Speaking with one brand voice
To bring our brand character to life for our customers, we need to consistently use our tone and voice to reinforce our 4 brand traits.
Tone
The general character of what you say
Voice
The opinion or attitude of how you say it
Choosing the right tone
Imagine our brand traits on a volume slider. Everything we create has a little bit of each of these 4 traits, but we can change their volume according to the context:
- we are always inclusive
- in most cases, we lean on being straight talking
- in specific cases, we can be more optimistic and gutsy
Step 1: Start with the component
Think about the fundamentals of what you’re working with. Where does it live, what is its primary purpose?
Use this tone of voice slider to check where the component sits alongside our brand traits.
Step 2: Adjust based on the message
Room for personality? Use this slider to decide the traits to dial up, based on the function of the message.
Serious, functional, and apologetic or accountable messages can dial up our straight-talking trait.
Marketing messages and those that celebrate the customer can dial up our optimistic, gutsy traits.
Apologies and accountability
This is the tone we use when it's necessary for OVO to sensitively address a situation.
Unintentional confusion or upset to the customer are 2 common types of scenarios where we would apologise or take accountability for our actions.
Apologies
Acknowledges the negative emotion caused by OVO.
Accountability
Acknowledges the behaviour that OVO takes responsibility for.
It's important to remember:
- the 2 can be linked, but also can exist independently – it’s knowing when they need to combine
- this type of messaging can have a delicate context, so it’s about making sure we speak with humanity, without being overly emotive and keeping professional
Inaccurate bills
Overcharged on bills
Accidental send of unnecessary urgent or warning message
Industry changes that will negatively impact the customer (COL)
Error pages or notifications
When a site page doesn't load
When a request cannot be completed, including customer error
- start your sentence with a declarative, clearly outlining the issue or situation to the customer
- explain why or how the situation occurred, wherever possible - the level of detail will depend on the context
- use first person pronouns - "we", "us" - this immediately softens the tone and makes it feel more human
- link to the relevant support contact information, where needed
- make false promises
- use comical phrases like “oops”, puns or silly verbiage
- be overly apologetic and use intensifiers like "so" – this can actually make the communication sound less genuine
Examples
You’ve been charged the wrong amount
Hello, {First_Name}.
We overcharged you recently on your last bill. Your monthly payment is £XX, and in June, you were charged £XX.
This was due to a technical error on our end. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and will refund you the difference.
We want to own up to something…
We understand that you’ve been charged an incorrect amount on your most recent bill. This was because of a technical error and we’re so sorry for any inconvenience caused.