There’s something about the shadow of business that causes people to actually strive for a rigid and vanilla tone in their communications.
That’s why the following automated note from Twitter (forgot my password) caught my attention:
Hey there.
Can’t remember your password, huh?
It happens to the best of us.
Please open this link in your browser…
The mere act of being conversational actually causes a basic note on resetting my password to stand out.
Because “corporate speak” has become the de fault for this type of communications.
Dick Costolo wrote a wonderful post over a year ago called “Have a Company Voice.” The following words absolutely nail the issue:
People like it when companies have personalities. It makes us feel like there are actual people on the other side of the communication. It’s fun to be the customer of a company with a personality. This seems totally obvious, and yet you too rarely see companies with distinct personalities really grab your attention in the marketplace. Why is this? It’s actually hard to remove personality and character from communications. So, instead of saying that companies don’t take the time to have personalities, it’s probably more accurate to state that companies don’t allow themselves to show their personalities.