My years spent working at Oddbins have left me with a long-standing interest in wine, as I'm sure some of you know, and having just been talked up from intending to spend £0.00 to actually spending... a lot more than that in a wine merchant in Borough Market this lunchtime, it's clear that I'm always open to being sold some. Be it a particularly good New Zealand Pinot Gris or a decent quantity deal, there's a fair chance I'll be interested.
Interesting then, that despite numerous emails, direct mails and so on from Virgin Wines, I have yet to purchase anything following the rather ropey half-price case I bought off them shortly after they launched. Now, originally the problem was their catalogue - it just fundamentally wasn't that good. I've heard that recently it's got a lot better though, so it's not that that's putting me off.
Consider then, the tone of their recent email to me, a follow-up to one asking me to join a subscription deal they've recently put together, with the subject '3 reasons NOT to join our club':
"Dear Dan
I am not a sensitive person by nature, but I have to say that I am feeling a little hurt. We’ve invited you into our Club, but you’ve clearly decided not to.
So, as a one-off attempt at sheer bribery, I‘m offering you your first, trial Club case HALF PRICE at just £47.88 (that‘s a ridiculously low £3.99 a bottle!). Plus, two FREE gifts, worth £30. That‘s an overall saving of nearly £80.
Sound good? Then click here to claim your HALF PRICE case and FREE GIFTS.
But you‘re probably not ready to join yet. You‘re probably thinking..."
It then goes on to answer the three reasons it reckons I have which are preventing me from joining. The actual reasons are fairly simple - I like to choose my wine myself, I can't have it delivered to my house and I don't want to carry it on the tube home from work. Oh, and having put together pre-mixed cases myself I know exactly how the margin works and have no intention of buying a dozen wines when I know at least half of them are probably going to be rubbish.
There are so many things wrong with this. Not only do they have the presumption to guess what I'm thinking, they do so in the most confrontational way possible: "you've clearly decided not to" sounds ridiculously petulant and has put me on the back foot in the first sentence. So far, so not good.
Unfortunately this is pretty standard for the tone of their communications. Falsely matey, inappropriately jokey, and borderline offensive - I recall once getting a bit of direct mail, having changed my email address but not updated it with them, saying 'what have we done wrong? why haven't you told us your new email address?'. Shocking.
On the other hand, I urge you all to sign up for the Innocent Drinks newsletter. Without fail, this really brightens my week (although having said that does make me wonder if I shouldn't get out more). Generally there's a bit of news about fruit (surprisingly interesting), new smoothies, news reports and things going on in their office, plus a few other bits and pieces and, every week, a handful of random things they've found on the web that they like. Never anything about what they do, just fun stuff.
Now, to get an idea of how well appreciated their newsletters are, have a look at this, one of the YouTube links in this week's email. Now by the time you read this the comments might have moved to a later page, but at the time of writing, about 30-40% of them are all about Innocent. People love the newsletter, love receiving it, and feel that much closer to Innocent as a brand as a result.
These, to me, are great examples of how a brand can be managed purely through tone of voice. Virgin Wines set out their brand as irreverent, young-ish, good value and exciting, but they just come across as unpleasant and irritating. Innocent have not dissimilar aspirations, but by treating their customers like equals and engaging with them on an honest, open and informal level, they hit the target spot on.
Yes, there's a content aspect here, but more fundamentally than that, it's about understanding your audience, and pitching your tone appropriately. Simple, really... isn't it?