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What Is a Tone of Voice Template?

A tone of voice template is a predefined communication style that you apply to your outreach messages. It describes how you want your messages to sound — formal or casual, direct or consultative, brief or detailed. When you select a tone of voice in the message composer, Recruitier’s AI uses it as a guiding instruction when generating message drafts, ensuring that every piece of communication aligns with your brand and personal style. Think of tone of voice templates as personality profiles for your writing. A large corporate recruitment agency might use a polished, formal tone, while a boutique tech recruiter might prefer something more direct and conversational. By saving these as templates, you maintain consistency across hundreds of messages without having to think about style every time you compose.
Tone of voice is one of three content inputs that shape AI-generated messages. The other two are the pitch deck (what you say about your services) and the job/company context (what you say about the opportunity). Together, these three inputs give the AI everything it needs to generate relevant, on-brand messages.

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Why Consistent Tone Matters

In recruitment, your communication style is part of your brand. Prospects and candidates form impressions not just from what you say, but from how you say it. Inconsistent tone creates confusion:
  • A formal introduction email followed by an overly casual LinkedIn message feels disjointed.
  • Different team members using wildly different styles makes your agency look uncoordinated.
  • Switching tones mid-conversation can erode trust.
Tone of voice templates solve these problems by establishing a shared standard. When the entire team uses the same tone template for a campaign, every touchpoint feels coherent and professional.
Create separate default tones for email and LinkedIn. Emails tend to benefit from a slightly more professional tone, while LinkedIn messages work better with a warmer, more conversational style. Recruitier lets you set a default tone for each channel independently, so the right tone is pre-selected automatically.

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Creating a New Tone

1

Navigate to the Tone of Voice Tab

Open the Outreach page from the main navigation menu. Click on the “Tone of Voice” tab (second tab). This is where all tone of voice templates are managed.
2

Click New Tone

Click the “New Tone” button in the top right. A dialog opens where you provide a name and the tone description content.
3

Name Your Tone

Choose a descriptive name that makes the tone easy to identify later. Examples: “Formal Corporate,” “Friendly Professional,” “Direct and Concise,” “Consultative Expert.” The name is what you will see in dropdown selectors when composing messages.
4

Write the Tone Instructions

The “Instructions” field is where you describe the communication style in detail. This is the instruction that the AI will follow when generating messages. Be specific about:
  • Overall formality level (formal, semi-formal, casual)
  • Sentence length and structure (short and punchy, or flowing and detailed)
  • Vocabulary preferences (technical vs. plain language)
  • How to open and close messages (greetings and sign-offs)
  • What to avoid (jargon, humor, overly casual language, etc.)
  • Specific phrasing patterns or cultural considerations
5

Choose Sharing Settings (Optional)

If you are part of an agency, a “Share with agency” toggle appears in the dialog. Enable it to make the tone visible to all team members. This setting can also be changed later when editing the tone.
6

Save the Tone

Click “Create” to save. The tone is now available in the message composer’s tone selector under “AI Settings.”

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Writing Effective Tone Descriptions

The quality of your tone template directly affects the quality of AI-generated messages. Here are examples of well-written tone descriptions:

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Example: Formal Professional

Communication style: formal and polished. Use complete sentences, proper
grammar, and professional vocabulary. Address recipients by their title
and last name (e.g., "Dear Mr. van der Berg"). Open with a clear purpose
statement. Close with a professional sign-off. Avoid contractions,
slang, or overly casual language. Keep sentences concise but complete.
Tone should convey expertise and reliability.

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Example: Friendly and Conversational

Communication style: warm, approachable, and conversational. Use first
names. Write as if speaking to a professional colleague over coffee.
Contractions are fine. Keep sentences short and direct. Open with
something relevant and personal when possible. Avoid overly formal
language or stiff corporate speak. The goal is to build rapport and
make the recipient feel comfortable. Always maintain professionalism
while being personable.

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Example: Direct and Results-Oriented

Communication style: direct, concise, and results-focused. Get to the
point quickly. Lead with the value proposition. Use short sentences
and bullet points where appropriate. No fluff, no filler. Every
sentence should earn its place. Close with a specific call to action.
Avoid lengthy introductions or excessive pleasantries. Respect the
reader's time by being brief but complete.

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Example: Dutch Market Professional

Communication style: professional but approachable, adapted to Dutch
business culture. Use first names (standard in the Netherlands). Be
direct without being blunt. Get to the point quickly but include a
brief, genuine personal touch. Reference the Dutch market specifically.
Write in English unless the recipient is clearly Dutch-speaking. For
Dutch recipients, "Met vriendelijke groet" is acceptable as a closing.
Avoid overly American enthusiasm or British formality.
The more specific your tone description, the better the AI will follow it. Instead of just writing “be professional,” describe exactly what professional means in your context: sentence structure, vocabulary level, greeting style, and closing style. Aim for 50-150 words — enough to be clear, not so much that instructions conflict with each other.

