Not all companies can afford to hire a full-time UX writer (or are mature enough to consider it yet). As a result, UX writing is often outsourced to team members who may not have sufficient expertise in working with text, such as UX designers and product managers, or to the content or marketing team, who may lack expertise in UX. Meanwhile, interface copy plays a crucial role in the overall user experience, helping guide users smoothly, allowing them to navigate easily through the app, discover and start using product features, and more. In this article, you’ll find simple, practical tips and a checklist to help you create a clear and concise microcopy, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Throughout my UX writing career, I’ve held many different roles: a UX writer in a team of UX writers, a solo UX writer replacing someone who left, the first and only UX writer at a company, and even a teacher at a UX writing course, where I reviewed more than 100 home assignments. And oh gosh, what I’ve seen.

Crafting microcopy is not everyone’s strong suit, and it doesn’t have to be. Still, if you’re a UX designer, product manager, analyst, or marketing content writer working in a small company, on an MVP, or on a new product, you might have to get by without a UX writer. So you have the extra workload of creating microcopy. Here are some basic rules that will help you create clear and concise copy and run a quick health check on your designs.

Ensure Your Interface Copy Is Role-playable #

Why it’s important:
To create a friendly, conversational experience;
To work out a consistent interaction pattern.

When crafting microcopy, think of the interface as a dialog between your product and your user, where:

Titles, body text, tooltips, and so on are your “phrases.”
Button labels, input fields, toggles, menu items, and other elements that can be tapped or selected are the user’s “phrases.”

Ideally, you should be able to role-play your interface copy: a product asks the user to do something — the user does it; a product asks for information — the user types it in or selects an item from the menu; a product informs or warns the user about something — the user takes action.

The account opening screen asks for a user’s name at the Babbel app and the Babbel app’s Home screen with a greeting as a title

In the flow of creating an account, Babbel conversationally asks “What’s your name?” instead of using something like “Enter your name.” Then, it uses it as a greeting in the title, even though this screen could probably do without it. (Source: Mobbin) (Large preview)

For example, if your screen is devoted to an event and the CTA is for the user to register, you should opt for a button label like “Save my spot” rather than “Save your spot.” This way, when a user clicks the button, it’s as if they are pronouncing the phrase themselves, which resonates with their thoughts and intentions.

This “Reserve your apartment stay” button by Booking.com looks more like an ad title rather than a button label. (Large preview)

By contrast, “I’ll reserve” for the button looks conversational, exactly like a user would say that. (Large preview)

Meet Smashing Workshops on front-end, design & UX, with practical takeaways, live sessions, video recordings and a friendly Q&A. With Brad Frost, Stéph Walter and so many others.

Jump to the workshops ↬

Feature Panel

Be Especially Transparent And Clear When It Comes To Sensitive Topics #

Why it’s important: To build trust and loyalty towards your product.

Some topics, such as personal data, health, or money, are extremely sensitive for people. If your product involves any limitations, peculiarities, or possible negative outcomes related to these sensitive topics, you should convey this information clearly and unequivocally. You will also need to collaborate with your UX/UI Designer closely to ensure you deliver this information in a timely manner and always make it visible without requiring the user to take additional actions (e.g., don’t hide it in tooltips that are only shown by tapping).

Here’s a case from my work experience. For quite some time, I’ve been checking homework assignments for a UX writing course. In this course, all the tasks have revolved around an imaginary app for dog owners. One of the tasks students worked on was creating a flow for booking a consultation with a dog trainer. The consultation had to be paid in advance. In fact, the money was blocked on the user’s bank card and charged three hours before the consultation. That way, a user could cancel the meeting for free no later than three hours before the start time. A majority of the students added this information as a tooltip on the checkout screen; if a user didn’t tap on it, they wouldn’t be warned about the possibility of losing money.

In a real-life situation, this would cause immense negativity from users: they may post about it on social media, and it will show the company in a bad light. Even if you occasionally resort to dark patterns, make sure you can afford any reputational risks.

So, when creating microcopy on sensitive topics:

Be transparent and honest about all the processes and conditions. For example, you’re a fintech service working with other service providers. Because of that, you have fees built into transactions but don’t know the exact amount. Explain to users how the fees are calculated, their approximate range (if possible), and where users can see more precise info.
Reassure users that you’ll be extremely careful with their data. Explain why you need their data, how you will use it, store and protect it from breaches, and so on.
If some restrictions or limitations are implied, provide options to remove them (if possible).

How To Improve Your Microcopy: UX Writing Tips For Non-UX Writers

Jesus Christ

Share this article