This list of 37 website-specific tone words can be used in two different phases of the content development process:

  • Planning: before the content has been written
  • Evaluation: to understand how your users interpret the tone of your content

Planning

Start first by deciding at a high level what kind of tone will work best for your site as a whole or for the piece of content you’re preparing to write. Assess where you aim to be within the 4 dimensions of tone of voice:

  • funny vs. serious
  • formal vs. casual
  • respectful vs. irreverent
  • enthusiastic vs. matter-of-fact

Once you’ve defined your target tone profile, refine your tone strategy by selecting from this list. Create a do list with the words that you want your tone to fit, and also a don’t list with the words that your tone should not match.

For example, let’s say we’re preparing to write copy for a hospital’s Patients & Visitors site section. We might decide we want a tone profile that is:

  • Serious: we shouldn’t try to be funny while speaking to patients
  • Formal: the hospital has a traditional and prestigious brand personality
  • Respectful: it should not look like we’re making light of a serious situation for patients
  • Neither enthusiastic nor matter-of-fact: we should convey some sense of empathy, but should not appear overly emotional

We might then select several target tone words, for example:

  • Sympathetic but not cheerful
  • Professional but also caring

Remember that you can always add your own tone words if our list doesn’t have any that exactly fit your intentions. Just remember that tone words should describe how your organization feels about the topic.

Evaluation

You can evaluate tone of voice quickly — on your own, or with other members of your team. Follow these steps:

  1. Collect several samples of your content.
  2. Select tone words that describe the tone of voice for each of them. You can do it yourself or ask a few colleagues to go through this exercise.
  3. Give the samples to actual users, and ask them to decide which tone words best describe each of your content pieces. You can use a modified product-reaction test.

Some people forego step 3 (evaluating tone with users). Remember that you are not your users: your interpretation of tone will almost certainly be different from your users’ interpretation.

Whether you’ve evaluated your content internally or with users, your primary goal is to consider if the tone actually conveyed by your content matches your brand personality and the tone you want to convey. If it doesn’t, modify the content to move it closer to your goal, and test again.

List of Detailed Tone Descriptors

  1. Authoritative
  2. Caring
  3. Cheerful
  4. Coarse
  5. Conservative
  6. Conversational
  7. Casual
  8. Dry
  9. Edgy
  10. Enthusiastic
  11. Formal
  12. Frank
  13. Friendly
  14. Fun
  15. Funny
  16. Humorous
  17. Informative
  18. Irreverent
  19. Matter-of-fact
  20. Nostalgic
  21. Passionate
  22. Playful
  23. Professional
  24. Provocative
  25. Quirky
  26. Respectful
  27. Romantic
  28. Sarcastic
  29. Serious
  30. Smart
  31. Snarky
  32. Sympathetic
  33. Trendy
  34. Trustworthy
  35. Unapologetic
  36. Upbeat
  37. Witty