A brand voice guide your emails can be checked against.
A brand voice guide for email states how the brand writes, as rules a reviewer can check: a few traits with examples and a guidance range, never-words, words used only with proof, subject-line limits and forms of address per market. Then any email can be checked against it line by line, by a person or by software.
This template is written as rules you can check, not adjectives. It has fifteen sections, a filled example and a worksheet for scoring one email by hand.
Why do most voice guides not help an email writer?
Most voice guides are a list of adjectives, with no example lines, no limits and no rules per market. A writer can’t check a subject line against “friendly but confident”, and neither can the reviewer in the fifth market who reads the email in another language. A guide that helps gives each trait a line that sounds right and a line that doesn’t. It sets a range for how far each trait should go, names the words to avoid and the words that need proof, and says which rules change from market to market.
The template.
Fill in each section with your brand’s entries. Mark every entry draft until its owner has agreed it.
Voice
- 1. Voice traits: Three to five. For each: a name, a description, a line to say, a line not to say, and a status (draft or agreed).
- 2. Tone by email type: For each email type: when it is used, a good approach with an example line, and a bad approach with an example line.
- 3. Intensity: One sentence on how much energy the copy carries.
Scoring
- 4. Scored dimensions: For each: a name, a weight (the weights add up to 1), what a high score looks like, a calibration line with its level, and a guidance range on a 0–100 scale. A score outside the range is a finding to read.
- 5. Pass mark: One number for the weighted overall score, and what happens to an email below it. The score informs the reviewer. A named person still approves.
Rules
- 6. Writing rules: A title and the rule, with an example.
- 7. Guardrails: A title and what the copy must never do.
- 8. Never-words: The word, the reason, and what to use instead.
- 9. Watch-words: The word, and when it is allowed.
- 10. Length limits: The field (subject line, preheader, headline, button) and its maximum in characters.
- 11. Policy notes: Claims the brand never makes.
- 12. Cut questions: The questions an editor asks before cutting, each with guidance.
- 13. Flow rules: Rules for automated emails, such as a welcome flow.
Per market
- 14. Vocabulary per market: The term, the word to use, the word not to use, and the market.
- 15. Address and locale per market: The form of address, the quotation marks and the number format.
Plain text, ready to copy.
Select the lines below and paste them into a doc. Nothing on this page is stored or sent.
1. Voice traits (3 to 5)
Trait:
Description:
Say:
Don’t say:
Status (draft or agreed):
2. Tone by email type
Email type:
When:
Good approach, with an example line:
Bad approach, with an example line:
3. Intensity:
4. Scored dimensions
Dimension:
Weight (all weights add up to 1):
What high looks like:
Calibration line and its level:
Guidance range (0–100):
5. Pass mark, and what happens below it:
6. Writing rules (title, rule, example):
7. Guardrails (title, rule):
8. Never-words (word, reason, use instead):
9. Watch-words (word, when allowed):
10. Length limits (field, maximum characters):
11. Policy notes:
12. Cut questions (question, guidance):
13. Flow rules:
14. Vocabulary per market (term, say, don’t say, market):
15. Address and locale per market (market, form of address, quotation marks, number format):
Holm Coffee’s guide, filled in.
Holm Coffee is a fictional demo brand: a roastery with three cafés and a subscription shop, sending to Denmark, Sweden and Germany. These are its entries, section by section.
| Section | Holm Coffee’s entry |
|---|---|
| Voice traits | Warm: “We talk like the person behind the counter who remembers your order.” Say “Pull up a chair.” Don’t say “Valued customer”. Plainspoken: “Short sentences. No coffee-snob vocabulary unless we explain it.” Curious: “We ask why a cup tastes the way it does.” Status: draft, wording still being agreed with the owner. |
| Tone by email type | Welcome, for first orders and new subscribers. Good: “Say what happens next.” Example: “Your first bag ships Tuesday.” Bad: “Do not oversell.” Example: “The best coffee you will ever taste!” |
| Intensity | “Keep the energy at a café conversation, never a market stall.” |
| Scored dimensions | Warmth 0.25, Clarity 0.25, Origin 0.20, Restraint 0.15, Craft 0.15. Warmth, high: “Reads like a person.” Calibration line: “Pull up a chair, the Guji is in.” is Warm. Warmth’s range: Cold is 0–40, Warm is 41–100. The other four have no range set yet. |
| Pass mark | 68 |
| Writing rules | Name the farm: “Every origin story names the producer.” Prices with currency: “Write the currency after the amount, with a space.” |
| Guardrails | No competitors: “Never name another roastery.” |
| Never-words | artisanal. Reason: “Everyone says it.” Use instead: small-batch. |
| Watch-words | best. Allowed: “Only with proof.” |
| Length limits | Subject line: 55 characters. |
| Policy notes | “Never say coffee is good for your health.” |
| Cut questions | “Does it say one thing?” If you need two headlines, write two emails. “Would the farmer recognise their coffee?” |
| Flow rules | “The welcome flow never sells in its first email.” |
| Vocabulary per market | Espresso: say espresso, never expresso, in every market. Filter coffee: filterkaffe in DK, Filterkaffee in DE. Pour-over: Handfilter in DE. |
| Address per market | DE: “Use du, not Sie.” |
How do you keep one voice across markets and writers?
