Executive Summary

Eventbrite faced challenges related to content development and communication. Brand inconsistencies impacted their ability to craft a smooth customer experience. Meanwhile, internal jargon and inefficient knowledge distribution caused confusion, particularly for the increasingly global workforce.

The Content Design team implemented Grammarly to maintain a consistent brand voice. They soon discovered that the tool had benefits beyond addressing content issues. With Grammarly, they could influence a cross-functional team to write on brand, creating a better overall user experience. Grammarly’s Knowledge Share feature also made it easier for employees to get the context they needed quickly, which improved communication and productivity. Finally, non-native English speakers across the organization felt more confident when using Grammarly, enabling them to become more effective at work.

A Small But Mighty Team Needs a Smart Solution

A seamless customer experience hinges on clear, consistent communication—and one false note could be enough to turn a user away.

“A consistent brand voice builds trust,” says Sami Harvey Reed, Head of Content Design at Eventbrite. “If Content Marketing describes something one way, but it’s described differently in product, a user will pause and think: “That’s not what I thought this would do! Did I get lied to?” Users won’t come back if we sound disparate.”

Eventbrite’s Content Design team knew that vocabulary and descriptions needed to stay the same across all touchpoints to keep customers engaged—but that was easier said than done. Many “Britelings” owned words at various points of the customer journey, from marketing materials, to the Help Center, and beyond. Sami and her small team of five had limited resources to keep everything in check.

The Challenge

Getting alignment between different writers was no simple feat. Although robust Tone and Style guidelines existed, many inconsistencies still fell through the cracks due to human error. The results of language tests, such as which CTAs performed well, were also challenging to implement across teams. The wrong language already existed in the product and couldn’t be updated easily, so content creators were often confused and used phrases that didn’t perform as well.

Knowledge distribution issues didn’t only affect the external branding. It slowed down productivity internally, too. There were many internal acronyms to keep up with, and Britelings had to waste precious time combing the intranet to figure out what each one meant. Meanwhile, the organization was becoming more global, and Eventbrite needed a way to keep communications aligned between both native and non-native English speakers.

Sami’s team had to solve these challenges without taking on extra work. “I lead a small team,” says Sami. “I need a way to tell people what to do, without telling them what to do.”

The Solution

Eventbrite’s Marketing org already had an existing Grammarly Business account, so the Content Design team got access and integrated their Tone and Style guidelines. The potential to make an even bigger difference soon became clear.

“We adopted Grammarly to improve alignment among and between writers,” says Harvey Reed. “We quickly saw two additional opportunities. First, it could improve communication for our non-native English speakers, and secondly, it could scale Content’s impact to an organizational level in a passive, continuous way by injecting best practices for inclusive and on-brand language.”

So the team ran a beta test and invited Britelings from different Product functions like Research, Engineering, Customer Success, and SEO to participate. They monitored daily usage over one month. The results they got back were overwhelmingly positive.

The Right Words In Line and at Scale

During the test, Grammarly’s content suggestions increased by 550%, helping Britelings catch and fix phrases as they were writing. “Ampersands were replaced with “and” 53 times, “cannot” was replaced by “can’t” 42 times, and “creator” with “organizer” 280 times—making my dreams come true,” says Harvey Reed.

Aside from fulfilling her dreams, Grammarly helped her team improve tone and style alignment, passively and at scale. Any updates to the guidelines could be rolled out instantly and in a few clicks. Whether the Briteling was an engineer, product manager, or researcher, all participants could use the most up-to-date style guidance as they wrote.

In total, the team addressed 797,500 content issues raised by Grammarly during the beta test—a 440% increase over the previous month—creating a better, smoother experience for Eventbrite users.

There were benefits beyond brand consistency, too. Grammarly also helped the participating Britelings replace biased phrasing with more inclusive alternatives. This caused a 46% reduction in harmful language, delivering on Eventbrite’s goal to be a diverse and inclusive workplace.

The team also saw the potential of the Snippets feature, which allows Grammarly users to create shortcuts for commonly used phrases. They shared this feature with the Customer Service team, since customer service agents often had to explain the same general scenario multiple times. Snippets enabled the entire team to respond faster, speak in the same voice, and provide consistency in their guidance to Eventbrite customers.

An Instant Way to Share Information

With Grammarly, the Content Design team finally had a way to incorporate the results of their language tests. When an A/B test indicated that one phrase performed better than the other, they added a rule to Grammarly to ensure the winning phrase became the standard. Now, if a Briteling wrote the wrong phrase, Grammarly automatically suggested a better alternative. This helped the team capitalize on learnings fast and disseminate them immediately through the organization.

Grammarly’s ability to share information automatically at Eventbrite helped boost productivity too. Using the Knowledge Share feature, Content Design added definitions for terms and acronyms, as well as links to PRDs and points of contact for specific projects. No more time wasted digging through the intranet or toggling between tabs—Britelings now could get the context they needed as they were writing, saving time while reducing confusion.

Breaking Language Barriers for a Global Workforce

At the end of the month, Content Design sent out a survey to all participants asking them about their Grammarly experience. They found that Grammarly had significantly improved communication both for native and non-native English speakers. Especially the latter—their confidence improved by 26%.

Participants felt that Grammarly reduced the cognitive effort of saying what they mean in a second language, empowering them to work faster and more effectively. And it wasn’t only those who had “writer” in their job description. Even those in more technical roles felt the benefits.

“Working with technical documentation and project management has challenges, especially for non-native English speakers like myself,” said another survey participant. “With this amazing tool at our fingertips, we can quickly create technical documentation, experiment designs, and tasks on JIRA while ensuring our communications are clear, concise, and professional. This tool helps us avoid misunderstandings with colleagues and other stakeholders, and also enhances the overall quality of our work.”

“As we shift to a remote-first global company, reducing language barriers and driving alignment asynchronously becomes more important than ever,” says Harvey Reed. “Grammarly provides a single tool that ensures someone’s thoughts are articulated clearly, no matter what language barrier they have.”

A Tool for All Teams

From perfecting on-brand communication with customers, to accelerating knowledge distribution, to boosting the productivity of teams beyond Content Design, Harvey Reed sees Grammarly as an indispensable partner for effective, on-brand communication.

“With Grammarly, we can drive that consistency across all teams, using the precise tone, voice, and content that makes the most sense for our users and each other, positioning Eventbrite exactly how we want to be seen in the marketplace,” she says. “Everyone writes. Everyone communicates. And everyone could do it better. Grammarly solves that.”