Watch your mouth!
Internet users are very autonomous and self-directed people.
With this in mind, you will have to echo those character traits
and use the right tone of voice to fit with them. You should
also be very careful and really watch your mouth while talking
with them, since they are just one click away to your
competitors.
There is no correct tone of voice and approach towards
interacting with website visitors. There are millions of them,
and each of them is right for a certain type of website and
business. What you can have in mind in all the cases is:
* To master the right tone, try to think about what your
potential customer really likes, what is he interested in and
what can catch his attention;
* Always be clear and direct while talking with your
website visitors (your clients have enormous choice);
* Be fast with providing response. It is better to give
partial information immediately than the whole information and
be late. Remember: Internet is all about immediacy and people
are sick of WWWait - language;
* Filter everything to its core, but be sure to keep the
tone that fits with your corporate identity;
* Throw away the dictatorial tone and use more
pleasurable and persuasive voice;
* Try to avoid incomprehensible and offensive words;
* Write active sentences and engage visitors - do not use
passive sentences. E.g. "You will be informed upon this issue"
can be "We will inform you about the prices"
* Strive not to use superlatives and claim that your
products are incredible or astonishing. People have had enough
of the everyday sales hype;
* In any case: try not to be very persistent and try to
oversell - they will surely notice it and they hate talking
to sales people.
* Give your website visitors their space and they will be
grateful. Dante Alighieri once wrote: "Liberty is the
prevention of control by others" .