7 Common Voice and Tone Mistakes – and How to Avoid Them
Voice and tone is one of the most overlooked parts of UX Writing. In workshops and meetings, everyone nods when the topic comes up. Teams agree that communication should, of course, be consistent across touch points and channels, and maybe they even already have a voice and tone style guide in place.
But here’s the thing: in many UX and product teams, voice and tone ends up being handled poorly. The result? Inconsistent, generic, or otherwise weak copy that hurts the entire customer experience.
The good news: Getting it right is not so much about perfection. Often, it’s simply about avoiding the most most severe mistakes. Here are seven of them.
1. Deny you need a voice and tone style guide
The mistake: No need for a style guide because all our writers already know what our brand voice sounds like, right? Wrong.
The result: Multiple voices competing in one product, users get mixed signals, and brand authority suffers.
The better way: Document your brand voice in a simple, accessible style guide. If you feel people won’t use it, choose a convenient format and presentation — and involve the future users of your guide by asking them what they need to make voice and tone guidelines practical.
And speaking of asking the future users of your style guide:
2. Don’t involve your stakeholders
The mistake: Creating a voice and tone guide in isolation. Not asking product managers, designers, support agents, or anyone else who will later work with it what they actually need? That’s a no-no.
The result: You end up with a document that looks polished but gets ignored because the rules don’t fit real workflows, the format is inconvenient, or the guidance doesn’t solve actual challenges.
The better way: Involve your stakeholders early. Ask what examples, formats, and rules would actually help them in their work, and how the style guide should be presented. A guide created with stakeholder input is far more likely to be used, trusted, and kept alive.
But let’s not forget about the most important person to involve: the author of the style guide:
3. Have a non-writer create your voice and tone rules
The mistake: Let someone who’s not experienced with professional copy writing define the voice and tone for your copy.
The result: Guidelines that look fine on theory but fail in practice.
The better way: Involve experienced writers – Copywriters, UX Writers, Content Writers – in creating and updating the rules. They understand functional copy in different contexts and know how to bring a brand to life through language.
You know how I can instantly tell a non-writer created the rules? When I see the next mistake.
4. Use vague rules to leave room for interpretation
The mistake: Write instructions like: “Be friendly but professional,” “Use a modern tone,” or any other form of ambiguous guideline.
The result: Every writer (and stakeholder) interprets those phrases differently. The brand ends up sounding inconsistent because everyone defaults to their personal style.
The better way: Replace vague rules with concrete linguistic rules — for example, “use metaphors” or “avoid negative adjectives.” Show before-and-after copy, include dos and don’ts, and tailor guidance for different contexts.
However, the following mistake is just as severe as not setting the right rules in the beginning:
5. Never update your style guide
The mistake: Create the guide once and never adjust it.
The result: Your product evolves, your market changes, your brand narrative shifts – but your voice and tone rules stay the same.
The better way: Review and update your style guide regularly. Define review cycles of 3–6 months, depending on how quickly your company changes.
But there’s more:
6. Don’t have specific voice and tone rules for specific touch points and channels.
The mistake: Use the same brand rules for websites, blogs, press releases, and in-app microcopy.
The result: Functional copy in UX Writing or Technical Writing may lose clarity and accessibility, while marketing copy risks becoming lifeless.
The better way: Adapt your brand voice for different contexts, touch points, and channels. Remember: what works in a marketing campaign often doesn’t work in an error message.
But how about following best practices? Other brands have done it right — so why not just do what they do?
7. Just copy another brand’s voice
The mistake: Just say, “We want to sound like Slack or Mailchimp.”
The result: Your product ends up sounding like every other copycat brand, with no distinct personality — and may even result in communication that doesn’t fit your brand, product, or audience.
The better way: Define your own authentic voice. Consider your audience, product, and market. It takes time, but when done right, it’s worth the effort.
Final Thoughts
A strong, well-defined voice and tone, packed and wrapped in an intentionally crafted style guide, makes your product feel cohesive, authentic, and trustworthy. It strengthens the relationship between your company and its customers, helps your brand stand out, and also supports the writers on your team in doing their job. In the end, voice and tone is about equipping practitioners with everything they need to bring a brand to life – and if that doesn’t sound like an exciting thing to do, I don’t know what does.
