What South African customers taught us about Google's personas and why tone matters more than you think
Understanding how users connect with digital personas isn't just about the words on the screen; it's about the values behind them.
Recently, we had the opportunity to collaborate on a research project for Google (YouTube) with Bold Insight (our USA UXalliance partner) in South Africa. Our goal? To delve deeply into how real people react to crafted digital personas. We wanted to uncover why some resonate more than others and how these personas need to be adjusted to fit an African instead of a Western perspective.
At Mantaray Africa, we have witnessed how cultural nuance, tone of voice, and context shape the way customers interact with content. This research served as another reminder that there's no such thing as a "universal persona".
The brief: Personas under the microscope
Evaluate participant reactions to distinct personas
We set out to evaluate how participants reacted to a series of distinct personas, each with its own tone, style, and underlying assumptions. The goal was to determine what worked, what didn't, and which path Google should take when developing a single, global-facing composite persona.
Explore key questions about persona effectiveness
More specifically, we explored:
  • Which persona or combination of traits resonated most with participants?
  • What aspects of the writing style did readers find positive or negative?
  • What are the potential pitfalls of creating a unified persona?
And, most importantly, if they had to choose one,
  • Whose tone or persona would they prefer and why?
Our approach: Deep listening in context
Conduct In-Depth Interviews
Our team conducted 10 in-depth interviews with South African participants, each session lasting around 60 minutes. These conversations were anchored in stimuli that enabled participants to experience and reflect on the personas in real time.
Create Safe Spaces for Expression
At Mantaray, we've realised that true insight comes from creating safe spaces where individuals can share and express not just what they think, but also why they feel the way they do. These interviews went beyond surface reactions to elicit deep, emotional responses to tone, inclusion, and relatability.
Analyze Cultural Context
Each session was done in English, but we paid special attention to occasions when participants used cultural analogies, storytelling, and humour, all of which indicate emotional resonance. Our team provided our client with a topline report that outlined developing patterns and made directional recommendations.
Key insights: Personas are multi-faceted
Several themes emerged from our research, highlighting the importance of cultural context in digital persona development.
Relatability is king
Participants preferred personas that felt natural, authentic, conversational, and free of jargon. Overly polished or "robotic" tones created a sense of detachment.
Tone shaped trust
Writing styles that felt warm, human, and inclusive received the greatest ratings. Participants disengaged when the language seemed overly formal or prescriptive, even if the information was helpful.
No one size fits all
Some participants favoured concise and confident personas, while others favoured a more nurturing or exploratory tone. This underlined the necessity for a flexible persona framework that is adaptable to regional expectations.
Context matters
South African users referenced local expressions, values, and even generational differences when explaining their preferences. This reinforced the importance of validating personas in the market, rather than only in theory.
What's next: Designing with empathy, not assumptions
Validate Early
This research reminded us of the importance of persona validation at the early stages, especially when designing for culturally diverse markets. It's easy to assume a tone works everywhere and to overlook the fact that specific regions might need further personalisation.
Listen Deeply
When we take the time to listen, test, and iterate locally, we can create personas that truly reflect the individuals we're designing for.
Collaborate Forward
As we move forward, we will collaborate with our client to:
  • Refine and shape personas that reflect global consistency while maintaining local nuance.
  • Highlight tone and content do's and don'ts for aspiring content creators.
  • Ensure that continual user validation is integrated into the persona development lifecycle.
Final thoughts
Personas are more than simply fictitious characters, they are tools that carry the voice of a brand and in culturally diverse markets like South Africa, that voice needs to feel both familiar and respectful in order to gain trust.

Trust
Built through cultural respect
Brand Voice
Carried through personas
Personas
More than fictional characters
Test, Don't guess
Listen First
If you're creating designing products for emerging markets, don't guess what will work. Test it with real users in market, in the language that they want to speak. Listen first, write second.
Connect With Us
Want to learn more about how Mantaray Africa helps global teams decode cultural nuance through UX research? Let's connect.