For years, male voice actors have dominated the voice over industry, including the narration of business videos. However, several studies have shown that audiences generally prefer a female voice actor doing the voice over.
Male vs. Female
Many businesses have also reported that business videos where a female voice actor does the narration receive better traction. Why is this so? What is it about male voices that (in some cases) may even drive away customers rather than attracting them?
With a polished and confident voice over, your business videos can appear more professional and persuasive. You may think that a male voice would have these characteristics, but this is not always the case.
Studies have found that male voices are much too aggressive and dominating. People don’t like to be commanded. The reasoning is simple: they don’t want to be talked at; they’d rather be talked to.
As a rule, people don’t like being ordered and told what to do. By using a male voice actor, you may be doing exactly that. It’s thus important for businesses to be careful about the choice of voice overs for their brand videos.
The right brand voice
You don’t want to give the wrong impression about your brand and drive away your audience. With the right voice actor, you can engage your audience. Your brand message will across exactly as intended.
Considering these factors, it might well be wiser to choose a female voice actor for your business videos. Here are several reasons why this can work in your favor.
Female voices are more trustworthy and reassuring
A study conducted by CXL Institute concluded that people find female voices more trustworthy than male voices. In the study, the participants were shown an explainer video where there were both male and female narration. The goal of the study was to understand how the participants evaluated different voice over narrations.
Viewers trusted the explainer videos with a female voice actor more than those with a male voice actor. Regardless of whether it was a professional voice actor, the female voice was preferred.
Why?
It was found to be more trustworthy and reassuring.
Interestingly, the study showed that people would prefer an amateur female voice over a professional male voice actor!
Female voices are more engaging
The fact that people prefer female voices have a lot to do with how they are perceived in society. Usually, women are associated with qualities like helping, teaching and nurturing. This plays a huge role in why they are perfect for business videos as well.
Harris Interactive found that as much as 48 percent of study participants reported feeling that male voice-overs are too forceful. Participants preferred female voices because they were more inviting and engaging.
Female voices are scientifically proven to be more melodic. In fact, male and female voices are processed in different parts of the brain. Female voices are processed by the auditory region — the same region that processes music.
Female voices are more persuasive
Overall, female voices are preferred because they are perceived to be more persuasive. Male voices are considered commanding, thus often too dominant to be inviting and appealing. Conversely, female voices have just the right balance between being both engaging and inviting.
In the same study mentioned above, 46 percent of participants reported that they found female voices to be more soothing. A gentle, soothing, and persuasive voice will make your audience feel more at ease. A feeling of comfort will make your audience trust your brand.
Female voices are clearer
Female voices are, more often than not, considered to sound clearer than male voices. Especially deep male voices. Females inevitably have higher pitched voices than males (an octave higher). This makes them more distinct.
The last thing you want is to have your message lose clarity!
Conclusion
Sociocultural convention has long favoured male voices over female. Times have changed. When you’re browsing the vast selection of voices available on Voice123, consider your product and service offering carefully. If you’ve always figured a male voice will do the trick, maybe it’s time to reconsider. You’ll find many of the finest female voice actors on the planet right here on Voice123!