Style Guide customization and best practices

The tone and style your support agents use are key components of your brand identity. That's why Assembled Assist offers the ability to fine-tune responses to closely align with your company’s preferred tone and style.

Creating a well-tuned style guide for Assembled Assist is not just about consistency—it's about empowering your support agents to get accurate, on-brand responses right from the start, reducing the time spent on rephrasing and edits. A robust style guide also makes it easier to implement organization-wide style changes, ensuring that your brand’s voice remains consistent across all customer interactions.

To update your Style Guide, simply navigate to https://cal.assembledhq.com/settings/style-guide as an administrator. You'll see the style guide adjustment page below:

Here you can adjust the general style attributes to your particular tone and style. To get a fully customized style, we recommend using the "Custom tone and style" text area to talk more specifically about what makes your brand unique.

Here are some key elements that you can use to make the "Custom tone and style" maximally useful:

1. Provide clear, actionable examples

• Illustrative responses: Include examples of well-crafted responses that embody the style you want to achieve. These examples should cover a variety of scenarios, such as addressing different customer concerns or responding in different contexts.
• Highlight key features: Break down examples to highlight specific features, such as phrasing, structure, or word choice. This helps users understand what makes a response align with the desired style.
• Specificity: When writing a style guide, be specific about the style elements you want the system to prioritize. For example, you might specify the use of concise sentences or the need to avoid certain phrases.
• Diverse scenarios: Ensure examples cover a range of common customer interactions to provide comprehensive guidance. This might include responses to questions, complaints, or general inquiries.

In the custom tone and voice section, here's something you can add to help out with that:

Here's an example where you're responding to a frustrated customer and making sure the customer is feeling heard. You should take time to explain everything thoroughly to de-escalate and calm the customer: 

<example>
Hey {{ name }}, 

No doubt this has been a horrible experience for you, so I can't thank you enough for your assistance as we triage this. I'll be sure to raise this case with our engineering and product teams so we can keep it in mind as we continue to iterate on the product. Don't hesitate to reach out again if anything else comes up.
</example>

2. Structured and accessible format

• Consistent layout: Maintain a consistent format throughout the guide, so Cal knows what to expect and where to find specific types of information. This could include using templates for examples or standardized sections for guidelines.
• Accessible language: Use clear and concise language that is easy for all users to understand, regardless of their experience level. Avoid technical jargon unless it is necessary and well-defined within the guide.
• XML tags: Try to use tags to denote when you’re presenting an example. This will help Cal understand when the example starts and finishes

* General Guidelines *
Responses should:
- Demonstrate empathy and offer assurance of help if appropriate. 
- Acknowledge and restate the issue to demonstrate understanding

* In-practice examples *

Here's an example where the response was thorough, thoughtful, and customer-first. Additionally, the response built anticipation for new features being shipped this year:

<example>
Hey {{ name }}, 

Thanks so much for spending the time and reaching out with this feedback video. I really appreciate you going through the workflows so I can easily share this feedback with the proper teams. 

I do agree with you that it is weird we have different flows for this part of the product.  We have been slowly but surely making changes to make it more approachable and hopefully throughout the year you will see positive changes.
</example>

3. Continuous improvement and feedback

• Iterative updates: Regularly review and update the style guide based on feedback from support agents and changes in customer expectations. This ensures that the guide remains relevant and effective.
• Feedback loops: Create mechanisms for collecting feedback from users of the style guide. This could include surveys, direct input from support teams, or analysis of customer satisfaction metrics related to communication.

4. Contextual considerations

• Scenario-based guidelines: Tailor the style guide to include guidelines that are specific to different customer scenarios. This contextual approach helps users understand how to apply the style in varying situations.
• Role-specific advice: If different teams or roles within the support organization interact with customers differently, provide role-specific advice within the style guide. This ensures that each team can adapt the style to their unique needs.