Tone of voice: why writing for the web is different

The “tone of voice” that a website/app/digital product communicates is an organization’s personality. It also influences how the reader feels.

User experience consultancy Nielsen Norman Group has identified four dimensions of the tone of voice:

1. Funny vs. serious: Try to create a joyous message when the user is in a happy state (e.g. payment successful!). But in a non-happy state (flight cancelled/delayed), the tone should be serious and solution-oriented.

2. Formal vs. casual: A government or school must keep their tone formal while addressing the citizens/students on their website/app. But a shopping or a gaming app will want to entertain their users, keep them stress-free and the tone casual.

3. Respectful vs. irreverent: Choose your tone based on the product’s image. An app that sells trendy stuff (fashion) could have an irreverent tone to keep it cool. But a website which wants its users to feel special (charity, orphanage) might want to use a respectful tone.

4. Enthusiastic vs. matter-of-fact: Sports brands usually use an enthusiastic tone to make the reader feel young, fast, and active (eg: Nike). But a health/fintech app is better off with a tone which mentions the exact facts. It avoids confusion and anxious feelings in the user.

Tones can either lie in between or at the extreme ends of each dimension. A company or institution should make a conscious decision on where it wants to place itself in terms of the spectrum or dimensions of tones of voice.

Three things to consider when choosing the tone of voice for your digital product. 1. The target group2. Company’s brand and 3. The product Without understanding the company's personality or ethos, a UX writer can confuse the audience. There will be a mismatch between company and

On a web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit. Therefore, what you say may have less importance than the tone and general theme of your message.

Final Note: Empathize with the final user and understand their state of mind while they perform a task on the web. This helps to decide the tone of writing and exact messaging. User-testing of copy/messaging is as important as product testing!