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Voice and Tone for Interfaces

Voice and Tone for Interfaces

Interface components like buttons, menus, errors, and confirmation messages are built with words, and it’s remarkable how much a consistent voice and tone matter. Are you using an efficient, informative voice, or do you sound more like a quirky, lovable goofball? The appropriate voice builds trust, increases retention, humanizes interactions, and ultimately drives conversions and other business goals.

Drawing on his experience writing and designing for digital products, Michael will teach you how to apply these concepts to your work.

I'm co-authoring a book with Andy Welfle that covers this topic and many more (due out later this year): https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/writing-for-interfaces/

Michael J. Metts

May 22, 2019
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  1. VOICE & TONE FOR INTERFACES Michael J. Metts - @mjmetts

    | he/him Conversation Design Lead, Allstate
  2. VOICE & TONE FOR INTERFACES Michael J. Metts - @mjmetts

    | he/him Conversation Design Lead, Allstate
  3. Andy Welfle - @awelfle | he/him UX Content Strategy Manager,

    Adobe GO.MJMETTS.COM/BOOK We're writing a book! BIG THANKS TO THIS HUMAN
  4. Intro - Why writing is design Talk - Voice: Discovering

    and developing identity Activities - Find the voice for your product -- Break -- Talk - Tone: Systems for situational awareness Activities: Design with voice and tone in mind TODAY'S AGENDA
  5. “We expect things to be digital, but also, in many

    cases, physical. We want things to feel auto-magic while retaining a human touch. We want to be safe, but not spied on. We use words at our whim.” Abby Covert How to Make Sense of Any Mess
  6. APP STORE If you really want to know your company’s

    value proposition, try fitting it across the top of four screenshots in the app store.
  7. ONBOARDING Do it again, but make it unique from the

    app store one while encouraging account creation.
  8. ACCESS Log In, Sign In, Register, Create Account, Get Started,

    Sign Up, Connect, Username, User ID, Password, Passphrase, Recover, Reset, Email, Email Address
  9. ERRORS Whoops, Sorry, Oops…, We broke something, Just a moment,

    Please wait, There was a problem, Something’s Wrong, Invalid, Incorrect, Don’t Worry
  10. ADMIN AREAS Account, Profile, Settings, My Acount, Your Profile, Your

    Settings, Personal Details, Personal Information, Credit Cards, Payment Information, Payment Methods, Preferences
  11. TRANSACTIONS Cart, Shopping Basket, Items, Payment, Renewal, Subscription, Recurring, Repeating,

    Pro-Rated, Discount, Initial Payment, Checkout, Buy, Complete Purchase, Burger Me!
  12. MORE THINGS • SMS notifications • Push notifications • Email

    notifications • Confirmation emails • Account recovery emails • Email validation emails (emails about emails) • Re-engagement emails • Release notes (bug fixes and performance improvements) • Help content • Terms and conditions • Privacy policy • Contact forms • Contact form confirmation screens and emails
  13. “I work on digital products and physical goods, so I’m

    deeply involved in the design process. But I also want to call out early that my process is the design process. I don’t write fiction or short stories; I use language to solve problems—whether that’s behind the scenes or in the product itself. I use words as material.” Nicole Fenton Co-author of Nicely Said Source: http://nicolefenton.com/words-as-material/
  14. It's not a question of whether your interface has a

    voice or changes its tone. It's a question of how intentional you are about it.
  15. “Customer Service Behavior included items that were related to the

    friendliness and politeness of the system, its speaking pace, and its use of familiar terms.” Melanie Polkosky, PhD Toward a Social-Cognitive Psychology of Speech Technology: Affective Responses to Speech-Based e-Service Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/33994535_Toward_a_social- cognitive_psychology_of_speech_technology_electronic_resource_affective_responses_to_speech-based_e-service In a study with 821 participants, customer service behavior was found to be one of the four most important usability factors out of 76 possibilities.
  16. Learning more about your users is always a good thing,

    no matter how small or limited the effort.
  17. TYPES OF RESEARCH: Looking at numbers - A/B tests, analytics

    research, surveys Talking to users - Interviews, conversations Understanding vocabulary - Forums, Google Trends Observing users - Usability testing, contextual inquiry
  18. What's the difference between feedback and critique? Feedback is a

    quick, one-way reaction often grounded in opinion. Critique is critical dialogue grounded in objectives that helps us understand design decisions. Mia Blume defines it this way:
  19. A QUICK PRIMER ON VOICE VS. TONE (using a few

