Maria Mora July 21st, 2016 Content & Copy Microcopy might seem like a small detail, but it can make a huge impact on user experience, engagement and even conversions. Treat it as an afterthought and you may send your users fleeing, but well-strategized and well-crafted microcopy can not only direct but delight users.

1. Why Microcopy Matters
(and size, too)

2. Microcopy
Microcopy might seem like a small detail, but it can make a huge impact on
user experience, engagement and even conversions.
Treat it as an afterthought and you may send your users fleeing, but well-strategized
and well-crafted microcopy can not only direct but delightusers.

3. So what exactly is this tiny
copy that holds such big
influence?

4. What is Microcopy?
Simply put, microcopy is all the little bits of copy that inform, advise or otherwise direct the
user.
This includes:
● Forms
● Calls-to-action (CTAs)
● Navigations
● Footers
● Error messages
● Transaction instructions
● Legal disclaimers

5. Don’t ignore it!
These kinds of copy items aren’t
usually high on a copywriter’s list of
favorites. Microcopy may be considered
boring, bland, or boilerplate. But
nothing could be further from the
truth. Microcopy is critical to user
experience and it can be fun! (More on
that later.)
Ironically, while so much
attention is paid to the headers
and body copy on a webpage, it is
the tiny bits of microcopy that
matter so much and yet are often
given no more attention than the
time it takes to write, “Learn
more.”

6. If you’re thinking in terms
of the customer journey,
microcopy is all the road
signs along the way.

7. Why Microcopy Matters to User Experience
Without clear microcopy, your user can get lost or worse, abandon the journey
altogether. This isn’t theoretical — research indicates the number one reason users
leave a website is poor navigation. Microcopy can give you clear directional text that keeps
your users on the page and encourage them to progress to the next.
The same study ranked a registration requirement as the 5th reason users were likely to
bounce from your site, and here too microcopy matters. If you are asking for
information, a quick line of microcopy stating why you want or need the information and
what you are, and are not, going to do with it can go a long way to reassuring users.

8. The wrong word choice can drastically affect
user behavior.
Have you ever wanted to untag yourself from a photo in Facebook? Not too long ago you
would have sent a form letter through Facebook to the person who had tagged you. The form
would have said something to the effect of, “Sorry, but I don’t like this picture. Could you
please remove it?”
But Facebook noticed that people weren’t using the form. Instead, they’d write to Facebook
support and ask them to have the photo removed. What was the problem? The word “sorry.”
It made people feel like the problem was with them, not the photo. Facebook removed that
one word, and form usage increased exponentially.

9. The wrong word choice can drastically affect
user behavior.
Have you ever wanted to untag yourself from a photo in Facebook? Not too long ago you
would have sent a form letter through Facebook to the person who had tagged you. The form
would have said something to the effect of, “Sorry, but I don’t like this picture. Could you
please remove it?”
But Facebook noticed that people weren’t using the form. Instead, they’d write to Facebook
support and ask them to have the photo removed. What was the problem? The word “sorry.”
It made people feel like the problem was with them, not the photo. Facebook removed that
one word, and form usage increased exponentially.

10. Think about the implications
there. One wrong word and your
users may turn away from a tool
you created to be helpful.
Microcopy is that important.

11. Think Big
Microcopy is not only a place to instruct and clarify — it’s an opportunity to delight.
Headers and body copy are great for brand voice, but a clever moment of microcopy in an
unexpected place shows your users you’ve thought about every step of their journey. Copy on
forms and transaction pages is read more closely than standard body copy, so these are
excellent opportunities to inject a little bit of brand voice in your microcopy.
Branded microcopy can even turn a negative outcome into a positive interaction. Users may
be frustrated when they get an error message, but if the message is funny (and maybe also
features a few confused-looking blowfish) they’re more likely to smile.

12. Avoid Bad Microcopy
Now that you know what microcopy is and how important it is to user experience, how can
you avoid bad microcopy? Here are a few tips:
● Make microcopy part of your website strategy. Map out every place microcopy will be needed.
● Don’t settle for boilerplate. Even if you’re using a website builder, don’t settle for the microcopy navigation,
CTAs and form fields it supplies. Look for ways to infuse microcopy with your brand.
● Never sacrifice clarity for cleverness. Witty writing is fun, but if your microcopy isn’t clearly
communicating, it’s not doing its job.
● Test microcopy effectiveness. Word choice and phrasing can have a big impact, so test several iterations of
your microcopy to find the ones that work for your audience.

13. Microcopy is all around you, online and off.
Start checking out the disclaimers, transaction instructions, form fields and other moments
of microcopy. What works for you? What doesn’t? Not all of the microcopy out there is good,
but hopefully now yours will be.

14. Maria Mora
Content Director
BigSeaDesign.com