Finding the Right Tone for Your Emails

Tone in email marketing refers to your brands attitude, conveyed through the language used in your campaigns. This can include word choices and sentence structures.

Tone can have a big influence on how your recipients engage with your emails and so it’s something that’s important to establish when creating your campaign content.

In this blog, we’re going to explore different email tones, when to use each and how it differs to your emails voice.

Difference Between Tone and Voice

Although closely related (and often used interchangeably), email tone and voice are different.

Voice is the overall personality of your brand and tends to stay consistent, like how a person’s voice is always the same.

Tone on the other hand is not consistent and can change depending on the nature of your email – this is the specific feeling/attitude conveyed in your email. For example, if addressing a serious event or issue, your email tone would be more empathetic and professional. However, if addressing a purchase or product review, your tone may lean towards being more informal and light-hearted.

A quick way to remember the difference? Voice is constant and tone is the variation.

Why Does Tone Matter?

Simply put, email tone helps you connect to your recipients.

Every greeting, word choice and sentence structure defines how recipients view and feel towards your business. The tone of your emails directly influences whether a recipient will engage with your content and so it’s important to get it right, based on the context of the email content.

To put this into practice, let’s take a look at some email greeting examples. One company begins their email with “Dear Customer” while another begins with “Hey [First Name]”. From these openings alone, you can feel a difference in tone. Does one feeling more inviting than the other? Does one make you understand the context of the email content more than the other?

The first company has adopted a formal and professional tone which may make them appear more serious. Company two on the other hand have a much more friendly approach. Both approaches have their merits but you can quickly see how a recipient’s perception of your brand can be made.

Tone Options

Professional
Emails with a professional tone use formal language, tending to address recipients as “Mr [Name]” or “Valued Customer”. Language used in these emails are often certain, concise and reassuring. This tone works well for formal announcements.

Example – Dear Mr Smith, we are delighted to invite you….
Friendly/Conversational
Emails with this tone use quite positive language and often incorporate lots of personalisation tokens. Content is often written as if having a face-to-face conversation with your recipients. This tone is great for daily/weekly newsletters where you’re looking to build rapport with your recipients.

Example – Hey John, we’d love for you to join us…
Urgent
This type of email commands attention and focuses on taking some action. It may incorporate deadline dates and repercussions if not actioned.

Example – Dear Mr Smith, we are writing to you about your…
Humorous
Jokes, puns and quirky language are often used in emails with a humorous tone. These emails tend to come off as joyful and informal. However, this tone must be used strategically so as to still align with your brand personality and to not come across as too unserious. Click here to read more on how you can incorporate humour into your email campaigns.

Example – John, got any plans for the 29^th….
Empathetic
Emails with this tone often uses supportive language and is great for customer service emails where you want to show recipients you understand concerns and provide positive solutions.

Example – It’s been a difficult time so we’d like to invite you…