Corporate Language on Amazon: How Brands Strike the Right Tone

The meaning of corporate tone of voice

The voice of a brand is just as unique as that of a person and has a massive influence over their corporate identity. This corporate identity helps express the values of a company and therefore plays an important role in successful brand positioning since it determines how the brand is perceived and judged from the outside. The corporate tone of voice (also called a brand voice or brand language) contributes to branding and can create a positive corporate image.

The areas in which it’s important to have a consistent corporate tone of voice

Great importance should be attached to the creation and application of a well-thought-out brand voice. If the corporate tone of voice is uniform and consistent, this can create an impression of authenticity, which can, as a result, have a positive effect on customer loyalty. The importance of the corporate tone of voice is evident across all areas of corporate communication: From websites to newsletters, for individual product marketing, and especially for direct to customer communication etc.

In order to be able to position itself on the open market as a brand, a corporate tone of voice should also not only be positive, but meaningful: This is the only way to ensure the long term recognition value of the brand. It’s also crucial to maintain a uniform appearance across all channels.

It therefore goes without saying that a brand’s appearance on Amazon should also incorporate its own tone of voice. The corporate tone of voice runs through all content elements of Amazon: The bullets, the description, gallery images, A+ content, the brand store and also advertising. All these elements should be designed in a linguistically and graphically consistent manner.

By interweaving the corporate tone of voice as a common thread throughout the entire Amazon strategy, you can ensure your brand will continue to be recognized by customers. It also bridges the gap between Amazon as a platform and other channels. This is important so that customers do not experience inconsistency and are able to find the brand presented in the same manner, whether they are on Amazon, in the online shop or on social media channels.

How to implement corporate tone of voice on Amazon

As far as the implementation of corporate tone of voice goes, having consistent principles are key: To ensure this, we recommend preparing a detailed style guide that internal and external stakeholders can access at any time. Regular corporate branding training is also a good idea. 

The Amazon style guide should contain all information on the formalized design, styling, or tone of a brand: Are sentences shorter and snappy, or longer and more detailed? Do you write in the third person or do you speak of “we”? Including a list of terms that should (not) be used can also be helpful when it comes to creating content.

The following basic questions should be the first port of call when it comes to creating a style guide:

• Who is the target audience?
• How should they be addressed?
• How are technical terms used?
• How are more general language terms used?
• What core message do we want to convey?
• What do we want to stand for as a brand?

Integrating examples throughout the guide, e.g. the structure of a brand’s typical A+ page, can also help.

While consistency is key, it is worth remembering that an Amazon style guide, with all its rules, should also leave some room for slight deviation, e.g. for addressing different age groups in a way that is more appropriate for the target group. Think of a style guide as a set of guidelines rather than a strict rulebook. 

Furthermore, the corporate tone of voice should find its way into all variations of Amazon content, whether they are pure text elements such as the bullet points/ the description, or are Amazon product images/ A+ content/ a Brand Store.

How corporate tone of voice works on Amazon: best practices

With its iconic blue design, the NIVEA branding is visibly recognizable from just a quick glance: But the corporate tone of voice of the firm is also well known. According to NIVEA, the brand stands for trust and quality, not just because of the brand’s long tradition but also because the chosen language of the brand reflects these values and carries them forward into the future. 

As you can see from the example below, NIVEA addresses readers emotionally by using collective pronouns such as “we” and “us” to involve them in the language, thus creating a personal bond. Potential customers feel closer to the company.

NIVEA also attempts to include the customer in their Amazon A+ content and shows that they understand their customers – for example, by picking up on the importance of current political, social or cultural events. In Germany, for example, the signature look of the classic NIVEA Creme tin was redesigned for Pride Day.

In doing this, NIVEA demonstrates to its customers that it is possible to be both contemporary and traditional as a brand: Regardless of the many different products produced by the company, its values and culture remain unwavering and it continues to roll with the times.

This is a common theme that is also clearly recognizable within the NIVEA Brand Store.

The benefits of adhering to a consistent corporate tone of voice across various channels becomes clear when you single out specific products: Here we’ve chosen to look at NIVEA’s MagicBar range.

The language used in each case is English, however it is interesting to see that each channel (website, Instagram and Amazon) has its own country-specific pages and is therefore geared towards each respective market.

On the UK website, the reader is even addressed directly and playfully invited to explore the product range (“Pick & choose to find your perfect combination”). However such linguistic devices tend to be frowned upon by Amazon and therefore they tend not to be present on product display pages there.

All the given examples demonstrate the importance of the environmental aspect for NIVEA products: the terms “natural” and “plastic-free”, for example, are used across all channels.

Conclusion: Corporate tone of voice promotes strong customer loyalty

In summary, it can be said that a well thought-out and consistent corporate tone of voice ensures authenticity, and helps to create trust among customers and therefore strengthens the bond they have with the brand. However it must be clearly outlined what it is that a company stands for and what its values are. The use of branded language affects all areas – including a company’s presence on Amazon. 

A consistent tone of voice should be integrated into the entire Amazon strategy and applied to all areas of content creation. This creates a consistent branding on the platform and helps optimally present your brand.

Finally, it is worth creating a style guide that can help with regard to implementing a consistent tone of voice on all platforms. In any case, taking the time to create a consistent corporate tone of voice tends to be very worthwhile, as a brand only stands to benefit from it in the long term.