From Unclear to Clear Letters: Arnhem Continues with Return Service

The municipality of Arnhem continues with the return service for unclear letters. In the first half of the year, residents returned twenty letters. This may seem few, but the feedback was valuable and educational. Therefore, the service will continue.

Learning from Feedback

Alderman for public service Maurits van de Geijn: ‘I think it is important that we communicate well with our residents. The return service helps us to write more clearly. Our staff learns from every returned letter.’ Sometimes a response was about a letter sent to many residents at once. Thus, several people benefit from it. Feedback also came on other texts such as web pages or the welcome message when calling the municipality. An example? ‘In one of the letters we wrote “free level crossing”. Better is: a crossing with a bridge or tunnel where trains can pass without having to wait for each other.’

How does the return service work?

Residents who find a letter unclear can return it by post or email. The municipality rewrites the letter and sends it back within ten days. The return service is already announced on the envelope: ‘Do you find this letter unclear? We will rewrite it.’ But letters without a special envelope can also be returned. More information can be found at www.arnhem.nl/ditkanduidelijker.

Reader Group Becomes More Inclusive

In addition to the return service, the municipality works with a reader group. This group assesses letters to be sent for clarity. Research shows that the current group mainly consists of older residents who speak good Dutch. Van de Geijn: ‘The reader group needs to better reflect Arnhem. Therefore, we are now actively looking for new members, such as young people, people with VMBO or MBO education, people for whom Dutch is not the mother tongue, and people who are less skilled in Dutch. Their input is important to improve our communication for everyone.