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Ben & Jerry's: Improving the website's voice, tone, and messaging

A voice, tone, and messaging overhaul for Ben & Jerry's, built from real audience research into a consistent, playful brand personality.

Unsolicited4 min read

01 · Overview

Ben & Jerry’s homepage before and after Jeff Shibasaki’s unsolicited voice and tone redesign

Tone dimensions

Funny, casual, respectful, enthusiastic

Business goals

Orders, visits, grocery sales

Writing steps

Research through final copy

Unsolicited redesign

This concept was created independently and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ben & Jerry’s or Unilever.

Brand and product photography shown in the redesign belongs to Ben & Jerry’s.

Roles

Voice and tone, web copywriting, and visual design.

Focus

Create a consistent personality that connects ice cream, social impact, and useful customer actions.

Scope

An independent homepage redesign focused on voice, tone, messaging, and copy.

Tools

Dropbox Paper, Sketch

02 · Problem

A playful brand should sound like itself everywhere

Ben & Jerry’s social media, scoop shops, and packaging expressed humor and purpose, but the website felt inconsistent. Its layout emphasized blog posts over ice cream and did not clearly connect products, values, and customer actions.

The writing needed to support sales and store visits while preserving the social conscience and sense of humor that make the brand recognizable.

Ben & Jerry’s website before the unsolicited redesign — The original homepage emphasized blog posts over ice cream and did not consistently express the humor, values, or personality visible in the brand’s other channels.

03 · Approach

Build the voice from audience, goals, and evidence

I compiled customer-segmentation data from published audience research, defined the business goals, and analyzed how the brand already communicated. I then used the Nielsen Norman Group’s tone-of-voice dimensions to turn those findings into a practical framework.

Empathize

I used published customer-segmentation research and reviewed the brand across social media, scoop shops, packaging, and the existing website.

Define

The website needed to sell ice cream and support business goals without losing the humor and social conscience that make Ben & Jerry’s recognizable.

Ideate

I translated the research into four tone dimensions—funny, casual, respectful, and enthusiastic—then connected them to the mission, values, and search language.

Prototype

I wrote the homepage copy and applied the messaging to a high-fidelity redesign so voice, hierarchy, content strategy, and visual design could work together.

Test

In a real product context, I would test brand recognition and comprehension, then measure online orders, store-finder use, scoop-shop visits, and grocery purchase intent.

Ben & Jerry’s audience research and customer segmentation table — I compiled audience research into a practical segmentation table so the writing could speak to specific customers instead of an undefined general audience.

Ben & Jerry’s business goals for orders, scoop shops, and grocery sales — I connected the content to three business goals: increase online orders, drive visits to scoop shops, and support grocery-store sales.

Ben & Jerry’s tone dimensions: funny, casual, respectful, and enthusiastic — I analyzed social media, scoop shops, and packaging to define four repeatable tone dimensions: funny, casual, respectful, and enthusiastic.

Ben & Jerry’s voice framework with mission, values, and SEO keywords — I documented the mission, core values, and search language so the voice could remain recognizable while supporting business and customer needs.

Ben & Jerry’s homepage copy document with voice and messaging decisions — The first copy document turns the voice framework into page-level messaging, headlines, and calls to action.

Ben & Jerry’s homepage copy document connecting products, values, and actions — The second copy document carries the same personality through products, social impact, store discovery, and conversion points.

Words matter. Messaging matters. Consistency matters.

04 · Solution

One recognizable personality across the whole homepage

The final copy gives ice cream a clearer role, connects the brand’s values to customer choices, and uses direct actions to support online orders, scoop-shop visits, and grocery sales.

Ben & Jerry’s website after the voice, tone, and messaging redesign — The final homepage gives ice cream, values, and actions a clearer hierarchy while expressing one playful, socially conscious voice from top to bottom.

05 · Reflection

A distinctive voice still has to work across every message

This concept defined 4 tone dimensions, connected them to 3 business goals, and used 5 writing steps to shape the homepage. Those numbers describe the scope of the work—not evidence that the copy would increase online orders, scoop-shop visits, or grocery sales.

My hypothesis is that specific voice guidance, supported by clear examples, would help writers create recognizable Ben & Jerry’s content while adapting the tone to different situations.

I would compare the concept with the existing website by measuring voice recognition, message comprehension, perceived brand fit, and success finding products, shops, and ordering options. Online orders and shop-finder use would become meaningful business signals only after the content proved clear and useful.

The project reinforced that a voice system needs to guide decisions, not merely describe personality. It becomes useful when different writers can sound recognizable without making every message sound the same.