A brand’s voice stays the same from day to day, but its tone has to change all the time, depending on both the situation and the reader’s feelings. This talk focuses on articulating your brand’s personality and writing for emotional humans. I use MailChimp as a case study to explain how we created VoiceandTone.com, an interactive voice and tone guide, and how it improved the company’s content and processes across departments. I also share a few of my favorite voice and tone guides, as well as some examples of empathetic (and not so empathetic) content in action.

1. Voice and Tone
Creating content for humans
@katekiefer
voiceandtone.com
mailchimp.com

2. Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest

4. Ask questions
What does your company do?
Why did you start your company?
Why do people visit your website?
Who are your customers?
What other companies do you admire?

5. Ask questions
If your brand were a how would youhow would you
If your brand were a person,
person, describe them?
describe him examples of content that suits your brand.
Show me a few or her?
What other companies do you admire?
Show meyou fewpeople to feel whenof content that
a want examples they visit your website?
How do
suits your brand.
How do you want people to feel when they
visit your website?

6. MailChimp is
fun but not childish.
clever but not silly.
powerful but not complicated.
smart but not stodgy.
cool but not alienating.
informal but not sloppy.
helpful but not overbearing.
expert but not bossy.

7. Design persona (Aarron Walter)

8. Voice guidelines
company's mission
content types
specific content examples
brand traits
personality explanation
reader/customer types
visual guidelines

9. AMPERSANDS DATES
Don’t use them. Type the word Spell out the day and abbreviate the
“and.” month
CAPITALIZATION DOLLARS AND CENTS
Use common sense. When in doubt, Use a dollar sign. Don’t include cents
don’t capitalize. on round dollars, and spell out
Yaaaawn.
“cents.”
ese words shouldn’t be capitalized:
website, internet, online, email. $35
COLONS $35.50
$35 million
Use a colon if you’re telling people
what comes next in the first part of 35 cents
the sentence.
You can choose from three support
ELLIPSES
options: online chat, email support or
MailChimp’s Knowledge Base. Use ellipses (...) to show that you’re
omitting words or trailing off before
the end of a thought. Don’t use an
COMMAS ellipsis for emphasis or drama.
Use the serial/Oxford comma.

10. "It is insight into human nature that
is key to the communicator's skill.
For whereas the writer is concerned
with what he puts into his writings,
the communicator is concerned
with what the reader gets out of it.
He therefore becomes a student of
how people read or listen."
William Bernbach

11. Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest

12. "A good teacher I know, Jennifer
Auger, has a simple but effective
technique for the writing classroom.
When her students have blah
voiceless writing, she makes them
speak the following words to her
before reading their text: 'Listen to
me, I have something to tell you.'"
Peter Elbow
Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing

13. Jerrold, a Nerdbot

14. Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest

16. Style guide: content types
e app
e application is MailChimp’s heart. Its language helps people along
as they create, send and track email campaigns. People using the app
already know and love MailChimp, so we can have a little fun with the
language–though our priority is helping them get their work done
quickly.
Why we do it: Duh.
Microcopy
Microcopy is that small but oh-so-important instructional copy that
you usually see in forms and feedback messages. It might remind a
user that her password has to contain a number or explain that email
communication will only be used regarding a specific order. We also
call it “help text,” and you see it both in the app and on the public site.
It’s short and to-the-point.
Why we do it: To help users complete tasks.
MailChimp newsletter
MailChimp’s email newsletter is a company update written by our
CEO, Ben. It’s full of photos, stories, experiments, links and
announcements for customers who want to know more about
MailChimp. It’s casual and entertaining.
Why we do it: To give customers more MailChimp news and provide an
occasional behind-the-scenes look at how the company works. We are
an email service, after all.

17. Mascot’s jokes: an extra layer of humor

18. Compliance alert: bad news

19. Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions

20. "If advertising had a little more
respect for the public, the public
would have a lot more respect for
advertising."
James Randolph Adams

21. To determine your tone
of voice, consider:
1. Content type
2. e reader's emotional state

22. Ask yourself
What situation is the reader in that's bringing
her to this content?
What situation will this content put her in?
How does the reader feel right now?
How will this content make her feel?
What can I do to maintain the reader's state
of mind or put her in a better one?

23. Sensitive subjects Sensitive content types
health and medicine help content
religion contact page
politics FAQ
money forms
private information privacy policy
translation issues failure messages and alerts

24. Friendly reminder from the Fake AP Stylebook

25. "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."
"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."
Robert Frost
Robert Frost

32. Tufts University’s voice and and tone wiki
Tufts University’s voice tone guidelines
wikis.uit.tufts.edu

33. Tufts University’s voice and tone guidelines
wikis.uit.tufts.edu

34. Indiana University Alumni oppositions
IU Alumni Association’s word Association
alumni.indiana.edu

35. be.macmillan.org.uk

36. Macmillan Cancer Support’s empathetic writing guide
be.macmillan.org.uk

37. WRONG tone of voice

38. Obama campaign’s unsubscribe screen

40. Romney campaign’s unsubscribe screen

41. Photojojo’s unsubscribe form

42. Photojojo’s unsubscribe screen

43. Tea Muse’s unsubscribe screen

44. "e consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife."
David Ogilvy

45. Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest

46. mint.com 404
Current 404

47. 404 reject

48. Woot’s product description
woot.com

49. Woot’s contact page
woot.com

51. Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest

52. Warby Parker’s roots
warbyparker.com

53. Warby Parker’s library
warbyparker.com

54. Warby Parker’s writing guide

55. Warby Parker’s story page
warbyparker.com

57. "I’ve learned that people will forget
what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel."
Maya Angelou

58. Thanks.
@katekiefer
voiceandtone.com
mailchimp.com