Grammar & style
Global audience considerations
Customer.io serves a diverse, global audience, and it's essential to craft content that resonates with everyone. When creating content, keep in mind the following guidelines to ensure that regional idioms, slang, puns, wordplay, and cultural references are relevant and inclusive for all readers.
Minimize regional idioms and slang. Avoid using idiomatic expressions or slang that might be specific to a particular region. Only use universal language. Instead of saying, "Let's hit the ground running," use "Let's get started."
Use puns and wordplay with caution. Be cautious when using puns or wordplay, as they can be challenging to translate or understand for non-native English speakers. Instead of "Our product is a real game-changer," use "Our product is innovative."
Explain cultural references. If you must use cultural references, provide a brief explanation to ensure that readers from different backgrounds can grasp the context. "Our team works like a well-oiled machine, meaning we're highly efficient and coordinated."
Writing style
Knowledgeable and approachable. We're industry experts with over a decade of experience. Our content should reflect this expertise, but it should also be easily digestible. We aim to educate our customers without overwhelming them with technical jargon or condescending language.
Helpful and empathetic. Every piece of content should offer real value and guide our audience in overcoming their challenges. We understand our customers have technical proficiency, but we are the experts and it's our responsibility to provide clear, step-by-step guidance. People should be the focal point of our writing, not merely abstract concepts.
Transparency and conciseness. We believe in transparency and straightforward communication. We'll always provide information as it is, avoiding unnecessary complexity. We respect our customers’ time and strive to deliver concise and actionable content.
Active voice. Active voice helps us communicate more clearly and concisely, ensuring that the subject of the sentence performs the action, making it easier for our audience to understand.
🔴 The new feature was designed by our team (passive)
🟢 Our team designed the new feature (active)
Writing tips
Connect with our audience in a direct and straightforward manner, maintaining professionalism throughout. Always ask yourself, “Am I writing in the most conversational way and using simple terms for the targeted audience?”
Use clear, concise language that’s easily understood by our audience. Always opt for simplicity and clarity when using technical language—avoid technical jargon (see list here) Yes, there’s a difference between technical language and technical jargon.
🔴 Teams are leveraging Data Pipelines to break down data silos between tools, gain a clear picture of their customer journey, and build more personalized, data-driven campaigns.
🟢 Teams use Data Pipelines to connect different tools, see a clear picture of how customers interact with their business, and create personalized campaigns based on data.
Use industry-standard terms appropriately. Our customers are technically minded, but don’t stuff too many terms into one sentence. It’s best to refrain from using Customer.io specific terminology that is not deemed an industry-standard term; however, if it is necessary to use one of these terms, be sure to define it.
Consistent word usage
Use the correct spelling and punctuation for a word based on its part of speech.
Login vs. log in
Login is a noun that refers to the action of accessing a system or service by entering your username and password. Log in is a verb used to describe the action of providing your credentials.
Noun: "Please enter your login to access your Customer.io account."
Verb: "You can log in to your Customer.io account using your email and password."
Signup vs. sign up
Signup is a noun that refers to the process of creating an account or registering for a service. Sign up is a verb when used to describe the action of registering.
Noun: "The signup process for Customer.io is quick and easy."
Verb: "You can sign up for a Customer.io account by providing your email."
Opt-in vs. opt in
Opt-in is a noun and adjective that refers to the action of choosing to participate or receive something, such as newsletters or updates. Opt in is a verb when describing the action of subscribing or choosing to be included.
Noun/Adjective: "Use double opt-in for best results for deliverability.”
Verb: "You can opt in to receive our newsletter by checking the relevant box."
Opt-out vs. opt out
Opt-out is a noun and adjective referring to the action of choosing not to participate or receive something. Opt out is a verb when describing the action of unsubscribing or choosing not to be included.
Noun/Adjective
Make opt-out easy in account settings.
Verb
Customers can easily opt out of our mailing list by clicking the unsubscribe link.
Startup
Startup is a noun and refers to a newly established and often innovative company. It's not typically used as a verb.
Customer.io caters to startup companies.
Set up
Set up is a verb phrase, and it refers to the process of arranging, configuring, or establishing something. It's not used as a noun.
To use Customer.io, you need to set up your email campaigns and automation rules.
Grammar and mechanics
Maintain proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure throughout all content. Follow standard style conventions, such as using active voice, avoiding excessive jargon, and proofreading for clarity and consistency. Use Grammarly and ChatGPT as a guide to ensure accuracy (but double-check because they aren’t always right!).
Punctuation rules
Colons (:)
Use a colon to introduce a list or provide emphasis.
Our platform includes three core components: marketing automation, customer data, and analytics.
Commas (,)
Commas are used for a variety of purposes, including separating items in a list and setting off non-essential clauses. Use the Oxford comma (serial comma) in lists to separate the final item from the preceding ones with a comma.
List
Our services include email marketing, automation, analytics, and reporting.
Non-essential clause:
Our marketing team, led by Jason, delivered outstanding results.
