118 118 Money
Tone of Voice
A breath of fresh air
The lending industry isn’t known for being light-hearted. And too often when money is (over)due, it’s all about the transaction, not the relationship.
UK lender 118 118 Money is different, in the way it does things and the way it talks about them. We helped it define that in a bit more detail, with particular focus on writing debt collection letters.
Different people, different lives
We worked with 118 118 Money to construct several key personas, to help its teams understand who they’re talking to. Because once you’ve got a picture in your head of who they are, it becomes easier to tune things to their needs.
And perhaps more importantly, it helps to give background on why people might have fallen behind on payments. The answer is generally, “life happens,” and this lender doesn’t forget that. A conciliatory, not accusatory, approach was required.
Understanding, not chastising
We used the personas and existing brand values to develop a checklist of eight ‘must-haves’ for every piece of writing, to help people see if they were hitting the mark.
And we outlined the opportunity to use humor (where appropriate) to defuse any tension and stress the reader might be feeling. Which helps borrowers feel like there’s someone on their side.
Creating the guidelines
After establishing the personas and principles (and drawing up a fun little quiz to help people understand what sort of tone is on the money), we wrote the tone of voice guidelines in full.
While covering how to embody the brand while writing, the guide also contains advice on how to write effectively and clearly for customers. Because when you’re talking about debt, clarity counts.
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