On Voice And Tone

Prasanna Lal Das (http://www.prasannalaldas.blogspot.com/)

What is voice and tone
An example scale
Translating the scale

Voice is the editorial representation of a brand. It stands for a brand’s personality, its attitude towards its customers, and conveys a brand’s positioning to all its target constituencies
Voice and tone is important to –
Strategize the role of text in an application
Create standards for nomenclature and diction
Ensure the consistent execution of text
Establish the broad contexts to which text behavior must be tailored

Let’s imagine a company – XYZ – an industry leader in a service teeming with new players that threaten to change the nature of the game
XYZ is trying to roll out new products and services that anticipate industry trends, without alienating its core customer base

XYZ brand wants to –
Convey innovation, youthfulness, energy, freshness, and approachability
Encourage the user to do more
Educate the customer about the possibilities of the service experience, their relevance in daily life, and how XYZ products and services occupy vital slots in this experience
Create a relationship with the customer and be responsive to their needs
Promote a cycle of sales
Stay true to the brand image of performance, energy and vitality
The voice and tone recommendations must be geared to support the key premises the concepts are based on

The firms’ tone should thus project confidence borne out of leadership, empathy based on its awareness of customer needs, practicality that drives user goals, trustworthiness to build relationships, energy and vitality in keeping with its brand promise, and approachability which is essential to stimulate a dialog across all segments
Here’s what the Voice and Tone scale for XYZ may look like –
Prasanna Lal Das (http://www.prasannalaldas.blogspot.com/) ‘ Infra’ XYZ XYZ ‘ Supra’ XYZ Unsure, uncertain Confident Presumptuous/Overweening Apathetic Empathic Intrusive Vague Practical Esoteric Unreliable Trustworthy Guardian/Custodian Lackluster Energetic/Vital Hyper-active Confined Approachable Inaccessible

Instructions for the writer/editor trying to make sense of the voice and tone scale –
Confident – Quiet confidence is the key
Don’t shout from the rooftops about the superiority of XYZ products and services
Let facts, not adjectives, do the talking
Empathic – Make the reader the focus of information
Don’t talk about products and services in isolation from the needs they fulfill for real world users
Represent the reader when creating content, include feedback when necessary, answer questions that people have
Practical – Information is useful when it is usable
Concentrate on the value and practical purpose of information
Focus on the meaning inherent in each piece of communication, not merely the ground it covers

Trustworthy – Trust is the foundation of relationships
Never allow bias, inaccuracy, or hyperbole to creep into content
Build predictability into all content functions, whether they be feedback response time, update frequency, positioning of content, or the quality/quantity of information available
Energetic/Vital – Share your energy
Update content regularly, create a sense of action and movement on the application
Motivate action, encourage the reader to act on the information rather than merely absorb it passively
Create a sense of empowerment for the reader; the content should lead to actions, not dictate them
Approachable – Be there for the reader
Build cues into all content to make it easier for users to find related information
Create simplicity out of complexity – making sense is more important than overwhelming the user with information
Don’t dumb down content, only scale down the level of complexity
Write to all segments of your readership

Supplement the voice and tone guidelines with the following principles of good writing for the web –
Build multiple points of entry into content (meaningful headlines, comprehensive introduction, explanatory graphics/charts, key points, labels) so that readers can capture important information at a glance
Build ‘scannability’ into content by breaking it up into logical chunks that suggest the flow and perspective of the content
Recommend clear next steps that put the purpose of the content into practical perspective
Use familiar (or standard) and simple terms when creating nomenclature; make the nomenclature point to the destination page
Ask the readers to get involved by soliciting feedback
Be sensitive to sexism or politically charged issues
Go through the regular proof-reading checks for spelling and grammar (print out the document if necessary and do not blindly trust the spell-checker)
Make sure that instructional copy is short, useful, conveys complete information, and always suggests a course of action

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On Voice And Tone

by prasannalaldas on Aug 18, 2008

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On Voice And Tone — Presentation Transcript