Effective communication plays a key role in reaching out to the target market. It helps a brand voice go beyond just words. A brand voice is used in a social post or a campaign slogan to speak to the audience in a way that feels consistent, genuine, and recognisable.
Whether your audience is scrolling through emails, browsing your website, or looking at your packaging, they should feel like they’re hearing the same personality behind the message. Having a consistent brand voice across all channels can increase your revenue by up to 23%.
This article will help you know what brand voice means, how it differs from tone, why it matters, and how successful businesses use it to connect with their customers.
What is Brand Voice?
The consistent expression of a brand through words and writing style becomes its brand voice. It reflects your company’s personality, values, and attitude. Just as people speak and write differently, so do brands.
When you describe a close friend, you may say they are witty, caring, assertive, laid-back, etc. A brand voice works the same way, it gives a business a recognisable identity through written and spoken language on different platforms. It makes your style unique and helps spot the difference between another company and your brand.
This voice filters through marketing materials, product descriptions, social media captions, customer service scripts, and everything in between.
The Importance of a Consistent Brand Voice
When your communication feels unified across platforms and touchpoints, customers begin to feel they know your business. A clear and even brand voice helps build confidence, strengthen customer relationships, and support business growth. Research shows that trust is a deciding factor in the buying process for about 81% of shoppers, and 57% are likely to spend more with companies they feel a connection with.
A consistent voice helps your audience relate to and anticipate how your brand behaves and responds. It reduces confusion, reinforces your values, and makes it easier to create long-term relationships.
For instance, Apple uses a calm, confident, and minimal style in all its adverts, website, and packaging. Watch their product video or read a helpful article, the tone feels familiar. This steadiness puts customers at ease and strengthens their trust in the brand.
A well-developed brand voice also helps internal teams in a business communicate more clearly. It gives writers, marketers, and even support staff a shared framework for how to sound when speaking on behalf of the brand.
Brand Voice vs Tone: The Difference Between Them
These two concepts are often seen as similar or the same, but they have different purposes. Brand voice is your company’s foundation and your personality. It remains the same all time. Tone, in contrast, changes based on the context or mood of the message. You can think of tone as the attitude behind your voice.
Here’s a quick comparison to make things clearer:
| Situation | Voice | Tone |
| Product Launch Announcement | Friendly and direct | Excited and enthusiastic |
| Customer Service Response | Friendly and direct | Helpful and empathetic |
| Policy Update Email | Friendly and direct | Serious but respectful |
Your tone adapts to suit the moment, while your voice stays true to who you are as a brand.
How to Build a Brand Voice That Truly Resonates?
About 86% of shoppers love to see honesty and authenticity in brands. Creating an authentic voice starts with knowing who you are and who you’re speaking to.
Here’s the approach you can follow:
Identify Core Values
What does your brand stand for? Think beyond products and features. What role do you play in your customers’ lives? Whether it’s reliability, fun, innovation, or care, these values form the heart of your communication style.
Know Your Audience
Who are your customers, and how do they speak? What matters to them? Use their language—not to imitate, but to connect. Listening to customer feedback, reading reviews, and reviewing social media comments can help you match your brand’s voice with your audience’s expectations.
Audit Existing Content
Look at past emails, blog posts, adverts, and web pages. What feels on-brand? What doesn’t? Find the gaps and identify the strengths in how your brand is currently expressing itself.
Create a Voice Chart
Outline 3–5 key characteristics that define your voice, and give examples of how these sound in writing. This will help anyone who’s creating content for your business.
An example:
| Characteristic | Do Say | Don’t Say |
| Helpful | “Here’s how to get started…” | “You’re on your own.” |
| Warm | “We’re glad to have you here.” | “Dear customer,” |
| Confident | “We’ve built this to last.” | “We think it might work.” |
Real-world Brand Voice Examples
Here’s a close look at brand voice examples from well-known businesses that illustrate how unique and consistent expression helps:
Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s playful, approachable voice, embodied by mascot Freddy, had a massive role in its growth:
- After launching a freemium model in September 2009, the user base grew 5× within one year, jumping from 85,000 to 450,000 users. Profit rose by 650 % over the same period.
- The company continued expanding, reaching 1.2 million users by 2012, with roughly 5,000 new users per day.
- Starting from under £ 400 million in annual revenues pre-2018, Mailchimp grew into a global marketing platform valued at $12 billion when it was acquired by Intuit in 2021.
Innocent Drinks
Innocent’s quirky, conversational tone is reflected through fun packaging, wittily worded social media, and cheeky newsletters:
- In 2016, its expanded product range, including coconut water and veg smoothies, added £28 million to overall sales.
- Annual revenues that year were approximately £247.4 million, marking a 13 % year-on-year increase.
- Additionally, the “Big Knit” campaign helped raise £1.9 million for charity, with over 6 million knitted hats sold.
Spotify
Spotify’s bold, witty brand voice permeates digital copy, social messaging, and especially their viral “Wrapped” campaign:
- The freemium model achieves a 46 % conversion rate from free to premium users.
- The total revenue for Spotify in the first quarter of 2024 was €4.2 billion (up 17 % YoY), with premium revenue up by 19 % and free-customer ads delivering 6 % growth.
- Previously, over 156 million users engaged in the 2022 campaign alone. The “Wrapped” campaign saw 245 million users engage in 2024, generating a widespread social media buzz.
Amplify Your Brand Voice Across Touchpoints With Shiprocket Checkout
After having your brand voice clearly defined, it’s important to maintain it across customer experiences. That’s true even for the checkout process, where tone and messaging can influence what your customers perceive.
Shiprocket Checkout helps you set a unified brand voice throughout the checkout journey, with elements from custom messages and field labels to automated updates and notifications.
For instance, if your brand has a quirky and light-hearted voice, you might want a checkout copy like this:
“Almost there—your goodies are just a click away!”
“Oops! Looks like we need your address to send the fun your way.”
In case of a more professional tone, you might say:
“Please confirm your shipping details.”
“We’ll notify you as soon as your order is on the way.”
Through tools like Shiprocket Checkout, you can maintain your unique voice at a fairly important stage of the customer journey.
Conclusion
Developing a strong brand voice is about having your unique brand identity or personality that customers see in everything you do. Your brand’s voice can become a recognisable and trusted part of your customer experience with the right approach.
From setting a tone that highlights your values to bringing consistency through tools like Shiprocket Checkout, the effort you put into creating and communicating your brand voice will influence how buyers feel about your business long-term.
