Goals and Principles
Our brand's voice is present when bringing awareness to our solutions, attracting customers and building a community. We must align all our communication strategies, so our brand's voice is recognizable regardless of the medium our user is interacting with. Once a person becomes our client, and starts using our solutions, they should still recognize our voice. In this page we bring forth our Brand Principles, Tone and Voice and Writing guidelines to remind UX writers how UX copy should always be aligned with our product and brand's strategy.
Brand Principles#
🎯 Trust to be trusted#
To trust is to believe with eyes closed and to delegate responsibilities. To be trustworthy you need honesty, transparency and consistency in quality and performance. This bond is built upon exchange: trust to be trusted.
🎯 Build for community#
It’s all about being ready to grow and reach new levels together. Have a solid foundation, modular thinking and flexible essence, and you’re building for the community. We are global but we’re audacious enough to aim for the stars.
🎯 Be bold#
Boldness is about challenging the status quo and not being afraid to make mistakes or take risks. Test new alternatives, walk into the unknown and explore possibilities no one thought about. To be bold is to apologize, not ask for permission.
Tone and Voice#
Although we should transmit the same voice whenever VTEX is speaking, we understand that there are differences between writing a blog post and writing an error message.
On our platforms we deal with sensitive data, and our client's results. It demmands responsibility and respect in how we communicate. Therefore, for UX Writing, we choose to favor the Serious and Authority tones, from our Brand Manual. We understand that they capture the reliability and expertise our system's voice should have.
📣 Serious#
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We speak firmly, respectfully and honestly — always with a tone that’s more serious than playful.
Serious, not playful: To build trust, we must avoid jokes, puns, and everything that may sound ambiguous. Being straightforward and honest is the key.
📣 Authority#
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We are the ecommerce bastions. When speaking to others, we talk with mastery, proficiency and expertise.
Authority, not arbitrary: We're commerce and technology specialists. Our content embodies that expertise to be useful for our users, never pretentious or obnoxious. Sounding trustful is the key.
📣 Young#
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We have the energy and the attitude to accelerate the transformations that will take our clients (and ourselves) to the next level. We are restless and passionate.
Young, not naive: We must show our passion for tech and commerce and the energy we put on everything we do. Keep the content fresh and pleasant.
📣 Exclusive#
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We're at the top of the game. We talk to CEOs, CTOs, sales directors, and high-level management. That means VTEX must communicate accordingly.
Exclusive, not arrogant: Because we aim our communication efforts at enterprise-level companies, we must add sophistication to our messages, while keeping them simple and clear. Good taste is the key here.
📣 Rebel#
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We are not afraid of making mistakes, because we learn from them and become better as a company. But we are not reckless: We are just bold enough to develop the innovations that will disrupt the market.
Rebel, not inconsequent: It's part of our nature to question absolute truths. We constantly challenge ourselves, and our content must do the same. Being bold is the key to that.
Writing Principles#
📝 Clarity#
No matter the media, the objective, or the audience. Make sure your content is free from any possible ambiguities. Being straightforward on complex (or delicate) themes will help users better understand the message.
📝 Suitability#
Are you writing for engineers or ecommerce analysts? Are you channeling your message through an online banner or a downloadable white paper? Forget about right or wrong. Consider the target audience, the channel, and focus on what's appropriate.
📝 Precision#
Stick to the main message you want to communicate and cut everything else. Mixing up many different topics will only confuse the audience and lower the performance of your content.