UX WRITING TO WRITE A PERFECT HUMAN-FRIENDLY MICROCOPY: Writing about user experience (UX) has emerged as a crucial component of product development. Some UX experts advocate using content as the starting point. Design is dictated by your microcopy rather than the other way around. Things are changing very fast. Like metaverse has started dominating every industry almost. Here is how metaverse can impact graphic design.?
The goal of UX writing is to provide a microcopy that is readable, engaging, and human. UX writing and design process are closely related in many digital firms. The sales of a product can be significantly impacted by poor microcopy.
A single, badly selected word might cause people to become anxious or perplexed. To put it another way, a single phrase can result in a successful product registration or another abandoned cart.
What is a Microcopy?
The tiny-tiny portions of content that may be found on websites, apps, and products are referred to as “Microcopy.” These short words give instructions to users, answer their issues, set the scene for an event, and contribute to the overall narrative about your company, its products, and its marketing practices. As graphic design is important, therefore, UX Writing has also its basic impact.
What is UX Writing?
An app, website or other digital product’s user experience (UX) writer develops content to aid users in navigating the product.
The microcopy that users need to read in order to use applications, websites, and other digital goods are planned and written by a UX writer.
This article explores 7 unconventional secrets for enhancing your writing for UX. But first, let’s quickly explain how UX writing and microcopy relate to one another.
How Do Microcopy and UX Writing Interact?
There are different sorts of writing. For instance, copywriting concentrates on producing text to advertise a product. However, UX writing focuses on the material that is integrated into products.
Consider the text on buttons, labels for webforms, or other little textual instructions or hints when using a product as an example of UX writing. Here, the primary purpose of the content (or language) is to lead the user, clear up any uncertainty, and offer specific instructions.
So what connects microcopy with UX writing now? The copy for the user interface is referred to as microcopy. It includes, among other things, buttons, input labels, and program instructions, as was already indicated.
The importance of UX copywriting in product development has increased. Excellent microcopy may decrease the barrier to user engagement, boost sales, and enhance user happiness.
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Here are the 7 Secrets of Perfect UX Writing
Secret#1: Brand personality adds sparkle to your UX writing:
On paper, anyone can write words. But can these words persuade the appropriate audience? Understanding that words may signify different things to different individuals is essential. Wordplay, for instance, may distinguish your brand but also perplex customers.
It’s critical to recognize the personality of your brand. Your brand personality is verbally expressed through your brand voice. It establishes the tone of your brand and makes it simple to recognize.
Do you recall how we said your microcopy should sound human? Let’s contrast two microcopy instances of unsuccessful login attempts with bad passwords.
Case 1: Wrong password. Try again or click “Forgot password” to reset it.
Case 2: Oops! It looks as if you may have forgotten your password. Click here to reset it.
Imagine now that you really encounter this interface in person. Which message is more believable? Indeed, the second one sounds more human.
Let’s examine the cookie consent popup used by trendy oat milk company Oatly.
Their cookie consent popup reflects the character of their brand. Oatly is concerned about the environment and the privacy of its consumers. The tone of their brand is lighthearted and welcoming. Your brand’s voice may be carried by even frequently overlooked web components like a cookie consent popup.
Take a look at the example of brand personality bias below to help you choose the appropriate tone if you are having trouble defining your brand personality.
Secret#2: Create a Fear or Confusion-Free Design
It might be frightening and perplexing to use the Internet. Some of those unpleasant emotions can be diminished by effective microcopy. We discussed the possibility of dread or misunderstanding being sparked by a single, badly worded word in the introduction.
Here are a few simple instances that nonetheless have the power to evoke strong feelings in users:
- Your phone number is requested on a company’s website form. Does that indicate that they will call you often and bother you?
- A website invites you to make a monthly subscription payment. How safe is the connection used for payments?
- You’re registering for a streaming service on the internet. Is there a notice period, or may you withdraw your consent at any time?
On Airbnb’s website, even a simple “location” field without supporting microcopy content might frustrate a reader.
Do you want me to the location?
Do you want to go to my favorite place?
What will happen when you click the “Reserve” button in this instance is explained in the microcopy message underneath the button. Many consumers could experience some amount of dread or uncertainty about what will happen next in the absence of this notification.
For instance, before making a reservation, customers want to examine my Airbnb order once more. Customers with think, “I’m unsure if I’m making a reservation without a microcopy message or if I’ll get another chance to examine the order.”
You might be surprised to discover that even the tiniest web component, like a button, has the power to evoke fear or confusion. Keep this in mind while you create your UI. Try to anticipate your users’ inquiries by trying to read their minds. Users typically avoid taking an action because of fear. Users will feel more confident using your interface if fear and uncertainty are eliminated.
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Secret#3: Less is more.
Less is more is a design principle made popular by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This idea quickly gained a lot of traction among UX writers. Use just the terms that are essential to your website’s performance and content. Remove any terms that don’t enhance the function or product of your website.
