiz them about what they mean by “excellent customer service” or search their marketing materials to find something specific to say. Occasionally, I do find wows we can use to really set them apart from the crowd…

For example…

Buried in a lengthy marketing presentation for a web design business was a bullet about having 24/7 support center with U.S. operators. Hello! A huge frustration for business owners these days is calling into a support center and getting someone with minimal grasp of the English language.

It’s even worse when your website is down, you’re clueless about web stuff to start with and you know you’re losing sales. (His business does a lot of e-commerce sites.) So this was potentially a HUGE deal to his prospects and should definitely be featured in his sales copy!

But often, the client can’t come up with any good examples or they cite the typical fluff stuff (e.g. we’ll answer their calls and emails as soon as we can…as if that’s reassuring to someone about to give you their credit card!). And when I ask how that’s different from their competitors, they acknowledge it isn’t.

I then try to pin them down for some kind of specific–saying you’ll answer customer emails within 24 hours at least tells them something tangible, which is ALWAYS more believable.

Of course, the competitor is probably using the lame general “excellent customer service” line in their sales copy, so the client still comes out ahead!

Bottom line, kill the platitudes like “excellent customer service.” Instead, tell them exactly what that means and your copy will be stronger and more persuasive–without hype!

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