Most DTC brands today sound like they were written by ChatGPT.
In 2014, Casper launched with a voice that made the entire mattress industry feel outdated overnight. Suddenly, buying a mattress online didn’t feel risky – it felt cool. The website was minimalist. The copy was cheeky. The tone was confident without trying too hard.
And something deeper happened: people started trusting the brand before even trying the product. It didn’t sound like a startup. It didn’t sound like a legacy brand, either. It sounded like a friend who just “got it.”
That tone – that feeling – became the blueprint for hundreds of DTC brands to come.
But somewhere along the way, everyone started sounding the same.
This isn’t just a copywriting problem. It’s a psychological one. Because when your brand voice blends in, customers assume your product does too.
The good news? You don’t need a million-dollar agency to sound like a premium brand – but you do need to understand how trust is built through language.
Luxury brands don’t sell products – they sell identity.
People don’t buy a $95 candle for how it smells. They buy it for how it makes them feel – elevated, aesthetic, like someone who buys $95 candles. Premium brands understand this: they’re in the business of self-perception, not product specs.
This is what Emily Heyward, co-founder of Red Antler and author of Obsessed, calls “brand as belief system.” Heyward helped build the voices of DTC giants like Casper, Allbirds, and Hims – and she understood early on that modern consumers don’t just want utility. They want brands that reflect their values, taste, and self-image.
Customers want to feel aligned with what a brand represents, not just what it sells. When your voice mirrors your customer’s aspirations, they see themselves in you. That’s why brands like Aesop or Glossier rarely talk about ingredients – they talk about how you’ll feel. The product becomes proof of who the customer believes they are.
People don’t just want to buy from you – they want to become you. That kind of identity-driven positioning builds emotional stickiness. It makes customers irrationally loyal. And it starts, always, with the tone of voice.
You’re not selling soap or snacks – you’re selling a mirror.
The more buzzwords you use, the cheaper you sound.
“Sustainable.” “Game-changing.” “Crafted with care.” These phrases used to feel premium. Now they’re the default. If your brand voice sounds like a pitch deck, you’re already losing trust.
This is what eCommerce strategist Alex Greifeld calls the “brand mush effect” – when every DTC company starts sounding like a copy of a copy of a copy. Through her writing and consulting (notably No Best Practices), she’s pushed for brands to stop chasing trends and start sounding like themselves.
Greifeld’s argument is clear: language is no longer about standing out – it’s about being remembered. Buzzwords are cognitive shortcuts, but they’re also emotional dead ends. They tell the customer nothing new, and more importantly, nothing real. Real luxury feels like specificity, not generality.
Every time you say “disruptive,” a customer rolls their eyes. So ditch the jargon. Say the weird thing. Be uncomfortably clear. A luxury tone isn’t vague – it’s precise, intentional, and slow. Think less like a marketer, more like a poet.
Premium doesn’t mean polished – it means distinct.
Customers trust consistency, not cleverness.
Clever copy might win attention, but it rarely builds trust. The fastest way to feel “off” as a brand? Inconsistent tone. Premium brands sound like themselves – always.
Take Mid-Day Squares, a high-growth DTC chocolate brand co-founded by Jake Karls. Karls, who proudly calls himself the “Chief Rainmaker,” turned their tone into a competitive advantage. Loud. Honest. Unapologetically weird. He didn’t just build a brand – he built a personality.
They could hire a branding agency tomorrow – but their magic is that they don’t. Their consistency builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. Premium isn’t just about sounding “fancy” – it’s about sounding intentional. When every tweet, email, and label carries the same vibe, it signals maturity.
Luxury brands don’t pivot – they posture.
Customers feel it immediately when something’s off. It’s a subconscious signal: “This brand doesn’t know who it is.” Luxury never second-guesses itself – neither should you.
A premium voice doesn’t change outfits – it commits to a uniform.
(Bonus) Premium brands speak in verbs, not features.
Mediocre brands describe what a product has. Premium brands describe what a product does. And more importantly – what it makes you do.
Features create logic. Verbs create action and emotion. Saying “this skincare product hydrates” is fine. But saying “this wakes your skin up” hits different. Movement creates meaning – it feels alive, active, and personal. Luxury brands talk to the customer’s behavior, not their brain.
Features describe. Verbs seduce.
Want to sound premium? Replace features with feelings. Ask: what action does this spark? What identity does this activate? That shift in language is what turns marketing into meaning.
Luxury moves – even when the product sits still.
Your Voice Is the Brand
People think branding is about color palettes and product shots. But the real luxury signal? Language. Voice is the thing that speaks when you’re not in the room. And if that voice feels familiar, confident, and intentional – people trust you. Not just to buy, but to believe.
You don’t need a seven-figure agency to sound like a premium brand. You just need to know what not to say. Avoid the mush. Avoid the jargon. Avoid the temptation to sound like everyone else.
Build trust through tone. Build loyalty through language. Sound like someone they’d want to become.
Because in eCommerce, your voice is the handshake, the storefront, and the sales pitch – all at once.
If it doesn’t sound premium, nothing else matters.
If this resonated, here’s what to do next:
→ If you’re tired of content that fills space instead of driving sales, let’s talk. Schedule a quick demo.
→ If you’re ready to turn product pages, email flows, landing copy, and more into silent salespeople for your brand, subscribe to either our Unlimited Standard Plan or Unlimited Professional Plan to get started.
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