Skip to main content

Strategy and voice

Signpost with forward facing arrows

Let’s start with our mission: Making people's lives better.

For more than a decade, we’ve been working to transform the financial industry. We know that money is more than a commodity—it’s freedom, security, and possibility—and we believe that everyone should be able to invest, regardless of how much time or money they have.

For us, making people’s lives better is about avoiding tropes of easy wealth or overnight success. It’s about people’s whole entire lives and the futures they want to build, surrounded by the people and things they love. It’s about partnering with our clients to create a plan that leads to financial growth—a plan they’re not only comfortable with, but excited about.

Our business lines

 

Betterment serves three audiences: retail customers (Betterment), business customers (Betterment at Work), and financial advisors (Betterment for Advisors). Here’s how we explain our business lines to each respective audience.

  • Betterment logo on light blue background

    Betterment is a financial services pioneer created to help you pursue your own unique vision of happiness. Personalize your goals, customize your strategy, choose companies and sectors you believe in, then let our automated technology grow your money while minimizing your tax impact so you can live your life.

  • Betterment at Work logo on navy background

    Betterment at Work is a savings and investing solution designed to empower your employees on their journey to financial wellbeing, using our 401(k) as the foundation. Built on the same technology that powers our automated investment platform, Betterment at Work helps employees work toward goals beyond retirement, with customizable portfolios, debt management tools, easy-to-understand advice on how to save, and more.

  • Betterment for Advisors logo on yellow background

    Betterment for Advisors is the digital-first wealth management platform designed to help Advisors effortlessly prioritize clients. Our intuitive user experience makes it easy to automate investment strategies that address clients’ individual needs. Set personal goals, customize portfolios, and allocate to companies and sectors your clients believe in; then our technology grows their money while minimizing their tax impact.

Brand tenets

Now that you know what we do and why, the following brand tenets should make sense. What are brand tenets, you ask? Let’s say Betterment (the brand) is in an interview. The interviewer asks, “What are the qualities that you, Betterment the brand, care about most?” Here’s what Betterment would say:

  • Mountian with Betterment flag on top

    Innovation

  • Bullseye with dart in the center

    Empowerment

  • Award with Betterment logo

    Achievement

  • Kite flying the sky surrounded by clouds

    Wellbeing

Our brand voice guide—the way we express ourselves through words—brings our brand character to life.

Said simply: It’s how Betterment comes across as a company through tone, attitude, and personality. This guide is a single reference for employees, partners, and agencies that helps us keep our tone of voice consistent, no matter the channel, asset, or writer.

Some quick examples of our voice

Do: Meet the app that gives you the tools, inspiration, and support you need to become a better investor.
Don't: Welcome to automated investing, where our robo-advisor can help build and manage your portfolio.

Do: Start turning life goals into financial goals, no matter how much money or experience you’re starting with.
Don't: Get in on what’s hot in the market today!

Do: You already have an IRA with Betterment—nice!
Don't: Your account shows that you currently have an IRA with Betterment.

Do: Invest in taking the next step.
Don't: Invest in the life of your dreams.

Do: The idea of wrangling long-lost retirement accounts doesn’t exactly sound like fun.
Don't: Let’s face it: Dealing with your finances is boring.

Tone, attitude, and personality are difficult to dissect, which is why we’ve created this list of guiding principles to inspire you as you put pen to paper.

These principles come to life in ways ranging from word choice to joke placement to the use of an em-dash—you know what we mean.

An important note: Context is key. Not every line of writing will clearly represent every single principle; where and when the copy will be experienced by the client determines a lot about the vibe. For example, the main purpose of a social media post might be to inject joy as someone scrolls through their feed, while an email about a market downturn will focus on giving guidance and simplifying everything.

Give guidance. Don’t leave the audience wondering. Let them know what to expect. Leave them feeling zen about their finances.

Simplify everything. Financial services is filled with words and concepts that weren’t created with everyday people in mind. Change that.

Inject joy. Investing can be easy and, dare we say, delightful! Convey happiness and optimism wherever it makes sense.

Be future-forward. Make the reader’s future tangible. Show them what they can achieve down the road with today’s investments.

Empower the audience. Everyone should feel like the hero of their own financial journey, regardless of their personal circumstances.

Write natural. Our words should be easy-to-read, friendly, and conversational. Read your copy aloud (literally!) to make sure.