Make Your Copilot Talk Like You: Mastering Tone and Style
AI shouldn’t sound like it’s fresh out of a corporate legal department, especially if you’re not. If you’re using Copilot to draft emails, generate reports, or summarize meetings, then tone “matters.” A lot.
Your voice is part of your brand, and when Copilot talks like you do, things get smoother, clearer, and just… better.
Let’s talk about how to make that happen with a little help from something called Copilot Tuning.
Why Tone Isn’t Just Fluff
Imagine getting an email from yourself and it sounds like someone else. Weird, right?
Whether you’re polished and professional or casual and clever, your tone sets expectations. It helps people “get you”. Without it, Copilot might write something technically correct, but totally off-brand.
And let’s be honest: nobody wants their assistant to sound like Clippy with a thesaurus.
So, What Is Copilot Tuning?
Copilot Tuning is Microsoft’s behind-the-scenes magic that lets you shape how Copilot writes. It’s like giving your AI a crash course in “How I Communicate 101.”
With tuning, you (or your admin) can adjust things like:
- Tone: Friendly, formal, assertive, or anything in between
- Voice and phrasing: Contractions, emojis, sentence length, jargon usage
- Formatting preferences: Bulleted lists, full paragraphs, headers, CTAs
This way, you keep your message consistent every time, without having to reuse stuff from old emails or just worry about making it personal.
How to Make Copilot Sound Like You
Even if you don’t have tuning controls yet, you can still steer the ship. Here’s how:
1. Feed It the Good Stuff
Share examples of your past work. Emails, reports, blog posts, whatever shows your voice best.
2. Spell It Out
Literally tell Copilot:
> “Use a casual tone, short sentences, contractions, and toss in some light humor where appropriate.”
3. Build Your Prompt Toolkit
Keep a few ready-to-go prompts on standby. Like:
> “Write this in my voice—clear, upbeat, and friendly. Keep it simple, no fluff, and end with a call to action.”
The more you reuse prompts like this, the more consistent your results.
Real-World Wins
A sales team I know got tired of rewriting Copilot’s outreach emails. So they tuned it to match their style; bold, confident, and a little cheeky. Their response rate? Up 27%.
Another team running an internal support desk used tuning to make sure every message was calm, helpful, and always sounded human. No more AI-generated word salad.
Go Deeper with Copilot Studio
If you’re building AI agents with Copilot Studio, you can lock in your tone at the system level:
- Customize default behavior and language per use case
- Build “mini-me” agents that reflect your department’s personality
- Make sure every response, whether it’s to a customer or an employee, feels like it came from someone real
This way, every AI agent operates with insight that aligns closely with your brand identity.
Bottom Line
Your Copilot doesn’t have to sound like a robot. With a little tuning (see what I did there?) and some smart prompting, you can make it sound like your best self on a good day.
Because let’s face it: you’ve got style. Your Copilot should, too.
