Skype recently suffered a well documented outage. As a sign of the value they place in their customers, they offered a credit voucher – a gesture I appreciated. What is interesting is that the execution used two different ways to talk about the same thing, with very different emotional results.
When I saw the first message, I felt really positive about something that would benefit me greatly in my day to day relationships.
Wow, 30 minutes speaking to family at home in Ireland is fantastic!
When I saw the second message, after redeeming my voucher, my initial good feeling was followed by disappointment and apathy:
Oh, it’s only a dollar…
Nothing about what Skype were offering had changed. All that changed was the way they phrased it. In the first, they placed the connection to people you care about at the centre, whereas in the other they placed the monetary value.
Think carefully about the words you choose to use.
Tags: skype
Thanks for posting this; I had the exact same experience and the exact same reaction, but you’ve really summed it up so nicely; it feels validating to see an emotional experience so well articulated and externalized, so thanks.
Thanks Steve! Good to know others had the same reaction.
Hi Paul,
I had the same feeling today when I saw the email; but to be honest, I wasn’t affected by the outage because I wasn’t using it, but I appreciate the gesture from the company and makes me feel more loyal to them. Also, I was reimbursed in a previous outage they had, so probably that’s why I continue with them.
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is required to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100% sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks