role / Lead, Service Designer
company / Orange Polska
Tone of Voice
Turn your App
into Persona
The project details are confidential, but I want to describe the main principles and methodology. I was a lead in the whole process.
While working with omnichannel services, we wondered which place takes an app in our customer's experience. Understanding why the app is most popular among other digital channels was substantial. How its experience is different from other channels?
Omnichannel says: what?
Digital channels aren't easy to introduce in a company where an average client is about 40 years old or more.
Yet, in Orange Polska, we had an excellent digital performance, catching younger and younger customers every month. And we have more users in applications than in any other channel. Looking for the explanation for its success, we bet on a lighter and more modern way to talk with users. The first idea was: that customers like it because the application communicates better. To understand that and use that knowledge in other products, we decided to analyse and precise app identity.
Who is it?
The app has a strong identity. That is what we were sure about. The main idea was to create an experience inside and with the app, building on top of this identity. It seems to be no better solution than turning our app into a persona and letting it speak and act in its unique way. Like your best handyman, maybe a friend.
We wanted to find this archetype and give life to it. Maybe create an avatar, like Mailchimp or InPost. I designed the process and followed its path to the main goal (read the pic).
Personality is a key
Archetypes
Goal:
To find an identity archetype best to describe the way that your product communicates and act​
Basic Queestion to ask
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What is the primary goal of this identity?
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What kind of emotions wants to create?
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What action does it take?
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How does it express itself?
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What try to avoid?
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What is a red flag for this identity?
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The effect of the archetype discovery workshop looks like the example below. Strong statements, main goals and big NO's.
A different task, different role
Roles
Goal:
Identify basic "jobs to be done" and adjust roles that the app fulfils to the user's expectations and needs.
How we speak?
When a user is lost, his immediate need is to find help.
When looking for a new proposition - he expects simple and valuable information. Suppose he encounters a problem he wants to be taken seriously. If the content is just playful – well, that's simple...
The Voice of the app should match to situation.
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Our next step was to find three leading voices/roles that help with communication. We named them:
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Teacher who shows how to use an app
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Advisor, who consults and point out attractive solution
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Buddy, who blinks and sweetens marketing messages
Test everything, you might be wrong
We called it
"A clash of messages"
How?
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We choose six basic massages/statements: from error to successful payment info.
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Gave three communication styles to each statement: formal, informal and funny
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We asked our clients which style in every statement suits them best and worst and why
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We gather quantity data and respondents' statements
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And what happened?
Noone choose funny
Ever. Not even once.
Our app is not meant to be funny, just that.
We were wrong
Every time users pointed out a style matching to statement, we were surprised by their choice
Context is everything
We can't talk funny about money. We can't be too strict talking about offers... It goes and goes.
And it's all important
What have we learned from this project?
We learned that our Tone of Voice is a key to app identity
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Chosen archetype is like the main direction of our efforts,
but it's not enough to make the whole communication meaningful and easy to take. We expected that the app community would accept more informal and funnier communication, but in the end, we learned that they expect a coherent Brand identity with just a little softer approach.
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That's why we need:
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More user research focused on different statements and their variations
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A clear vision of differences between app communication and brand communication
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The constant involvement of UX writers
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Communication guide and strong identity statement, also softer approach end flexible rules
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Constantly work with test results
Using a simple tone of voice matrix, we make an effort to classify and describe different messages/statements.
The end result should be like a communication manual, where everyone can find guidance and references. That will prevent us from wrong assumptions and lack of integrity in whole app communication.
We also want to highlight the differences between the official brand communication and the internal language of the application
Conclusion
An app wanted to be frisky, funny and bold. But, let's be honest: our users expected something else.
I think that it's a vital ant pretty obvious lesson:
Don't design how you like. Design in a way that makes your products work better.
