Better customer service with effective communications

“What’s this about, is there something I need to do?”

What we include in our messages impacts the customer’s understanding of them. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency is the developer of Suomi.fi Messages and provides a secure channel for sending electronic messages, but the sender is responsible for the content of the messages and making sure that they’re understood.

We often see customer feedback about how customers don’t understand the messages they receive or realise what they need to do next. Clearer messaging and an explanation of the context makes it easier for the customer to understand the message, improving their experience.

A good customer experience begins with the email notification

“Email notifications don't say that it was about an invoice, so I haven’t known to pay my bills. I can’t tell pointless notifications and invoices apart.”

The customer’s experience with a service begins with the email notification about a new message.

By default, these notifications have a similar message for all organisations. However, the notification doesn't give any details about the message. There are cases where further information would be useful to the customer.

That is why organisations can tailor and fine-tune the content of the email notification. They can:

• include information about the message in the subject line and the body text (e.g. invoice, appointment, request for information);
• emphasise the importance securely (such as by including the due date or the deadline for the required actions).

If the customer does not read their message within a week, they receive a second notification of an unread message. However, this second notification is not sent if the organisation has disabled reminder notifications.

“...unread message, unread message. It never ends...”

Organisations should assess the need for reminders on a case-by-case basis. It may not be worth the while to send notifications of an unread message for:

• read receipts,
• confirmations,
• other informational messages, or
• if the customer is sent a reminder through another channel.

Clear messages provide certainty for your customers

 “I couldn’t understand the message I got!”

It is common feedback from customers that they haven’t been able to understand the messages they receive or what they need to do. This leaves it to the customer to try and figure out what the matter is about.

Clear messaging benefits the customer, makes it easier to use your services, and reduces the likelihood of:

• unpaid invoices
• missed appointments
• customers not understanding their benefits or rights
• unnecessary calls to customer service.

When preparing message content, it is worthwhile to take the customer perspective and think about the service path. What is the purpose of this message? What does the customer need to make the process as smooth as possible? What are the options presented to them?

“I got a message telling me to submit papers to a service point. Where is that? What papers do they need?”

"Hi! Is there a way to respond to messages?”

A good message includes a response to the following key questions.

• What is this about?
• Why did I receive this message?
• Do I have to do anything? When do I have to do it? What do I do?
• What happens next?
• What is in the attachment or where the link leads to?
• Where do I find more information?

Organisations must also make sure that the necessary language versions of the messages are prepared and that the recipients get the messages in their chosen language.

Include the most important information in the message

“I had no idea what the attached file was about!”

With Suomi.fi Messages, you should always include the key details in the message; the attachment is supplementary.

However, sometimes users get notifications about a new attachment.

Information that the customer would consider most important must be in the message body – if the information is only stated in the attachment, they may find the matter hard to understand. It’s also possible for attachments to remain unread in the event of technical or practical difficulties.

“I’ve received an invoice and the message doesn’t say who it’s from. I can't even open the invoice or pay it.”

More than 80 % of users read their electronic official messages on a mobile device, either in a web browser or the Suomi.fi mobile application. You should therefore take mobile users into account when planning your message content. Reading a PDF on a small screen may be difficult and result in a diminished user experience.

A link to the correct service creates a sense of security

“Where do I even find the e-service that the message is talking about?”

Links are not allowed in email notifications for security reasons. However, a message sent through Suomi.fi Messages may include links to ease the process for the customer. Including links in electronic messages is safe, as Suomi.fi Messages requires strong identification and only approved organisations can use it to send messages.

“Hi! Can you add a link to the authority’s website and the log-in page to the messages? It feels pointless to first read the message, log out, and then log in again on the authority’s website.”

A direct link to the e-service makes the process easier for the customer and eliminates the need to find the correct service with a search engine or an AI application.

“I understand why a link to the service isn’t in the notification, but finding one through a search engine is surely less trustworthy than including it in the Suomi.fi message.”

Even if you direct the customer to an e-service to read the document, you should also use the Suomi.fi message to tell them what the document is about, summarise its content, and if they're expected to do anything (such as: “your child has been granted a place in early childhood education, accept the place within 14 days).

Timing may be important

“Why do all the emails come at night?”

According to feedback, the timing of the message also has an impact on the customer experience. If an organisation sends a message to their customer in the middle of the night, that is also when they receive the notification.

“Development proposal: can you time the Suomi.fi notifications at different times of day?”

A message that arrives in the evening or at night might go unnoticed, be forgotten by morning, or be confusing. Notifications that arrive at night or during weekends may also make the message feel less trustworthy. Always consider the timing of the message from the customer point of view.

What makes for good messaging?

The recipient won’t be looking at the notification, message, attachments or links as individual parts.

You can assess the transaction by asking the following questions:

• Does the customer notice that they have received a message?
  An email notification makes the customer aware that they have a new message.
• Does the customer understand what the message says?
  Clear and understandable message content reduces unclarity.
• Can the customer find the information that they need?
  A Suomi.fi message should include all the information needed to handle the matter. Attachments are for additional information.
• Does the customer know what to do next?
  Links and instructions help the customer to easily resolve their matter.
• Is the message sent at an appropriate time?
  Timing has a significant impact on how quickly the customer reacts to the message and if they think it’s trustworthy.

Customer feedback indicates that even small improvements on any of these points can make the services significantly easier for customers.

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency has created instructions for organisations on the designing the electronic message and notification.  It is possible to improve the customer’s experience with effective messaging and the various features of Suomi.fi Messages.

Features for electronic messages:

• editing the subject and content of the email notifications
• hiding the name of the sender in the notification
• adjusting the unread message notification settings
• formatting of the message body (bolding, bulleted lists etc.)
• adding multiple attachments to a message.

Henna-Maria Vähämäki, Senior Specialist, Digital and Population Data Services Agency

The quotes are from feedback received by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.