When creating content for the Web, considering tone of voice is important. Your tone can help you stand out from competitors, communicate efficiently and effectively with your audience and share your personality.

What Is Tone Of Voice and Why Is It Important?

Tone of voice isn't what we say but how we say it. It's the language we use, the way we construct sentences, the sound of our words and the personality we communicate.

When we speak to others in person, our non-verbal communication says more than the words themselves. Non-verbal communication consists of facial expressions, tone, cues, gestures and pitch. Online, we lose of all of these except tone. We can imbue our Web copy with a tone that is distinct, clear, consistent and relevant to the target audience.

You can't create a strong and effective user experience without language. And tone of voice plays a big role in this by doing the following:

• Differentiating you from competitors,
• Showing your personality,
• Helping you gain and retain customers.

How To Find The Right Tone

You need to have a lot in place before getting started, and the process needs to be embedded in the project. It's more than about just cobbling together a few sentences. Tone of voice requires careful decisions based on the company's values and personality.

You might need to adjust your process to find the right tone because each project has its own constraints and deliverables. But research is key, and it could include the following:

• Interviews with stakeholders,
• Content audits,
• Brand reviews,
• Audience research.

Interviews With Stakeholders

The key stakeholders are usually the decision-makers, so engaging them and getting them involved is essential. Your interviews with them needn't be restricted to tone of voice, but they should include it.

Give them enough time to say everything they need to say, but keep the discussion focused on three of four major topics. You might want to ask what they think how the company sounds like to others and how they want it to sound. It is also chance to find out which voices among competitors and other organizations they like or dislike. Asking how they view their position in the marketplace would be valuable, too.

Content Audits

A content audit can be a project in itself, depending on how much content you are dealing with. By reviewing all of your current content, you can see what the tone of voice is and then ask later in the research phase whether it is relevant.

Reviewing the content relative to the tone should be done carefully, though. If new content is being written, then the people responsible will need guidance on what tone to adopt.

Research

Tone of voice is one part of a brand, so it needs to be considered as part of the big picture. The tone needs to fit the visual identity of the company, too. A formal, corporate-looking brand identity paired with a casual and chatty voice wouldn't be coherent. Reviewing the brand, including typefaces, colors, language and imagery, will help you determine the most appropriate and authentic tone.

Stakeholder And Client Research

Who will be "listening" to you? Getting input from stakeholders is helpful, but these people usually aren't the target audience. Any research you invest in the audience will be time well spent, even it it confirms what you already knew. Only when you know the audience will you be able to tell whether the tone of voice is appropriate.

This is all about asking questions. Gather information, and then draw insights from it to find out what works and what has to change.

Audience Research

Your tone of voice has to communicate who you are to the target audience. But what if you have different audiences?

Your tone has to suit the brand, no matter who you are talking to, and this in turn will result in a good user experience. When addressing investors, you might find yourself sounding corporate and business-like. If a segment of your audience is younger, you might change your tone to suit it. Don't. This immediately prevents you from being consistent, which means you aren't being authentic, which is critical.

The change will happen at the level of content. The tone will stay the same, while the content will be adapted and refined as needed. Your message might be serious, but that doesn't mean you can't say it in a friendly way.

Going through these processes will have yielded a lot of data and information. The challenge now is to decide what's right. This will be complicated by diverging opinions, and you will need buy-in from the stakeholders.

Is This The End?                             

No, it's not. Once your content is live, don't leave it unloved. Keep checking that the tone is relevant. Organizations change, perhaps not overnight, but over time; so, if your culture changes, then maybe the tone has to be adapted, too.

That might be a long way off yet, though. First, do an audit and see if your tone is right. If not, then a research and discovery phase will enable you to gather all of the information needed to make informed decisions.

At the fore of the decision-making process should be your culture, personality and audience. When you have determined the tone, apply it across the brand so that you establish authenticity and so that the user experience is consistent. Then, audiences will engage with you, feel an emotional connection and keep coming back for more.