All the advice says you should find your tone of voice and maintain it consistently. Whether your customer encounters your writing on social media, on the train or on the side of the carton, they should meet the same personality. This is how you build relatability and trust, they say.

And when you find confidence in your brand tone of voice, you want to show it off at every opportunity. Like when you get a snazzy new pair of shoes. You’re going to wear them to the office and your friend’s birthday party. And probably while you do the washing up as well.

But just like you don’t want to get dirty dishwater on your new shoes, there are certain places and scenarios where your tone of voice could do more harm than good. It’s not about having a sudden personality transplant, but taking the time to moderate your tone according to the situation at hand. Let’s have a look at why and how you might flex your tone of voice.

When something’s gone wrong

You shared something on social media you regret, or your orders are delayed: if you’ve got bad news to share with your customers, your usual tone of voice probably won’t fly. Then again, there’s no need to go for full ‘We regret any inconvenience caused’ formality. Strike a balance between being you and matching the seriousness of the situation.

United Airlines got themselves in trouble back in 2017 when they dragged a passenger from an overbooked flight against his will. The response from the CEO failed on both counts: it took a serious detour from the friendly and optimistic tone the company usually uses, while still missing the mark on the level of seriousness needed.

“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.”

The statement manages to minimise the incident (an ‘upsetting event’), before offending customers further with euphemistic business-speak (‘re-accommodate’). To score the hat trick, ‘moving with a sense of urgency’ is not something any human would say in real life. Ever.

Here’s how they could have done it better:

“I was devastated to learn about what happened onboard our flight this afternoon. On behalf of everyone at United, I’m so sorry for the way this was handled. We’re urgently looking into the incident to make sure it never happens again.”

It’s still warm, still optimistic, but it hits the appropriate tone for the situation.

When you have something complicated to say

Whether it’s your terms and conditions, your delivery information or a list of ingredients, there are certain bits of copy you just can’t mess with. If your tone of voice gets in the way of your customers understanding important information, you’re either going to annoy them, confuse the hell out of them, or both.

When I put this to the good people of social media, one brand’s name came up time and again: Oatly. UX writer Laura Parker pointed out that Oatly’s product packaging is hardly user friendly when it comes to tracking down important information. “There’s room for ‘branding’ but not when I’m trying to read ingredients. It’s not helpful.” Alison Bell agrees: “I used to work for them and can confirm it extends to internal comms, hiring, etc too. Extremely confusing as a result.”

Oatly product packaging shows a picture of a tractor. Text reads: 'Long ago, horses were tractors and oats were gas. It's about American farming in the early 20th century. Read on, it'll make sense soon.' — Will it, Oatly? Will it?

Another brand guilty of “try-hard wackaging”, says Dee Aisha of Storycatchers, is Frijj. “If they’re hiding allergens in all that self-indulgent wanging on, I will die.”

Frijj product packaging. Image shows a section of the product label explaining what is and what isn't in the strawberry milkshake.

It’s all good having a quirky or playful tone of voice, but clarity should always come first.

When something bad happened

Sending out your usual frivolous or funny content during a war, pandemic, natural disaster or memorial day never ends well. Read the room. If you can’t post in a way that feels authentic and respectful, it’s probably better to stay quiet.

In March 2020, Coors pulled an ad with the line: “Official Beer of ‘Working’ Remotely”. Chief Marketing Officer Michelle St Jacques said: “The last thing we want is for our communication to seem insensitive or be misinterpreted”. Yes, humour is normally within Coors’ wheelhouse. And yes, they correctly sensed that dialling back on that part of their personality was the right thing to do at this time.

So, what are my top tips for flexing your tone for best results?

Think about context before you write – what is your customer thinking/feeling/wanting to achieve?
Ask yourself how you would like to be talked to in their shoes.
Find a happy medium, you don’t need to go full corporate robot. Choose a tone that feels appropriate for your brand in the scenario.
Dial back on qualities like humour, sass and irreverence and look elsewhere in your brand voice for traits you can dial up, like supportiveness, friendliness and clarity.
Maintain stylistic elements of your brand voice to help create a seamless link between this and your other marketing. Things like contractions (‘we’re’ instead of ‘we are’), use of simple language (‘sorry’ instead of ‘apologise’) and the active voice (‘we made a mistake’ not ‘a mistake has been made’) can all help keep your messaging relatable and natural-sounding.

Find out more about my tone of voice services, or get in touch to chat.