Hi Ilse,
Choosing an appropriate tone of voice is one of the most important first steps in developing a (digital) learning product. Tone of voice. Ugly term actually. But then again: there is no really good Dutch alternative. Tone’ comes close, but doesn’t quite cover it. Writing personality? Sounds poetic, but also a bit sideways and vague. So let’s stick to tone of voice.
What is the tone-of-voice in a learning solution?
The tone of voice determines how your learning product “sounds. Formal or informal? Enthusiastic or factual? Serious or funny? An important choice, because a good tone of voice supports the extent to which the message of your learning solution comes across. Moreover, it makes a user feel personally involved in the learning product. Like being personally addressed. And that resonates a lot better than a generic text where nowhere do you feel like it was written “for you.
But how do you determine the tone of voice of an e-learning, interactive animation or other learning product?
Step 1: brand voice
The starting point is often the (watch out, here comes another ugly English term!) brand voice of your organization or the client you work for. Many organizations have established as part of their corporate identity how they want to sound in their communications.
That brand voice provides a framework, but is not the holy grail. Each medium has its own way of interpreting the brand voice. A promotional message on social media is written in a different way than an informative e-learning, even though they fall under the same brand voice.
Step 2: subject and purpose
The topic and purpose of the learning solution offer some more guidance. In an online onboarding, your main goal is to provide someone with a warm welcome. For example, you sound informal, personable and there is room for the occasional joke. But if you subsequently create a learning solution for the same organization about dealing with transgressive behavior, then that tone again is totally inappropriate. You see: even between learning solutions within the same organization, the tone-of-voice can differ.
Step 3: target audience
The target audience is ultimately the most important aspect to consider. You won’t hit practice-oriented sleeve-pickers with a formal, serious writing style. While a motivated theorist, on the other hand, will not feel taken seriously at all if you continually add jokes and other informal trappings. Do they both fall within the target audience? Then you need to find a good middle ground.
The best way to determine the right tone of voice for the target audience is to visit them. Talk to prospective users, paying attention not only to the content of the conversation, but also to their word choices. What words stand out? What is their general communication style? How do they talk to each other? This provides useful insights that you can immediately apply in your learning solution.
Example of choosing a tone of voice
Suppose you make a microlearning about phishing. As long as the tone of voice has not yet been established, you can go either way with that. To illustrate, here are three examples of the same text with a different tone of voice:
– Formally serious: “Phishing emails can cause major problems for our organization. They contain a number of fixed characteristics by which you can recognize them: a nonexistent mail address as the sender, a compelling tone and time pressure to perform an action within a certain period of time.”
– Informally serious: “You have to be alert to phishing emails, otherwise it can have hefty consequences. You may have received a phishing email yourself. If so, you will probably have noticed certain characteristics: the sending address looked strange, you were addressed rather forcefully, and you had to take action within a certain amount of time or there would be big problems.”
– Informal non-serious: “Phishing emails are as annoying as a seagull at a herring stand. One wrong click and poof: all your information in the hands of a malicious crook. No way! Fortunately, phishing is easy to spot by paying close attention to certain characteristics: a crazy sender, a tone as coercive as an average mother-in-law, and the clock ticking threateningly: take action now, or you will suffer forever.”
Three times the same message, three times delivered in a different way. And for each way, it will be possible to find a target audience that is most appealing to that particular tone of voice (although for the latter, you really need to have a buffoon and a joker as your company uniform).
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