For those reading this the first time; GO-JEK is the largest application-based on-demand service provider in Indonesia. We’re a Super App that does transportation, food delivery, logistics, payment and even lifestyle services like massage and makeup. All in one app.

Millions of Indonesians use GO-JEK, every single day. And we’ve launched in Vietnam and soon in Singapore, Philippines and Thailand. People love using GO-JEK and think of us as an Operating System that powers Indonesia.

The fact that GO-JEK receives so much love made us pause and ask ourselves:

Have we shown our users enough love through our app?

Probably not enough.

The self-reflection

You. Yes. You.

We took a step back and went through what we previously had in our app.

Copy that still sounds like a robot.

An illustration that’s not that relatable.

It turned out, we hadn’t been showing character and consistency across all of our products.

As a result, our app didn’t leave a memorable effect on our users.

When you can’t feel someone’s character, you can’t feel their presence. When you can’t feel their presence, you can’t build a connection, and without a connection, there is no love.

As UX writers who design conversation inside the app, we don’t want our users to feel like they’re talking to a machine. The app should sound, look, and feel like GO-JEK.

So, along with the redesign of our transportation products and the home screen, we wanted to strengthen the emotional bond with our users. This comes by giving our app a soul and character through our design; to show our users the love they deserve.

To do that, I’ve learnt we need three ingredients, three distinct functions; the brand voice, the big theme, and the stories.

Without these, we weren’t doing justice to our users.

Tuning the GO-JEK brand voice

The brand voice tells people who you are, differentiates you from the rest, and it helps build trust.

Note from Google I/O 2017 on choosing the right words; UX Writing principles (What to say) + Brand Voice (How you say it) = Standout UX writing. So besides making sure our copy are all clear, concise, and helpful for the users, we can improve our UX writing by figuring out how our brand say things.

We discussed about our brand voice with other creatives from marketing and branding team to make sure we’re aligned. (I will post about how we did this on a separate article.)

Then, we broke down the details so we can apply it to any kind of use case in UX writing. As a result, these are the three main characteristics of GO-JEK’s voice:

1. Colloquial

We want to be our users’ friends, so we’re speaking in a manner that would relate to them. This means casual and conversational; just like we would in daily conversations with a friend, slangs and receh jokes are included!

2. Bright

Like that one funny friend in our peer group that always brings good vibes, we’re cheerful, and uplifting. When things doesn’t go as planned, we don’t complain, but we look at the bright side and think of ways on how a bad situation can be turned around. Life with a close friend like us is never boring or too serious!

3. Empathetic

Being empathetic means we’re sensible in being resourceful so users feel they’re actually being helped. We want to listen to their problems, show we understand and try to help in any way possible even though there isn’t a perfect solution.

By tuning the brand voice, we can define on how we should communicate with our users, in any scenario. Here is an example:

This is our previous ‘maximum distance’ error message, without GO-JEK voice.

And this one is our new ‘maximum distance’ error message, with GO-JEK’s voice.

For the Indonesian version, instead of saying safety first, we put a local touch by using the term ‘masuk angin’ a.k.a trapped wind. Indonesian people believe that the wind makes you sick. So we put the driver on the center and say we don’t want the driver to get sick because the trip is too far.

Another example. This is our old ‘server error’ error message.

This is our new ‘server error’ error message, with the GO-JEK voice.

And this is the Indonesian version, we use ‘padat merayap’, local term for traffic jam, as a metaphor for server error.

Okay, the brand voice is all set. What’s next? What can UX writers do to amplify the brand voice in our app?

Defining the big theme