uX your U I microcopies
Hello! readers this is part 3 in 4 part series of, “Microcopy Writings tips”. It’s a way for me to share my experience in understanding and crafting user microcopies with the community.
In the third part of this four-part series of understanding Microcopy for digital products. Let’s explore how UX tools can be used to connect empathetically and communicate effectively with users.
User Experience and its tools are not limited to understanding the users and creating user flow but can also play a major role in writing effective UI microcopies.
The better we understand users, the easier and longer we stay connected and be trusted. Let’s understand, how we can write user-focussed microcopies with these simple UX tools:
1. Journey Maps
The important information that we can collect from here are:
a). User emotional state
It guides in crafting a context-based tone of communication.
This google pay example demonstrates how the user’s emotional state is considered and direct forward communication is established. The CTA button directs the users on what can he needs to do, to rectify the issue. The communication is direct straightforward, considering the emotional stress the user is experiencing.
b). Thoughts
It helps to craft communication, that user understands and relates to.
The above example is a screenshot from Google I/O ’17. This example demonstrates, how they create a simple yet effective, generic yet super user-focused UI microcopy by understandings, user conscious thoughts or feelings and their technology understanding latency for writing these effective copies.
c). Touchpoint
It helps in integrating a holistic ecosystem of action for the user from the app.
Understanding the user problem at the exact touchpoint, help navigate the users to take corrective measures easily. The CTA button in the above example connects action with touchpoints, to easily sync their contacts in the app. Hence, making the transition from a distressed user, “What to do, here?” to, “oh ok! I can do this”.
d). Action
The error message should contain the user action that was done, that leads to this error state. This helps us to avoid technical jargon and directs us to write a user-friendly message that’s clear, concise, useful and user-focussed.
2. Persona
It guides us to write a simple, concise, and mindful conversation between the user and a digital product.
In a best use case scenario, persona helps to not irritate a user by understanding our target segment and conversing as humanely as possible. It does so by replacing a complicated instruction or a sprawling sentence structure with the user preferred, accepted and used the tone of voice.
3. A/B Testing
It helps us to make a decision, allign our copies with user’s interest.
As Steve Krug has said, “Don’t make me think”, a good microcopy follows it religiously and rigorously in its essence. This user testing helps us to modify, reword our microcopies to avoid any usability issues, understand better what our user like and dislike. Thus making conversation humane and intuitive.
Thanks for reading this article. You can also check out the other articles in this series, What’s up! UI Microcopy wherein we discuss basic terms and concept in microscopy and User Conversion with UI conversation where we discuss how effective microcopies can engage users and generate user conversion. Cheers!
