What we say

When a neighbor is on the front steps of their home, they’re relaxed, friendly, warm, and even inviting. Our consumers and customers should feel like they can wave hello as they’re passing by and feel welcome to have a seat and join us when they want to engage more in conversation.

The Progressive Voice

While our voice, writing style, and word choice vary per audience and business area, there are universal Progressive voice guidelines to follow.

Customer first

We always consider the customer’s point of view (empathy) and show them how our tools, products, and service benefit them. Avoid adjectives—highlight real differences without overembellishing. By putting the customer first, we build trust and help them make informed decisions with confidence. The focus is on the customer, not us.

Write for humans, not robots

We use clear, approachable language that our audience can easily understand and relate to. Use a conversational tone. Avoid jargon, slang, clichés, and business speak (contractions are OK!). Speak in a way noninsurance folks can understand.

6th – 7th grade reading level

At Progressive, our goal is to use language with the customer that has a reading ease score between 60 – 75 and a 7th grade level target. This will ensure that messages to our customers are clear and easy to understand. Use the Flesch-Kincaid* tool in Word to test your readability. These tips will help:

  • Shorten your sentences
  • Keep paragraphs short (around five sentences)
  • Break up paragraphs using subheads and bullets
  • Use words with as few syllables as possible
  • Use active voice instead of passive
  • Include dialogue (natural conversation tends to be short and direct)

*To tap into the Flesch-Kincaid tool, run the typical “Spelling & Grammar” check from your toolbar. Then click the “Options” button at the bottom of your screen and check the box that says “Show readability statistics.” This will give you all of the stats you need to boost your readability score, including sentences per paragraph, words per sentence, and characters per word. It will also give you your passive sentence percentage and both your Flesch reading ease and Flesch-Kincaid grade level scores.

Brand Behaviors

We use these seven brand behaviors to guide all of our written communication. They ensure our brand feels distinct, real, relevant, and human.

Clear

We’re real-world smart. That means we use everyday language without jargon—even for the most complex topics. If there are terms we put out there, we take time to explain them simply.

Helpful

We treat customer relationships as valuable and permanent from day one, guiding in an informative way and offering useful options.

Insightful

We know insurance. And when it gets down to the nuts and bolts, we can break it down and put it back together again with the customer in mind.

Optimistic

We instill confidence through positive thinking to promote opportunity and action to move forward rather than through negative language that evokes fear and immobility.

Unexpected

Sure, we’re an insurance company, but we think differently about what we do and how we do it, developing new, better (and, well, unexpected) ways to engage, guide, and help and always focusing on the solution at hand.

Welcoming

We speak with, not down to you. No matter how much knowledge we’re dropping, we’re personable. We invite people in, encouraging them to share their—and our—stories and experiences.

Disarmingly Humorous

We lighten dark moments and shine a light on the reality of the world, but use humor to connect and tap into the notion of “It’s funny because it’s true.”