Keep one voice across markets and writers by writing the rules that change per market into the guide, and by naming who checks each market. Translation alone carries the words across, not the voice.
- Vocabulary per market. A term can have a different right word in each language. Holm Coffee says Handfilter for pour-over in Germany.
- Forms of address. German, Swedish and Danish each have a formal and an informal “you”. Decide which one per market and write it down, as Holm Coffee does with “du, not Sie”.
- Never-words and watch-words in every language. A rule written only in English is checked only in English. List the local words too.
- A named reviewer per market. Someone who reads the language checks each market’s email against the guide before it is approved.
- A status on every entry. Mark entries draft, pending or agreed. Holm Coffee’s Curious trait is still a draft, so a reviewer reads it as guidance, not as a rule.
Score one email by hand.
Score one email by hand by rating each paragraph per dimension, averaging, and weighting the averages. You do the scoring and the arithmetic. Nothing on this page is stored or sent.
- Split the email into its subject line, preheader and paragraphs, and number the paragraphs.
- Rate each paragraph on each dimension from 0 to 100, using the calibration lines as your reference.
- For each dimension, take the average of its paragraph ratings. That is the dimension’s score.
- Multiply each score by its weight and add the results. That is the overall score.
- Mark each dimension whose score falls outside its guidance range, and note whether the overall score is below the pass mark.
- Run the word checks: never-words, watch-words and length limits.
- For every finding, write down the line, the rule and a rewrite.
| Dimension | Weight | Guidance range | Score (0–100) | Weight × score | Inside the range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warmth | 0.25 | 41–100 | |||
| Clarity | 0.25 | ||||
| Origin | 0.20 | ||||
| Restraint | 0.15 | ||||
| Craft | 0.15 | ||||
| Overall | 1.00 | Pass mark 68 |
A worked example with made-up scores: Warmth 80, Clarity 70, Origin 60, Restraint 50 and Craft 70 give 0.25 × 80 + 0.25 × 70 + 0.20 × 60 + 0.15 × 50 + 0.15 × 70 = 67.5. That is just under Holm Coffee’s pass mark of 68, and Restraint is the dimension to read first.
| Check | Holm Coffee’s rule | Hits, with paragraph numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Never-words | artisanal: use small-batch | |
| Watch-words | best: only with proof | |
| Length limits | Subject line: 55 characters at most |
| Line | Dimension | Rule | Rewrite |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Our best Guji yet, and truly unforgettable.” | Restraint | Watch-word “best”: only with proof | “Expect peach, jasmine and a long, clean finish.” |
The example row is Holm Coffee’s, a fictional demo brand. The rewrite names the taste instead of ranking the coffee.
What Caliber will do with a guide like this.
This template follows the same sections as Caliber’s brand data. Caliber is being built to check each draft against a guide like this, one dimension at a time, and to show the line, the rule and a suggested rewrite. The score will inform; a named person approves. Drafts go to your ESP through Caliber’s integrations with Klaviyo, Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next, Voyado, Customer.io and Iterable.
Questions
What is the difference between brand voice and tone?
Brand voice is how the brand writes in every email, and it stays the same. Tone is how that voice adjusts to the moment: a welcome, a launch or an apology for a late delivery. In this template, the traits, rules and never-words are the voice. The tone by email type and the intensity are the tone.
How do you write a brand voice guide?
Start from emails the team already agrees are on brand and off brand. Name three to five traits, and give each one a line to say and a line not to say. Add the writing rules, never-words, watch-words and length limits, then the vocabulary and forms of address per market. Mark each entry draft until its owner agrees it.
How do you check that copy is on brand?
Check copy against the guide one dimension at a time, with the calibration lines as the reference, then run the word checks for never-words, watch-words and length limits. Write each finding down with the line, the rule and a rewrite. A reviewer who reads the market’s language checks each local version.
How do you keep one brand voice across languages?
Write the per-market parts into the guide: vocabulary, forms of address, quotation marks and number formats, and the local never-words. Then have a named reviewer who reads the language check each market’s email against the same guide. A translated email that breaks a local rule is off brand, however good the English original was.