Context analyze
By the years, and with the increase of blogs and online stores, marketing strategies have also changed. The best-selling strategy is to adapt to the market, shaking things up and stepping into the now.
The attention of industrialists in the early 1900s was based on mass consumption, a greater quantity of products in the shortest possible time without any personalization. Frederick Winslow Taylor and Henry Ford, both living in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth century, developed two methods that revolutionized production.
In 1911, Taylor published The principles of scientific management, in which he identified the best, most efficient and least expensive method to produce any good.
Two years later, Henry Ford introduced a revolutionary novelty in his Detroit automobile factory: the assembly-line that allowed to reduce the production times of cars and their unit cost.
These two theories allowed a huge production, able to satisfy the new mass market. Thus we passed from the slow handicraft productions to the industrial ones that are at the base of today’s lifestyle and the consequent consumerism.
Nowadays, industrial strategies don’t focus anymore on the quantity but they pay more attention to the customers offering customized products and experiences both in physical stores and online stores.
In particular, the latest strategies have focused on how to improve the online customer experience because not being in a physical store it is not possible to monitor the behavior of the potential buyer and have a physical human contact to prevent the customer from leaving dissatisfied.
From newsletters to error messages when uploading a page it is essential to never let the customer feel alone and to capture his attention visually with simple and clear colors, images and texts.
So, welcome to the fabulous world of the microcopy where nothing is left to chance.
What is microcopy?
According to Kinneret Yifrah, the leading microcopy (UX writing) expert in Israel, the definition of microcopy is:
“The words or phrases in the user interface which are directly related to the actions a user takes:
- The motivation before the action;
- Instructions that accompany the action;
- The feedback after the user has taken the action”.
Microcopy is designed to help your users, as it allows you to reach out to them before they even realize they need that extra assistance. It alleviates concerns, directs them to products and services they need, and makes them see that you are looking out for them.
Microcopy is a very important concept to design an interface in order to improve the user experience. In fact, it should create a positive experience and engage the user by reducing the gap between the machine and human.
In addition, microcopy should also minimize possible points of friction with users. Small words well thought out and designed to appear at the right time and at the right time to make the whole process more fluid.
What should a good microcopy do?
Effective microcopy must provide clarity, direction and instruction, it must confirm and provide reassurance for user expectations and decisions.
The main idea is not to leave the user lost, they just want to know why things are not working and what they can do to solve the problem.
If you can provide your users with an explanation, and a way to solve the issue, they will be much happier than those who are left wondering why things got hung up.
A single explanation is better than a long one because the client won’t pay attention. It is important don’t leave him wondering or he might go somewhere else instead of trying again. A sense of humor it’s a good choice to keep the clients distracted for a while because it also shows the human side of the website.
Great microcopy should explain also what happens next because users know what to expect and where to go to get it.
Here there are some good examples:
How to get people sign up for your newsletter
A good microcopy is fundamental in order to increase your contact list and your email marketing campaigns’ results.
Usually, people hate to see their mailbox fully of advertising, promotions and other offers because they distract them from personal and important email.
However, a beautiful template and an efficient microcopy are the keys to converter customers.
Firstly, is recommended to write very short and friendly sentences in which invite people to sign up and why you are inviting them that means what you offer to them with this subscription.
The best examples are:
Microcopy to ignite engagement
Great! We were friendly, short and cool and now we have a full contact list.
How can we convince people not to abandon us?
The first thing to do is to thank people for their subscription with simple information to not leave alone the subscriber.
The interest in our contents is there and that is why we have to create a habit by distributing a newsletter regularly and giving your subscribers something to anticipate.
It is also important to use a clean and simple format and thinking outside the box like these examples:
Microcopy for the Apps
User experience and UX writing are not only related to websites and newsletters.
According to Flurry Analytics, the use of the apps increased in 2016 by 11% but decreased in 2017 by 5%.
As growth slows, user behavior also changes: more than five hours a day are spent on the smartphone but this time, instead of increasing with the installation of new applications, people use to break down between old and new.
Therefore, given a large amount of app, it is important to distinguish itself with a great and useful interface. This is why a good microcopy can change the destiny of your app.
In conclusion, without effective microcopy, users are left fumbling in the dark and it may represent one of the most important points of your services because your attention is all for the customer in order to give him the best experience ever.
The manner in which you communicate is an important detail that can make the difference because the small things are easily overlooked in place of the sexier elements of applications and websites.
So words are important at the same level of the design of the elements of your website or app.
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