Semicolons (;)
Use semicolons to join two closely related independent clauses (sentences) or to separate items in a list when those items themselves contain commas. Use semicolons sparingly.
Joining clauses:
The campaign was a success; our engagement rates skyrocketed.
List with items containing commas:
Our global team includes members from New York, NY; London, UK; and Sydney, Australia.
Hyphen (-)
A hyphen is a short punctuation mark used to join words or parts of words, often to create compound words or clarify the meaning of a phrase.
Our marketing automation platform provides real-time data analysis for customer engagement.
Our email campaign will run from October 1-31 for maximum customer engagement. Note: en dash is the accurate punctuation to use in this example, but a hyphen is used here as it is more commonly used than an en dash.
Em dash (—)
An em dash is a longer punctuation mark used to set off a clause or phrase for emphasis. They are often used in place of parentheses and commas (and sometimes semi-colons).
Join our webinar—scheduled for 2 PM today—to learn about advanced marketing automation techniques.
Quotation marks (”)
Punctuation should be placed inside quotation marks, following American English conventions.
Colin Nederkoorn, CEO and Founder of Customer.io, says, “Customer engagement is our top priority.”
“Customer engagement is our top priority,” shared Colin Nederkoorn, CEO and Founder of Customer.io.
Capitalization
Use sentence case (only capitalize the first word) for headings, subheadings, and bullet points.
Messaging automation that activates customer data
Capitalize proper nouns, including product names, such as Customer.io, Journeys, and Data Pipelines.
Data Pipelines integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Mixpanel.
Acronyms
Always introduce an acronym by writing it out fully the first time you use it, followed by the acronym in parentheses ( see list here ). The exception to this rule is when using acronyms that are industry-standard terms, such as API.
Click-through rate (CTR) is a form of measurement for your messaging campaigns.
Always write out Customer.io in external and public-facing content. CIO or C.io should only be used internally for informal writing, such as Slack.
Contractions
We support the use of contractions. They’re totally acceptable!
Numbers
Always spell out numbers that begin a sentence and through the number nine. Anything 10 and above is written in numeric form. The exception to this is using numerals under 10 in headers (5 Marketing automation best practices).
When using ordinal adverbs, write the number out in full.
Customer.io relies on first-party data (not 1st-party).
When referencing time, put a space between the number and am or pm. Time is an exception to the rule above where you can use the numeral through nine.
The webinar starts at 1 pm today and ends at 2:30 pm.
Subject-verb agreement
Subjects and verbs agree in number (singular or plural).
🔴 The marketing team are working on various projects (plural)
🟢 The marketing team is working on a new campaign (singular)
Note: Data Pipelines is a singular subject. Example:
Data Pipelines is now available in general access.
Formatting and structure
To create structured content, employ headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists. Break information into scannable sections, using proper hierarchy to guide readers. Maintain consistent formatting, style, and layout across all content types. Consider incorporating visual aids like tables and infographics for enhanced understanding.
Use short sentences and paragraphs for improved readability and comprehension.
Break up text with headings, subheadings, and bullet points to enhance scannability. For longer blog posts and emails, utilize h2s, h3s, and h4s.
Ensure consistent formatting style for various content types, such as blog posts, emails, and knowledge-base articles.
Employ numbered lists for step-by-step instructions or processes.
Utilize bold or italics sparingly to highlight important points or emphasize specific words.
Lists
When using complete sentences for your lists, always use end punctuation. Use bolded words or phrases at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize key terms or points. It enhances readability and the visual hierarchy of information, helping readers quickly grasp key concepts (also good for SEO).
When creating lists, it's essential to maintain parallelism to ensure consistency and readability. Each item in the list should follow the same grammatical structure; in other words, each of the first words would be all verbs or all nouns. If the items are complete sentences, use end punctuation.
Bulleted
Bulleted lists enhance readability and clarity.
Example of parallelism using verbs:
Customer.io key features:
Automates messaging campaigns
Provides real-time analytics
Integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack
Numbered
Numbered lists are used to guide readers through processes.
Example of bolded first words:
5 Marketing automation best practices:
Segmentation. Create targeted campaigns by segmenting...
Personalization. Personalize email content to increase engagement…
Analytics. Monitor campaign performance with analytics...
Writing for accessibility
When creating content, it is crucial to prioritize accessibility to ensure that individuals with diverse abilities can easily understand it. By adhering to these accessibility guidelines, we can ensure that our content is inclusive for all.
Always provide alt text for images. Pro tip: this also helps with SEO!
Use descriptive hyperlinks that clearly communicate the destination, avoiding generic terms like "here" that lack contextual information regarding the link's destination.
Provide captions or transcripts for all videos.
Check color contrast to ensure legibility.
Include text alternatives for non-text elements, such as infographics or charts.
Avoid ableist language. Be mindful of using language that could unintentionally exclude or marginalize people with disabilities. Avoid terms like "see," "view," "hear," or "walk through" when describing tasks or processes. Instead, use inclusive alternatives such as "understand," "explore," "experience," or "navigate." This ensures that our content is accessible and welcoming to all readers.