    GIFs from The Little Mermaid)
  20. Voice is who you are. Tone is how we respond

    to different situations. — Michael Haggerty-Villa, Intuit
  21. WHAT IS ADOBE’S VOICE? Human Friendly, honest and respectful •

    Vary sentence style and structure for readability and empathy • Show empathy in situations where people feel uncertain, frustrated or confused Rational Clear and understandable • Avoid language that’s overly idiomatic, intentionally clever or trendy Reductive Concise and simple • Start with only essential information, and add in extra content if needed
  22. Above: Voice and Tone | MailChimp Content Style Guide: http://styleguide.mailchimp.com/voice-and-tone/

    Right: Shopify's voice and tone guide | Medium: https://medium.com/shopify-ux/shopify-s-voice-and-tone-guide-968539e06777 “ADJECTIVE BUT NOT ADJECTIVE”
  23. OTHER VOICE CHARACTERISTICS Facebook: Simple | Straightforward | Human Shopify:

    Trustworthy | Confident | Empowering Source: https://ux.shopify.com/shopify-s-voice-and-tone-guide-968539e06777 Airbnb: Straightforward | Inclusive | Thoughtful | Spirited Source: Marissa Philips, Advocating from the inside out: Motivating your team to evangelize their work, Confab 2017 Source: https://medium.com/facebook-design/getting-started-in-content-strategy-d7543ed22633 Slack: Clear | Concise | Human Source: https://api.slack.com/best-practices/voice-and-tone
  24. A design system that doesn't treat language as a core

    element isn't really about design.
  25. START WITH A STRATEGY A design system that's not driven

    by strategy just helps you do the wrong thing more efficiently and consistently.
  26. "A design system is a product. Documenting business processes for

    a product does not create a product. Documenting components for a design system does not create a design system. It's a tool for a specific set of users under specific circumstances." Amy Chick Strategist and Designer
  27. STRATEGY DESIGN SYSTEMS Shopify includes naming guidelines in the Polaris

    design system. • Used as a governance tool • Enables the teams to have naming conversations based on more than personal opinion Source: https://polaris.shopify.com/content/naming
  28. PATTERNS DESIGN SYSTEMS Including example wording when documenting a component

    helps teams understand its use. Audi's design system uses placeholder words, making it harder for its users to see how to use them. Source: https://www.audi.com/ci/en/guides/user-interface/components/buttons.html
  29. PATTERNS DESIGN SYSTEMS Including example wording when documenting a component

    helps teams understand its use. Atlassian's design system uses real words from the interfaces, making it easier for its users to understand the guidelines.
  30. THE CONSTRAINTS No personas: If your voice is friendly, the

    bot shouldn't have to say "I'm friendly". Let the interface itself convey the nuances of voice and tone. Focus on providing user value: Unlike the real world, there are no technology constraints. Create any functionality you want—just make sure your users' needs are resolved.
  31. WHAT TO FOCUS ON Facilitation: Lead others through unfamiliar territory.

    Experimentation: The conversation of UI can go in a lot of different directions. Adaptation: Let’s talk through how these work, or even don’t work, for your situation.
  32. 1. Read the project overview 2. Write down three questions

    you have about the project 3. Write down three attributes for this product's voice SOLO ACTIVITY
  33. 1. Choose a facilitator 2. Share your voice attributes 3.

    Use affinity clustering to group similar voice attributes 4. Choose no more than five voice attributes—everyone must agree GROUP ACTIVITY
  34. 1. Choose a facilitator 2. Share your voice attributes 3.