Here is a humorous illustration by Brass Business Banking product designer @tolusaba on Twitter. Checkout pages from before and after the product audit will be compared.
The user’s primary objective of hitting the “Pay now” button is being sidetracked by a large amount of text that is present before. Additionally, the design uses a question-and-answer structure, which serves no purpose on a checkout page even if this kind of material could be appropriate for a FAQ page.
After the product audit, they arranged the most significant facts chronologically. The content on both sites is the same, however, the newly designed page does so in fewer words.
The main lesson to be learned from this is to write as brief and clear as you can while being careful to give just enough information to avoid instilling dread or uncertainty. A user must spend more time digesting more information.
We aim to minimize the amount of time a user must spend understanding a new page when it is shown to them. A user’s capacity to make judgments and engage in future interactions will be hampered by the addition of too much information.
Secret#4: Transparency should be Brand Voice
We explained why it’s important to build something that dispels uncertainty or dread in secret#2. Let’s now talk about why openness is an essential component of every brand’s voice.
As was previously indicated, too little microcopy might make people confused. Let’s look at the onboarding example from Netflix. As seen in the image below, the current page.
Imagine if the user wasn’t informed in a microcopy notice what will happen when their free month is up. This statement firstly clears up any doubt. However, it also supports a brand’s transparency. Because they neglected to cancel their service or were unaware that there was a one-month notice period, you don’t want to deceive your users into unintentionally paying for an additional month.
The same is true for applications that ask for certain user rights. Google is quite clear about why they need contact information.
Secret#5: Be clear of imprecise and unfriendly error messages
Unfriendly or imprecise error messages are awful for the users. They are all over the place!
- There was an issue.
- Failure to submit the form!
- incorrect fields
- Something is not right.
- You made 3 mistakes.
All of the aforementioned examples indicate that there is a problem in a rather unfriendly way, but they don’t explain what I can do to fix it. Everyone blunders, so they are kind to users when they do. Give them advice, demonstrate a solution, or direct them to a help page to better comprehend the issue.
Major drop-off is brought on by hazy and unclear error messages. You don’t want to keep trying to submit a form without knowing what you’re doing incorrectly. Additionally, the language employed in the aforementioned example lacks a brand voice and is hostile.
Secret#6: Prefer questions to instructions.
Think about the following two approaches to user engagement.
Option 1: Choose a book
Option 2: Next, what do you want to read?
The type of question like, “What book do you want to read next?” provides a more personal touch that would be appropriate for Amazon’s Kindle.
Here’s another illustration of a problem Netflix experienced. What is the best way to ask a user to sign into their own user account?
Option 1: Pick a profile
Option 2: Is anyone present?
If you use Netflix, you already know that they went with option two. The objective of a UX writer is that it is more user-friendly. Asking a question as opposed to giving consumers instructions has considerably more effectiveness.
Secret#7: Turn negative behaviors into positive
Let’s contrast the two methods of informing passengers of a flight cancellation.
Option 1: Your flight ABC-000 has been canceled.
Option 2: We’re sorry, but we had to cancel your flight ABC-000 due to inclement weather. Even if the new flight is more expensive, you can still book a new flight without paying anything more.
The second choice includes a fix to make the bad thing into a good thing. The user can directly and without any additional fees book a new flight. Additionally, by beginning with an apology, we lessen the user’s annoyance.
As a pilot, occasionally has to cancel flights. Make sure you are leaving the passengers in the cold. Make an effort to assist them and provide a quick fix. Finding another flight to an official meeting or back home will be this passenger’s top goal.
The User Experience includes unpleasant incidents. The most important lesson from this is that, if they do happen, you should attempt to make things as good as you can. If there isn’t a remedy, attempt to explain what occurred to the user. A chilly message breaking the news will leave the user with a somewhat worse experience than this explanation.
A Product Can Be Ruined by Poor UX Writing
It’s hardly hyperbole to say that poor UX writing may destroy your product. Startups frequently underrate the influence of UX writing. Ineffective product signups or high cart abandonment rates are frequently the results of poor UX writing. Therefore, thoughtfully crafted microcopy may help a business save a lot of money.
UX writing should further emphasize web accessibility. Focus on the organization of the text; take into account readability; use plain language; and offer visual cues. A wonderful style manual on writing for accessibility is available from Mailchimp. Products that provide answers for building web-accessible UX include:
- A free web accessibility tester is available from aCe to ensure compliance.
- The PayPal AAT program assists you with content accessibility testing automatically (alternative: Google Lighthouse)
- Helps you determine the readability score in the Hemingway App.
Conclusion:
Would you want to do a friendly and easy microcopy audit? Start by establishing your brand’s voice and personality. After everything is finished, it’s time to audit online forms and search for any potential misunderstanding or anxiety-inducing factors. When traversing your interface, try to imagine yourself as the user.
I am aware that it is difficult since you are probably too accustomed to the UI. Therefore, doing user research is a fantastic approach to finding out more about how people think when using a new design.
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