The rule
Distinguish between your product's constant personality and its situational emotional inflection.
Why it matters
A consistent voice builds a relationship of trust and makes the product feel human. Adapting tone shows empathy for the user's specific circumstances, reducing anxiety in stressful moments and celebrating wins at the right time. Users lose trust when non-verbal elements and language styles conflict.
How to apply it
- Define three to five voice attributes as personality traits for your brand.
- Create a tone matrix to map copy types on a graph of formal versus playful and brief versus detailed.
- Document specific writing behaviors for each attribute, such as using contractions to sound "warm".
- Audit existing copy to ensure it aligns with these defined personality traits.
Example
Weak
"Be warm."
Stronger
"Warm: we use contractions and acknowledge the user's situation."
Tensions and exceptions
While a brand's voice should remain constant to maintain identity, a playful or whimsical brand must shift to a serious, concise tone during high-stakes moments like financial errors or legal disclosures. Using humor when a user is anxious about money or security can damage credibility and feel "emotionally tone-deaf".