Match what you already sound like
Your website, emails and proposals already have a voice. The bot should sound like the same business, not like a different company's marketing.
The simplest way to get this right is to give it examples of how you already write.
Three rules
- Brief. Answer the question, then stop. Long answers get skimmed.
- Plain. Use the words your customers use, not your internal vocabulary.
- Direct. If the answer is no, say no. Hedging reads as evasion.
Forced friendliness is the most common mistake. Exclamation marks and enthusiasm do not make a wrong answer better and they make a right one harder to read.
What tone should never do
- Apologise repeatedly — once is enough
- Pretend to be human when asked directly
- Make promises about outcomes, prices or timescales
- Use humour in a complaint conversation
Formality follows your sector
A legal or financial business should sound careful. A trades business should sound straightforward. A consumer brand can be warmer.
Mismatched formality is noticed immediately and it undermines confidence in the answer.
Test it by reading aloud
Take five answers and read them as if you were saying them to a customer standing in front of you. Anything that sounds odd out loud will read oddly on screen.
It is a two-minute test and it catches most tone problems.