Danish Patent and Trademark Office: Letters customers understand and act on

The challenge

The Danish Patent and Trademark Office sends a large number of letters, but new customers in particular – with no experience of trademark law – did not always understand them or respond the way the office needed. The office wanted more customer-focused letters. The question was how.

Our approach

We did something simple – and rare: we asked the customers.

• Seven interviews with new customers. Small businesses that had never applied for a trademark read real letters and told us what they understood, how they saw the office and when they started skimming.
• Rhetorical analysis. We compared their reactions with an analysis of the letters' credibility (ethos), emotion (pathos) and argument (logos).
• New model letters. We rewrote seven letters so the customer is the one acting and the office is the helper: the conclusion and next step first, headings that tell the customer what to do and a named case officer early in the letter.
• Seven new interviews. New customers tested the new letters and we refined them.
• A course for case officers. So the principles became part of everyday work – not a report in a drawer.

The result

The office now has model letters tested on real customers, a report with recommendations for all its trademark letters and case officers trained to use them. The customers' reactions speak for themselves:

‘It's very much inside-out. They say what they need to say, rather than making sure I understand what they're saying.’

– Test reader, before the rewrite

‘Yes, this one's good. I don't have much to say. […] I know what I need to do. I understand all of it.’

– Test reader, after the rewrite

‘I think I could just read the headings and still understand everything.’

– Test reader, after the rewrite