    Use affinity clustering to group similar voice attributes 4. Choose no more than five voice attributes—everyone must agree GROUP ACTIVITY
  35. 1. Come up with ideas for how to share your

    product's voice with your organization 2. Create a prototype or mockup of your group's idea GROUP ACTIVITY
  36. Lots of tone No tone LEVEL 1 Headlines, marquees, subject

    lines, big stories, chapter headers Tone is engaging, human, emotional, creative, thought-provoking LEVEL 2 Subheads, pre-headers, How Adobe helps Tone is more directional or informational LEVEL 3 Main body copy, sub-sections, customer stories, case studies Tone is conversational, including technical details and story LEVEL 4 Main bullets, deeper content, tech specs, features, capabilities Tone is technical, straightforward, to the point LEVEL 5 CTAs Tone is direct, short and punchy How marketers often think about tone
  37. HOW UX WRITERS THINK ABOUT TONE Sibling Boss Cow orker

    Room m ate N eighbor Rather than a volume knob where you turn “tone” up and down, it’s a spectrum upon which you pick a tone to best respond to the user.
  38. HOW UX WRITERS THINK ABOUT TONE Rather than a volume

    knob where you turn “tone” up and down, it’s a spectrum upon which you pick a tone to best respond to the user. Inform ational M otivational U seful Supportive Reassuring Proactive Reactive
  39. You (the interface) YOU Goal: What do you want the

    user to do? Mood: What feeling do we want to display to the user? Attribute: What qualities does this interaction have? How would you say things? USER Emotion: What might they be feeling when they encounter this message? Receptiveness: How open to this message is the user likely to be? Your user Scenario SCENARIO UI Type: What is this UI element? Location: Where in their journey might this user be? Exit Point: What will the user be encountering next after this message?
  40. MOTIVATIONAL Your goal To show user new features, get them

    excited about using a product — perhaps for the first time You mood Positive and passionate User’s emotion: Curious, possibly overwhelmed User’s receptiveness: Medium to high Typical UI type: Onboarding, new user experiences Tone Attribute: Encouraging TONE PROFILE
  41. Your Goal: To tell you about something that might be

    useful for you in context. Your Mood: Polite, respectful User’s Emotion: Busy, distracted User’s Receptiveness: Low to medium Typical UI Type: Tooltips, modal dialogs Tone Attribute: Helpful USEFUL TONE PROFILE
  42. Your Goal: To fade into the background and present relevant

    information if needed Your Mood: Neutral User’s Emotion: Any User’s Receptiveness: High Typical UI Type: Microcopy, labels, button CTAs Tone Attribute: Straightforward INFORMATIONAL TONE PROFILE
  43. A/B TESTS! Light & Funny Caring & Serious With
 Headline

    We got you, boo
 So it looks like your password is not so fresh — how about you work on that? Your password is out of date We care about you and your account, so please take a moment to update your password. Without
 Headline So it looks like your password is not so fresh — how about you work on that? We care about you and your account, so please take a moment to update your password.
  44. Light & Funny Caring & Serious With
 Headline We got

    you, boo
 So it looks like your password is not so fresh — how about you work on that? -2.18% CTR Your password is out of date We care about you and your account, so please take a moment to update your password. +5.45% CTR Without
 Headline So it looks like your password is not so fresh — how about you work on that? +.47% CTR We care about you and your account, so please take a moment to update your password. +1.2% CTR A/B TESTS!
  45. IDEAS FOR SCENARIOS • A user just created their bank

    account • A payment was just accepted by its intended recipient • A credit card on the user's account is about to expire • There was suspicious activity on the user's account, so they need to reset their password before they can sign in • ABC is offering an account credit if the user invites friends to sign up for an account
  46. TESTING METHOD • Underline the things that are helpful •

    Circle the things that aren't helpful Ask your participant to: • Ask follow-up questions You should: • Use a verbal likert scale to measure voice or tone, e.g. "Rate this from 1-7, where 1 is too casual and 7 is too formal" Want to do even more?
  47. GUIDELINES FOR CRITIQUE • Let everyone participate. Every perspective is

    important. • Ask questions if you’re unsure why something is the way it is. • Speak from objectives. Avoid phrases like “I don’t like that”. • Dig into the details. Talk through the nuances of word choice, discuss alternate approaches and more. Critique the writing, not the writer.