Microcopy is a small snippet of text used on a website, application, or digital interface.
It guides users, provide instructions, gives feedback, or offers reassurance.
Typically, it’s about 10 words or less.
Examples include:
- Buttons and calls to action: “Sign up!” “Buy now!” “Learn more.” “Please get in touch with our team”
- Error messages: “Incorrect username or password. Please try again.”
- Help text: “Your password must be at least 8 characters long and include at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number.”
- Navigation labels: “Home,” “About us,” “Meet the team.”
While these may seem simplistic and easy, creating meaningful and effective microcopy is a real artform and something that beginner copywriters should practice regularly.
Microcopy is just as important as long form pieces like blogs and articles.
It helps to guide users through the conversion funnel, provides a smooth transition from one web page to another and, in some cases, can show off the brand’s personality.
How to write amazing microcopy
When it comes to microcopy, think about your audience and the actions you’d like them to take.
There should be a clear line between where the audience currently is and where you want them to go next.
The less barriers or hurdles, the better.
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box but remember to keep it simple and make the next step as obvious as possible.
You don’t want to lose your audience in the process of making your micro copy too confusing or complicated.
Now, this might depend on the brand you are promoting or the product you are selling but there’s nothing wrong with taking a different approach to the norm.
If it’s a call to action, why not throw in a bit of the brand’s personality!
“Subscribe to Absurd Insights” doesn’t sound as engaging as “Join the Absurd Insights crew for FREE!” for example.
Similarly, if you’re designing a web page, you might want to keep the “Home” button the same but change the “About us” button to something more fun – “Legends of Absurd Insights” or “Absurd Insights explained” might be more appealing to the user, for example.
Help-based microcopy like “Invalid email address. Please type another” could be changed to “Hmmm… That email address doesn’t work…”
Other examples of more fun microcopy include:
- “But wait… there’s more!”
- “You’ll get all of this… and it’s not even Christmas yet!”
- “Absurd Insights – the best or nothing.”
- “We’ve got great articles – bet you can’t just read one!”
- “We’re the marketing library.”
Use punctuation, personality, and variety in your microcopy to further develop your brand’s voice.
Make it fun for the reader and they’ll be far more likely to do as you ask.
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