Writing your tone of voice
The single field that decides whether your clone sounds like you.
On the Personality step, Your personality and tone of voice does more for authenticity than anything else in the product. It is also the field most people fill in with two adjectives and move on.
Adjectives do not work
"Friendly and professional" describes every chatbot ever built. It gives your clone nothing to imitate.
What does work
- Phrases you say constantly, written out exactly
- What you refuse to do: soften bad news, give quick fixes, agree too early
- How you open a conversation and what you ask first
- Whether you swear, joke, interrupt, push back, use silence
- Words you never use, and why
A real example
Weak: "Warm and supportive, with a professional tone."
Strong: "I am direct but warm. I do not sugarcoat and I do not do quick fixes. I ask a lot of questions before I offer anything, and I will push back if someone is avoiding the real problem. I say let's get real, and I talk about the gap between what people say they want and what they actually do."
The second one produces a recognisable person. The first produces customer service.
If writing this is hard
Most people find describing their own voice harder than using it. Record yourself talking for two minutes about how you work, then paste the transcript into ChatGPT or Claude with this:
Below is a transcript of me talking about how I work with clients. Write a description of my tone of voice, in the first person, under 800 characters, that I can paste into an AI tool so it speaks like me. Include: phrases I actually repeat, what I refuse to do, how I open a conversation, and anything distinctive about my rhythm or word choice. Quote my real phrasing wherever you can. Do not make me sound polished or corporate. If I am blunt, say so. Transcript: [paste here]
Read the result out loud before you paste it in. If it does not sound like something you would say, it will not make your clone sound like you either.