Voice and Tone

How do we sound

What does Voice and Tone Even Mean
Voice

is our style, our point of view, our personality.

Tone

is our attitude and how we are perceived by those who listen.

Our voice determines how we write and how we speak to our audience. Tone is how our voice is perceived by our audience. That’s what we mean by “tone of voice.”

How to write to Ecommerce Templates

Download our Writing Templates

Voice

At its core, our voice is always human. Because that’s what we are, how we talk and who we talk to. And it doesn’t matter if it’s marketing copy, phone calls, emails or notes on the fridge (see how we said “fridge” and not “refrigerator?” Friendly, like that), Rackers talk to the world the way we want to be spoken to: with helpful words and phrases that are informative, simple, clear and easy to understand.

But since we’re a technology company, sometimes there’s only one right word or phrase, and it has more than two syllables. We avoid needless jargon, but in the right context, we don’t flinch from using words like MapReduce or /.htaccess. And while our audience and customers include some very technical folks who want simple descriptions for how something works or affects them, they don’t want anything dumbed down.

Tone

Everything we say should create feelings of inspiration and empowerment in our audiences. We accomplish this by providing them with relevant insights and solutions, by using straightforward, relatable language, and by connecting with them on a personal level.

Let's take a look at

Some Examples

Let's talk like this
Not so much like this

Managed cloud lets you tap the power of the cloud for your strategic business goals without the frustration, cost and time of managing it yourself.

Managed cloud is a platform that allows you to leverage a multitude of cloud-based services to achieve your strategic business goals at a lower cost and without the time investment of non-managed solutions.

(too literal, corporate-speak)

We’re your team of always-ready, always-accountable, always-helpful experts who embody Fanatical Support®.

Rackspace is comprised of experts who are always accountable, helpful and ready to provide you with Fanatical Support®.

(LESS FRIENDLY)

Oops. Something went wrong. There’s a form field that needs to be filled in.

You have made an error. Please fill in all fields before submitting the form.

(too sterile, makes an accusation)

Helpful Tips

Here are a few more tips to help you keep your voice and tone sounding like a Racker.
  • Try to write how you’d speak, so your words are more authentic, honest and natural.
  • It’s also OK (encouraged, actually) to use contractions, like “I’ll,” “we’ll” and “haven’t.”
  • But avoid informal spellings, like “wanna” and “gotta.”
  • Simplify complex phrases without diluting them.
  • Short and simple is (almost) always better.
  • Sentence fragments are OK when used for special emphasis. Just like this.
  • And we don’t mind sentences that start with conjunctions.
  • Asking questions for rhetorical effect is OK as long as you answer them right away.
The Rackspace Content

Style Toolkit

Lists:

Generally avoid using the “Oxford comma” or “serial comma.” That means if you’re listing three or more things, avoid using a comma to precede the last item in the list.

Exceptions:
  • Its removal would alter the meaning of the phrase.
  • Its removal would impede understandability of the phrase.
  • You’re using it to separate long, more-complicated lists, as in “…horses without homes, dogs without bones, and rabbits who like to read”.
  • The context of your writing is more formal.
  • The last item in your list has “and” in it already, as in “dogs, rabbits, and goods and services”.
    • Examples:

    Let’s talk about managed cloud, infrastructure, and support.


    (WRONG)

    Do you like Frosted Flakes, Cheerios and Lucky Charms?


    (RIGHT)
    Acronyms & Abbreviations:

    Unless something is always referred to by an acronym or abbreviation — like PHP or API — make sure you define the acronym or abbreviation parenthetically after its first use.

    EXAMPLE:

    Deliver your content at blazing-fast speeds, using our content delivery network (CDN).

    Terminal Punctuation & Spacing:

    We always put punctuation at the end of our sentences, but when it comes to captions, callouts and other shortened phrases, you only need a period at the end if the phrase has a verb in it. And we prefer one space after periods. Period.

    EXAMPLES:

    Cloud server (has no verb)

    Sends data faster. (has a verb)

    Exclamation Mark:

    We like to choose words that are so compelling that we don’t need exclamation marks. But if you must use it, one is always enough.

    Dashes & Hyphens:

    Use em dashes (the long ones) when you need to create a pause in a sentence. Use en dashes only in number ranges. Use hyphens to join words together. Include a space before and after the em dash.

    EXAMPLE:

    From 1990–1997, cloud-based services weren’t really available for business owners — until Rackspace came along.

    Numbers:

    In general, write out numbers one through nine. You can write the others in number form.

    Exception:

    24x7x365

    Examples:

    There are three main reasons managed cloud is really awesome. But the best one is that you can run your business worry-free, 365 days a year.

    Applying the Rackspace

    Tone and Voice

    This is just a formality

    The Rackspace voice is conversational, friendly and confident. But it’s also adaptable. So when it comes to our communications, the level of formality will vary slightly depending on our audience.

    but if you want to get technial...

    Let’s face it. Not everyone’s ready for “fully isolated, single-tenant Layer 2 networks” or “complex network traffic topologies.” Feel free to embrace your inner Racker when you’re talking to CIOs and CTOs, but tone it down if someone doesn’t know their USB port from their power supply.

    Decisions Decisions

    Let’s put it all together now. Here’s a chart that shows a basic guideline for the level of technicality and formality you can aim for when talking to different target audiences.