When you land on a website, it either gets you or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, it probably feels like a robot just spat out a brochure at you. Making sure your site speaks your customers’ language is all about tone of voice. Does your website copy solve their pain points and make them want to pass your link onto their friends and family? If that’s what you want, then the key is to make a good first impression.
Let’s Say You Test Two Identical Pages
On one, you swap out “our services help you grow” for “we help you smash goals and get noticed.” The playful, friendly tone scores higher in terms of engagement and desirability, right? What’s more, it gives off confidence, which, in turn, builds trust, which is the single biggest predictor of whether someone will recommend your brand. That means the tone of voice of your website copy is working just as hard as your best design or features.
Turning up the Right Tone of Voice is Essential
Your site is like a chat with your customer. It’s not just what you say as much as how you say it. Tone swings between funny and serious, formal and casual, respectful and irreverent, and there’s not really a right or wrong option to choose. You’ve got to pick the sweet spot based on who you are and who your customer is. A finance business needs to be expert, professional, and informative. If you run a theme park, you can probably get a bit wackier.
When your tone lines up with your audience’s language, pain points vanish.
If someone genuinely feels that you speak in the same way they do, you’re going to come across as human and trustworthy. That builds engagement and (in turn) loyalty. Keeping your tone consistent across emails, social media, and on your site keeps your identity rock solid, too, and it plays into that emotional connection that recommendations spawn out of.
Feel like your website copy sounds a bit flat? Let’s chat.
Our team helps you find your brand’s voice and speak to your customers in their own language and with your individual flair. Get in touch with us today to find out more.
How to Zero in on Your Tone of Voice
Start by asking who your customers are. Not just demographically speaking, but personally and emotionally too. What keeps them up at night? What do they chat about? That upfront legwork lets you nail your tone. This gives you a solid foundation to build on. If you’re struggling to figure this out, then it might be best to work with a creative agency that can offer you a marketing analysis.
Solve your customers’ problems as quickly as possible.
Once you’ve nailed your tone of voice, it’s all about resolving your customers’ queries as quickly as possible. It’s tempting to talk about yourself, but that’s not why most people are clicking onto your site. The numbers show that most people don’t browse websites; they visit them with a specific query in mind. That means that you’ve got to answer them in a way that’s clear and easy to spot.
You can do this in the body of your website copy, or by writing blogs that address common queries. The key message is that the information needs to be easy to access and written in the right tone of voice for your prospective customer.
Need Help Perfecting Your Website Copy’s Tone of Voice?
We can help you nail your brand messaging and make sure that your customers’ pain points are resolved pronto. Our team of creatives works with you to assess your market, optimise your website copy, and create compelling content by writing blogs, social media posts, and more so that your customers stick, trust, and tell their friends. Get in touch today to find out more.
FAQs
Can tone of voice change over time?
For sure, loads of brands adapt their voice as audiences or markets shift.
Should small businesses define a tone of voice?
Absolutely, consistency matters no matter the size of the company.
Is tone of voice only for websites?
No, you’ve got to make sure it carries through in content like emails and social media, too.
