Voice and Tone Creating content for humans @katekiefer voiceandtone.com mailchimp.com
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Voice and Tone Creating content for humans @katekiefer voiceandtone.com mailchimp.com
Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest
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?
Ask questions
If your brand were a person, how would
If your brand were a person, how would you describe them?
you
describe
Show mehim or her?
a few examples of content that suits your brand.
What other companies do you admire?
ShowHowme a few examples of content that
do you want people to feel when they visit your website?
suits your brand.
How do you want people to feel when they
visit your website?
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.
Design persona (Aarron Walter)
Voice guidelines company's mission content types specific content examples brand traits personality explanation reader/customer types visual guidelines
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.
"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
Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honest"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
Jerrold, a Nerdbot
Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honestStyle 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.Mascot’s jokes: an extra layer of humor
Compliance alert: bad news
Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions
"If advertising had a little more respect for the public, the public would have a lot more respect for advertising." James Randolph Adams
To determine your tone of voice, consider: 1. Content type 2. e reader's emotional state
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?
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
Friendly reminder from the Fake AP Stylebook
"No tears
"No tears in
in the
the writer,
writer, no
no tears
tears in
in the
the reader."
reader."
Robert Frost
Robert FrostTufts University’s
Tufts University’s voice
voice and and
tone tone wiki
guidelines
wikis.uit.tufts.eduTufts University’s voice and tone guidelines
wikis.uit.tufts.eduIndiana University Alumni Association
IU Alumni Association’s word oppositions
alumni.indiana.edube.macmillan.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support’s empathetic writing guide
be.macmillan.org.ukWRONG tone of voice
Obama campaign’s unsubscribe screen
Romney campaign’s unsubscribe screen
Photojojo’s unsubscribe form
Photojojo’s unsubscribe screen
Tea Muse’s unsubscribe screen
"e consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife." David Ogilvy
Find your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honestmint.com 404 Current 404
404 reject
Woot’s product description
woot.comWoot’s contact page
woot.comFind your voice
Speak onto the page
Watch your tone
Know when to keep a straight face
Be honestWarby Parker’s roots
warbyparker.comWarby Parker’s library
warbyparker.comWarby Parker’s writing guide
Warby Parker’s story page
warbyparker.com"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
Thanks. @katekiefer voiceandtone.com mailchimp.com
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