Frontend Frankie
f2630ebb8a
Add brand voice guide, website landing page, launch announcement, social media strategy, and email templates (shrinkflation alert, weekly digest) to content/marketing/ directory structure. Resolves CAR-90. Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
130 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
130 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "CartSnitch Brand Voice Guide"
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status: draft
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version: 1.0
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last_updated: 2026-03-18
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description: "CartSnitch tone, personality, key phrases, and do/don't examples for all public-facing content."
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---
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# CartSnitch Brand Voice Guide
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## Who We Are
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CartSnitch is a consumer advocacy tool that tracks grocery prices, detects shrinkflation, and fights price gouging. We exist because the grocery industry has better data about your spending than you do — and we're here to fix that.
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**Tagline:** Your grocery bill shouldn't be a mystery.
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## Brand Personality
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CartSnitch is the sharp, data-savvy friend who actually reads the fine print on your grocery receipt and says, "Did you know you're paying 15% more per ounce for that cereal?" We're not preachy. We're not angry. We're the person at the barbecue who drops a fact that makes everyone pull out their phone to check.
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### Three words that define us:
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1. **Informed** — We lead with data, not opinions. Every claim is backed by numbers.
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2. **Direct** — We don't hedge or bury the lead. If a brand shrunk its product, we say so.
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3. **Slightly irreverent** — We take the problem seriously, but not ourselves. A little personality goes a long way when talking about toilet paper shrinkage.
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## Voice Principles
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### 1. Data is the story
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Never publish a claim without a number to back it. The data is what makes us credible and shareable. Opinions are cheap — data is what people screenshot and send to their group chat.
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**Do:** "Cheerios went from 15 oz to 13.5 oz. Same box. Same price. That's an 10% hidden price increase."
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**Don't:** "Companies are ripping you off with sneaky packaging tricks!"
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### 2. Respect the reader's intelligence
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Our audience is smart. They already suspect something's off with their grocery bill — they just don't have the tools to prove it. Don't explain basic concepts. Don't over-simplify. Give them the data and let them draw conclusions.
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**Do:** "The average family spends $14,000/year on groceries. Even a 5% optimization saves $700."
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**Don't:** "Did you know groceries are really expensive? It's true! And prices keep going up!"
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### 3. Be specific, not dramatic
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Specifics are more powerful than superlatives. "Eggs went up 70% in 2023" hits harder than "egg prices skyrocketed to unprecedented levels." The data speaks for itself — don't add theatrical adjectives.
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**Do:** "This bag of Doritos was 9.25 oz in 2022. It's 9 oz today. Same price."
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**Don't:** "In a SHOCKING move, snack companies are SECRETLY shrinking your favorite chips!"
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### 4. Consumer-first, always
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Every piece of content should help someone save money or understand what's happening to their grocery bill. If a post doesn't serve the consumer, it doesn't go out.
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**Do:** "Here's what we found when we compared the same 10 items at Walmart, Kroger, and Target."
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**Don't:** "CartSnitch uses advanced machine learning to analyze price fluctuations across retail channels."
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### 5. No fear-mongering
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We are not a doom-and-gloom brand. The grocery landscape is frustrating, but we're here to give people power, not anxiety. Frame everything around what people can *do* with the information.
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**Do:** "Knowing when prices drop could save your family $100/month. Here's how to set alerts."
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**Don't:** "You're hemorrhaging money every time you walk into a grocery store and you don't even know it."
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## Tone Spectrum
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| Context | Tone | Example |
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|---|---|---|
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| Blog posts | Informative, conversational | "You know the feeling. The total pops up and it's... more than you expected. Again." |
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| Social media | Punchy, data-forward | "Same bag. Same price. 2 fewer ounces. Doritos, we see you." |
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| Email | Warm, direct | "Hey there — we tracked your grocery prices this week. Good news: chicken is down 12%." |
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| Press/PR | Professional, data-driven | "CartSnitch analysis of 10,000+ products across 12 retail chains reveals..." |
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| Error/UI messages | Friendly, brief | "We hit a snag connecting to your Meijer account. Let's try again." |
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## Key Phrases We Use
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- "Your grocery bill shouldn't be a mystery"
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- "The data behind your receipt"
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- "Same price, less product"
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- "Price transparency for real people"
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- "Track. Compare. Save."
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- "We do the math so you don't have to"
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## Phrases We Avoid
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- "Big Grocery" or conspiracy framing
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- "They don't want you to know" (paranoid tone)
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- "Shocking" / "unbelievable" / "jaw-dropping" (clickbait superlatives)
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- "Hack" / "trick" / "secret" (we're not a lifehack site)
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- Technical jargon: API, ML, algorithm, data pipeline, SKU (in consumer-facing content)
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- "Disrupting" / "revolutionizing" (startup clichés)
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## Grammar and Style
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- **Numbers:** Use numerals for all numbers in data-driven content (e.g., "5 products" not "five products")
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- **Percentages:** Always use % symbol with numeral (e.g., "12%" not "twelve percent")
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- **Currency:** Dollar sign, two decimals for exact prices ($4.89), no decimals for rounded ($14,000/year)
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- **Brand names:** Always capitalize correctly (e.g., "Meijer" not "meijer", "Kroger" not "kroger")
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- **CartSnitch:** Always one word, capital C and S. Never "Cart Snitch" or "Cartsnitch" or "cartsnitch"
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- **Contractions:** Yes. We're conversational. Use "you're," "we're," "don't," "can't."
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- **Oxford comma:** Yes, always.
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- **Em dashes:** Use for emphasis and asides — they add personality.
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- **Active voice:** Always. "We tracked 10,000 products" not "10,000 products were tracked."
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## Channel-Specific Guidelines
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### Blog
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- 800-1,500 words
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- Lead with the most interesting data point
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- Include at least 3 specific, sourced data points per post
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- End with a clear CTA (signup, share, or read more)
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- Conversational but well-structured with clear headers
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### Twitter/X
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- Lead with the data, not the setup
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- Use line breaks for readability
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- Threads for deep dives, single tweets for spotlights
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- Always include the source or a link
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### Reddit
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- Match the subreddit tone — don't sound like a brand
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- Lead with value, not promotion
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- Never hard-sell. Let the data speak.
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- Engage in comments authentically
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### Email
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- Subject lines: specific benefit or data point, under 50 characters
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- Keep body scannable — short paragraphs, bullet points
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- One primary CTA per email
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- Personal tone — write like it's from a person, not a company
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