You can’t have a conversation in capitals.

DO YOU WANT TEA?

When that popped up on my instant messenger last week it didn’t feel like the start of a conversation. It made me feel like I was being bellowed at. It didn’t feel like it was a question. It felt like they were barking an order (and I don’t even like tea).

When we write to our customers in an email, on social media, or in a piece of collateral like a video or a print ad we’re looking to start a conversation with them. We want to hear back from them and begin a dialogue. So we need to remember that we are humans communicating with humans and we should write how we speak.

And we wouldn’t get very far yelling face to face.

That’s why I always advise that when writing — be it a headline, a call to action or anything else — you always use lower case.

Now, how about some coffee?