Language of Support

Before you start writing

Use the data captured by Hubspot

We want to resolve issues/ frustrations as efficiently as possible. We slow this process down if we ask educators/ learners to provide us with information that we already have or make suggestions that we know are not relevant. Make sure you look at the information that we already have.

Experience your customers’ problems

Take a moment to gauge how the educator/ student/ parent is feeling when they contact us. Are they confused, frustrated, or are they really passionate about Mathspace and contributing to our vision?
Consider the possible reasons this is happening and suggest a possible workaround.

Conversation: “I am trying to do my homework and your app keeps crashing.”

Suboptimal	Optimal
Hi NAME, Try uninstalling and reinstalling the app. Checked that student is using current version of the app.	Hi NAME, That must be frustrating! I have passed this on to our engineering team to investigate and they will give you an update within 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have access to another device, please try using that.

Be personal, not colloquial

Start your message with Hi FIRST NAME when:
- you first answer the message
- you are joining the conversation/ taking over from another Mathspace team member, e.g. “Hi NAME, just taking over from NAME.”
- Do not sign off in a message- remember you are chatting, not writing an email. No need for “Kind regards, NAME”
- Localis/ze spelling for the user
- Write like you speak, as if you were talking to the person and use “I,” not “we.”
- Avoid slang e.g. “Yep,” “Yup”

Conversation: "I have a new teacher who hasn’t used Mathspace before. Can you run a webinar to show them how to use it?"

Suboptimal	Optimal
“Yup, no worries. When?” Cheers, NAME	Hi NAME, Yes I’d be happy to run a webinar for your new teacher. Please let me know a suitable time, or get them to book in a time using this link <calendly link>

Be empathetic, not overly apologetic

Have confidence in who we are and what we are doing.
Make sure you always explain the reasons why things work the way they do.
Use phrases, such as:
“I understand it’s difficult to…”
“Sorry,, this doesn’t work as expected right now.”
“In the meantime, try…”
“It’s best to…”
“You can…”

Conversation: "The worksheets look terrible when you print them out."

Suboptimal	Optimal
Hi NAME, I’m so sorry. I know our worksheets don’t print out well and I bet your children don’t like using them! I will pass on your feedback and hopefully it’s something we can fix for you ASAP.	Hi NAME, I know the worksheets don’t always print out very nicely. Mathspace is definitely designed to work best as an online platform. You can try using the snipping tool and pasting it into Word to print nicely.

Be concise

Keep the language as simple as possible.
Only reply to a conversation if:
you have valuable information
you need to gain valuable information
Direct customers to a relevant support article if possible.

Conversation: I keep setting my timezone to Sydney and it reverts back to London — Pam

Suboptimal	Optimal
Hi NAME, Thanks for sending us your feedback. We will look into this issue for you and keep you updated on its progress. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if there is anything else we can help you with. Kind Regards, NAME	Hi NAME, I have passed this on to our engineering team to investigate. In the meantime, I’ve set your account’s time zone to Sydney.

Be proactive

Think about what the greater issue might be.
Empower the educator/ student/ parent and make them feel smart.
Record feedback/ suggestions in ClickUp so we can keep track of what our customers need/ would like to see.

Conversation: Is it possible to edit a task and add more questions?

Suboptimal

Optimal

Hi NAME,

At this stage, there is no option to do that.

Hi NAME,

There currently isn't a direct way to do this. I will add this in as a feature request so that our team may look into it for future updates.

In the meantime, what you can do is to save that task as a template. Click the 'customise questions' button and add/remove questions before you assign it to your class. Just delete the original task created.