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Setting Default Tones

You can set default tones that are automatically selected when you open the message composer. Each tone card on the Tone of Voice tab has two star icon buttons — one for Email and one for LinkedIn — that let you set or unset that tone as the default for the respective channel.
Default SettingWhat It Controls
Default Email TonePre-selected when composing email messages. Set by clicking the star icon next to “Email” on a tone card.
Default LinkedIn TonePre-selected when composing LinkedIn messages. Set by clicking the star icon next to “LinkedIn” on a tone card.
A filled star indicates the tone is currently set as the default for that channel. Click it again to remove the default. You can always override the default by selecting a different tone in the composer before generating a message.
Setting separate defaults for email and LinkedIn is recommended. Email typically benefits from a more structured, professional tone, while LinkedIn messages work better with something warmer and more concise. The AI adapts the message length and format for each channel, and the tone further shapes the style.

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Editing Tones

You can update any tone template at any time:
  1. Open the Outreach page and click on the “Tone of Voice” tab.
  2. Click the edit button on the tone card you want to modify.
  3. In the dialog that opens, modify the name, instructions, or sharing settings.
  4. Click “Update” to save your changes.
Editing a tone does not retroactively change messages that were already generated using the old version. It only affects future message generation. This means you can safely update a tone without worrying about altering historical communication records.

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Applying Tones to Outreach

Tones are applied at the message level. When you open the message composer for any outreach step, you can select a tone of voice in the collapsible “AI Settings” section before generating a message. If you have set a default tone for the current channel (email or LinkedIn), it will be pre-selected automatically. This per-message approach gives you flexibility to use different tones at different stages of your outreach sequence. For example, you might use a formal tone for your introduction email and switch to a warmer, more conversational tone for follow-ups.

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Agency-Shared Tones vs. Personal Tones

Recruitier supports two levels of tone visibility:

Personal Tones

Created by you, visible only to you. Use personal tones for your own communication style or experimental approaches that you are still refining. Only you can edit or delete your personal tones.

Agency-Shared Tones

Created by any team member and shared across the entire agency. All team members can view and use shared tones. Agency admins can edit shared tones created by other members, ensuring quality control over team communication standards.

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When to Use Shared Tones

  • Agency brand standards: Create a shared tone that represents your agency’s official communication style. This becomes the baseline for all team outreach.
  • Campaign-specific tones: When running a coordinated outreach campaign, share a tone so everyone on the team uses the same style.
  • Onboarding new recruiters: New team members can immediately adopt the agency’s established communication standards by selecting the shared tone.

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When to Use Personal Tones

  • Individual style: You have a personal approach that works well for your specific network and market segment.
  • Testing: You want to experiment with different tones before sharing one with the team.
  • Specialized outreach: You work a niche market (e.g., C-level executive search) that requires a different style from the agency default.
When both personal and shared tones are available, you see all of them in the tone selection dropdown. Personal tones are labeled as such, making it easy to distinguish between your private templates and agency-wide standards.

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Managing Tones as an Agency Admin

Agency administrators have additional capabilities for tone management:
  • View all shared tones created by any team member in the agency.
  • Edit shared tones regardless of who originally created them.
  • Promote personal tones by changing them to shared status.
  • Establish standards by creating the official agency tone that new recruiters should use.

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Examples of Different Tones in Action

Here is how the same outreach message might sound with different tones applied:

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Formal Tone

Dear Mr. van der Berg, I am writing to introduce our recruitment services in connection with your current opening for a Senior Backend Developer. Our firm specializes in placing experienced technology professionals in the Dutch market, and we have several candidates whose qualifications align closely with your requirements. Would you be available for a brief call this week to discuss how we might support your hiring needs?

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Conversational Tone

Hi Thomas, I came across your Senior Backend Developer role and wanted to reach out. We work with a number of strong Python developers who would be a great fit for what you are building. Would you be open to a quick chat this week? I would love to share a few profiles.

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Direct Tone

Thomas — I have two Senior Backend Developers with 5+ years Python experience available immediately. Both are based in Amsterdam and open to hybrid arrangements. Interested? I can send profiles today.
All three messages convey the same information, but the impression they create is very different. Choose the tone that matches your audience and your brand.

