Good Microcopy

Having clearly worded options can make even the most complicated subject matter easier to digest.

In this example from Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), the options are phrased as first-person statements making the options easier to understand as it sounds more relatable.

When you're in an active comment thread on Facebook, a little notification lets you know when someone is currently typing. It sets the expectation that someone is about to say something so you can decide whether you want to add a comment of your own or wait for them to finish.

When you buy an e-book from Smashing Magazine, right below the prominent "Checkout" button in the cart is some microcopy which lets you know that there aren't any extra fees (because it's an e-book and there's no shipping or other taxes to pay). They also let you know the formats the e-book comes in which is really important to me because I don't like getting PDF-only copies.

I recently took an Uber but accidentally charged the ride to the wrong account. When I got the transaction fixed up, I was impressed by how clearly the messaging was in the receipt. Not only did it let me know that the money was charged to the correct account, it let me know that the other change was refunded accordingly.

When you're uploading a video to YouTube, the supporting microcopy keeps you informed of the upload progress and how much time is remaining. Simple and effective.

When you're signing up for a new service like Zeroheight, you usually just want to jump in and give it a test drive. Optional set up steps (like "creating team") can add unnecessary friction for users that just want to get started.

In these cases, your choice of words can do a lot for reducing that friction. For example, saying "I'll do this later" indirectly lets the user know that this isn't a mandatory step (and that it's something they can do later).

When you've created a new note on Bear, the subtle placeholder copy encourages you to make a start.

Ok, I know I already wrote about InVision's emails earlier this month. I just couldn't help but upload this one too.

So why can InVision get away with having buttons labels that aren't clear and direct? Simple. They know their audience. And that trumps any "best practice".

If you have the same password for two separate services, 1Password shows a contextual warning which recommends you generate a unique password.

When you're setting up a new Apple Watch, it takes a little while to get up and running.

While users are waiting, Apple presents a few tutorial screens to get them familiar with the basics. What this provides users with is education that's both timely and relevant (many users at this stage will be new ones after all).

…And there's also the side benefit of just giving users something to interact with while they wait!

When all of your posts in Buffer have been sent, a notification (iOS) pops up to let you know that you have your queue is empty.

Importantly it communicates the message clearly and concisely, but a nice detail is that the message changes each time.

When you copy a post on Tumblr, a different message shows every time! An interaction like this could be very simple and boring and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! The user just needs to know that the link was copied after all. …But Tumblr just decided to take it a step further because …it's Tumblr.

When you're in an active channel, Slack lets you know when people are currently typing.

When it's only one or two people typing, it makes sense to show their names just so the channel knows what to expect.

But if a lot of people are typing at the same time, showing the names of everyone would be overkill. When this happens, Slack just says that "several people are typing.". Simple and effective.

…And it sets the expectation that you should strap yourself in!

When you're asking someone to sign up to a blog newsletter, there's a lot of anxiety around handing over an email address (and it's mostly around "will you bombard my inbox with stuff I don't want?").

I like what Humaan does on their blog; it let's you know how frequently you'll get emails and that it's only the good stuff (0% spam apparently!).

I love how Intercom does this on their articles. Above the title they mention how long the article will roughly take to read. It's something I always find handy because it helps me decide whether I should read it now, or add it to my reading list.

When you change your password on The Noun Project, they email you a special link for you to complete the process. When you're asking a user to context-switch like this, you need to be clear and set expectations.

…But that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun.

Placeholder copy is often discouraged because there's a risk users might skip the field altogether (thinking it's already populated).

But for this example on Stack Overflow's Profile description field, as there are only a few fields to fill (and the placeholder copy is really out there…!), the risk just isn't as great. In fact it's just fun to read and might even encourage users to write something more than a standard bio.