Provide your users with user-friendly copy and you’ll increase their interaction with your brand. Sounds like something worthy of your time? It is, because the way you write your UX copy will determine user satisfaction and therefore, has a direct impact on your sales rate. 

UX copy is there to enhance the connection between the users and your products. It comes in the form of product instructions, terms and conditions, menu labels, error messages, and more. All those elements determine the users’ experience. 

For the sake of maximizing user satisfaction, consider the following tips when writing UX copy.

1. Ensure that Every Form of Copy is Clear

Users should be able to understand the copy the first time they read it. Meaning, that you should be as direct and clear as possible. This means no complicated language, technical wording, or any kind of blurred message.

UX copy has the sole purpose of delivering information to the user. If that information is confusing or complicated, you have spent your time writing in vain. Therefore, make sure that users understand what you are talking about throughout your UX copy. 

2. Work in the Text in the Early Version of User Interface

The sooner you start embedding UX copy into the interface the better. What many designers do is that they use Lorem Ipsum (a placeholder text) instead of a real copy. They use this random string of words to see how copy would look with the design.

Instead of Lorem Ipsum, use real UX copy in the early version. Why is this useful? Well, with Lorem Ipsum you won’t know the real length of the copy and once you add the real text it might mess up the design.

Using the realistic UX copy will give you a true representation of how that content will fit the design. If the copy is too long or doesn’t look right, you can easily change it up and regulate everything within the prototype. 

3. Minimize the Wording

When people research a product or brand they want answers to their questions fast. They don’t want to spend 10 minutes reading some elaborate copy. If you have the urge to add some extra words or fluff to make it more attractive, don’t. Keep it as short as you can. 

Even the most simple phrases should be shortened. For example, write “File downloaded” and not “File has been downloaded.”

Writing in short scannable parts will help the users to find what they are looking for after taking a simple glimpse of the copy. Shorter sentences and paragraphs will help you achieve that. 

Aim to make the UX copy as meaningful as and concise as you can. Avoid empty talk and overly embellished sentences. Simply concentrate on the goal which is delivering the requested information. 

4. Provide Only Useful Information

All UX copy needs to be relevant and useful. After you have written the initial draft of UX copy, go through it again and delete any information that doesn’t provide value. 

The copy should help users with their interactions. You want to lower the need for customer support. To achieve that, your copy needs to give users only the necessary information. 

If you start adding some extra content without any purpose, the users will quickly get bored with reading and exit the page. Or, if you fill their push notifications with irrelevant text, they will instantly remove them from the screen and possibly disable them. 

5. Write in  the Active Voice

The passive voice can only hurt your copy. So, try to avoid it as much as you can. The active voice makes the copy sound more natural. Take a look at these examples:

  • The active voice: Click on the submit button to send the form.
  • The passive voice: Sending the form should be done by clicking the submit button. 

As you can tell, the active voice provides users with clear information. Also, take into consideration users whose native language isn’t English. They might have trouble understanding sentences in the passive voice.

To check your copy’s readability, use a tool such as Readable. It will let you know how many passive sentences you have in the text. Editing tool Grammarly can do the same for you. If you need any help with rephrasing the sentences, hire writing services like TrustMyPaper to help you out. 

6. Be Consistent

Write the copy in the same style, voice, and tone. Use the same terminology as well. The reason why consistency is so important because the users need to recognize your brand through your copy. Inconsistency can be very misleading.

Pay special attention to terminology. Using “remove” in one part of UX text and “delete” in other to signify the same action can confuse the users. Consistent terminology will help them follow your instructions and make connections between different actions. 

7. Stay Away from Double Negatives

Writing “I do not want to unsubscribe” is a big no-no. This will be much more comprehensible if you ask “Are you sure you want to unsubscribe?” and provide them with two possibilities “Yes/I’m sure” or “No/Keep me subscribed.” 

There is simply no need for double negatives. The only result that can come from it is confusion. You don’t want the users to stare at the screen trying to decipher your message. Moreover, they can make the wrong choice. Since most people aren’t accustomed to double negatives they can easily interpret the message in a wrong way. 

8. Use Numerals to Attract Users Attention

Users tend to fixate on numbers when scanning the text. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen explains why:

Why do users fixate on numerals? Because numbers represent facts, which is something users typically relish. Sometimes people are looking for specific facts, such as a product’s weight or size, so product pages are certainly one place where you should write numbers as numerals. But even when a number doesn’t represent a product attribute, it’s a more compact (and thus attractive) representation of hard information than flowery verbiage.”

Instead of writing numbers in words, use numerals to make the copy more impactful. Don’t shy away from using facts and stats that are relevant to users. They will provide them with important information and also grab their attention.

Final Thoughts

It is time to get to business! Hopefully, the above-mentioned tips have given you some useful guidance on how to write UX copy successfully. Take your time to analyze the copy once you are done and rewrite it as many times as you need until you reach perfection. With these tips, you can even create a checklist that will make sure that you stay on the right path. Now, write away!

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