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Best Practices

  • Create at least two tones: one for formal client introductions and one for warmer follow-ups. Most agencies benefit from 3-4 tones covering different situations.
  • Match tone to channel: LinkedIn messages tend to work better with conversational tones, while initial emails often benefit from a more professional approach. Set your defaults accordingly.
  • Review AI output: Even with a well-defined tone, always review generated messages. AI gets the style right most of the time but occasionally needs adjustment.
  • Iterate based on results: Track which tones produce the best response rates and refine accordingly. If your formal tone gets a 5% response rate but your conversational tone gets 15%, the data speaks for itself.
  • Keep descriptions under 200 words: Concise tone instructions produce more consistent results than lengthy, contradictory ones. If your description is too long, the AI may pick up conflicting signals.
  • Test before sharing: Before marking a tone as shared for the whole agency, generate 5-10 sample messages with it to verify the output quality.

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Advanced

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How Tone of Voice Is Injected into AI Prompts

When you generate a message with a tone of voice selected, the tone’s content field is injected into the AI prompt as follows: 
Tone of Voice Instructions:
- {content}
This is placed as a directive within the prompt context, alongside the job details, pitch deck, and other parameters. The AI model (Google Vertex AI) treats these as stylistic instructions that shape the output without overriding the factual content. The injection happens after the main context (job details, company info, recipient name) and before the generation instruction. This positioning means the AI first understands what to say (the context), then understands how to say it (the tone).

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How Tone Interacts with Other AI Inputs

The AI considers tone alongside several other inputs, and understanding the priority helps you write better tones:
  1. Channel: Highest priority. The channel (email vs. LinkedIn) determines the fundamental length and format constraints. A tone asking for “detailed, paragraph-length messages” will still be constrained to shorter output for LinkedIn.
  2. Tone of voice: Second priority. Shapes the style, vocabulary, and structure within the channel’s constraints.
  3. Pitch deck: Provides content to potentially include, but the tone determines how that content is presented.
  4. Job/company context: Provides factual details. The tone determines how these are referenced (formally, casually, directly).
  5. Outreach goal: Determines the message structure (introduction, follow-up, pitch). The tone shapes the execution of that structure.

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Tone Storage and the Entity Model

Each tone is stored as a ToneOfVoice entity with:
FieldTypeDescription
nameStringDisplay name for the tone
contentTextThe detailed style description injected into AI prompts
is_sharedBooleanWhether the tone is visible to all agency members
agency_idUUID (FK)The agency this tone belongs to (for shared tones)
user_idUUID (FK)The user who created the tone
The is_shared flag determines visibility: when True, all users in the same agency can see and select the tone. When False, only the creating user can see it.

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Default Tone Settings on the User Profile

Your user profile stores two default tone references:
  • default_email_tone_id: The tone automatically selected when you open the email composer.
  • default_linkedin_tone_id: The tone automatically selected when you open the LinkedIn composer.
These are separate because email and LinkedIn typically call for different communication styles. When you set a default, it is stored on your user record and persists across sessions. You can change the default at any time on the Tone of Voice tab, or override it per-message in the composer.

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Power User Tips

If your team works in multiple languages (e.g., English and Dutch), consider creating language-specific tones. A “Formal Dutch” tone can include instructions like “Write in Dutch. Use ‘u’ for formal address. Close with ‘Met vriendelijke groet.’” while a “Formal English” tone covers the English equivalent. The language setting in the composer tells the AI which language to use, but a language-specific tone ensures the cultural nuances are correct.
The same recipient may need different tones at different stages of your sequence. Consider creating:
  • First Touch: Slightly more formal, establishes credibility.
  • Follow-Up: Warmer, assumes some familiarity, references previous contact.
  • Final Attempt: Direct and urgent, creates a sense of closure.
You can select a different tone for each step in the composer’s “AI Settings” section.
To test which tone works best, run the same outreach template with different tones across similar opportunities. Compare:
  • Email open rates (does the tone affect subject line quality?)
  • Reply rates (the most important metric)
  • Time to first reply
After 20-30 messages per tone, you should have enough data to identify a winner.
  • Too vague: “Be professional” gives the AI almost no guidance. Be specific about what professional means.
  • Contradictory: “Be brief and detailed” confuses the AI. Pick one direction and be consistent.
  • Too long: Descriptions over 200 words often contain conflicting instructions. Keep it focused.
  • Channel-blind: A tone that says “write long, detailed paragraphs” will produce poor LinkedIn messages. Either create channel-specific tones or keep descriptions channel-agnostic.

Message Composer

See how tones are applied when composing messages.

Pitch Decks

Configure the content complement to your tone of voice.

Creating Flows

Build multi-step outreach sequences for your communication.

Outreach Overview

Return to the outreach overview for a complete picture.