# Acme voice

Read this before writing anything a customer will see: the site, emails, the app, the docs and
social posts. It applies to people and to AI tools drafting copy for us.

## Who we write for

Freelancers and small agencies who send invoices between client work. They are busy, they are
not accountants, and they read on their phones.

## How we sound

| We are | So we | We avoid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Plain | Use the words our customers use: invoice, client, paid, late. | Jargon such as "AR", "dunning" and "net terms" outside the docs. |
| Calm | State what happened and what to do next. | Exclamation marks, "Oops!" and urgency we don't mean. |
| Direct | Lead with the answer, then the detail. | Warm-up sentences such as "We're excited to share". |
| Specific | Give numbers, names and dates. | "Faster", "better" or "powerful" without a measure. |

## Rules

1. Write full sentences in the second person: "you" and "your clients".
2. Keep sentences under 25 words, and one idea per sentence.
3. Use sentence case for headings and buttons: "Send invoice", not "Send Invoice".
4. Buttons name the action: "Send invoice", "Export CSV". Never "Submit" or "OK".
5. Errors say what failed and what to do: "The card was declined. Try another card or contact
   your bank."
6. Write numbers as digits, dates as "4 November 2026" and money with the currency: "€1,200".
7. Write Acme with a capital A only. Never ACME or acme.

## Words

| Use | Instead of |
| --- | --- |
| client | customer (for our users' customers) |
| sign in | log in, login (as a verb) |
| paid | settled, remitted |
| team | users, seats (outside billing) |

Never use: revolutionary, seamless, supercharge, game-changing, leverage, unlock.

## Examples

| Situation | Write | Not |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Empty invoice list | No invoices yet. Create your first one to get paid. | Nothing to see here! 🎉 Let's get started on your invoicing journey. |
| Payment received | Northwind paid invoice #1042 (€1,200). | Woohoo! Cha-ching! 💸 |
| Feature announcement | You can now invite your team. Each person gets a role that decides what they can change. | We're thrilled to announce our game-changing new collaboration experience! |