Revisiting Microcopy on Websites

I'm revisiting this very important topic of instructional copy because I've been exceedingly frustrated recently by various websites I've visited.

What is microcopy?

A short phrase or sentence that explains what you are suppose to do, such as filling in your first name or first and last name in a name field.

I discovered after much frustration that Mozy, which I use to remotely back up our computers, requires an authentication process after a subscriber changes a password.

When I pointed out to the support person (who explained this to me) that this information doesn't seem to be mentioned on the change password page, he admitted that the company was working on making its site more user friendly.

User friendly? Just add that microcopy on the change password screen.

And talking to a new client, I told her that 1shoppingcart was now easier to use than when I first started using the software. Back then, the whole long product link did not show in the link field nor was there microcopy explaining that the whole link wasn't showing.

I spent a lot of time back and forth with support until someone figured out I wasn't copying the whole link. And how was I suppose to know what the whole link was?

My new pet peeve is the field for phone numbers. There are numerous ways that a phone number can be entered, such as (xxx) xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxxxxxxxxx. Why not show this next to the phone field so that I don't have to get my phone number rejected half the time?

Here's my challenge regarding microcopy:



Let's all look at our own sites where there are requirements for a user to import or export information and see if the action steps are really clear. Test out your site on someone who isn't familiar with it to see out how clear your site's instructions actually are.

Then wherever you find an issue, clarify any possible confusion by adding microcopy – or revising the instructions – so that your website visitors can easily take action.

If you have any specific examples you've experienced where microcopy would have helped, do share these below in the comments, and also share examples where you found microcopy very helpful.

And read previous posts of ours on this topic of microcopy.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her social media marketing company partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) work with clients to ensure that their websites are user friendly and search engine friendly as well as social media friendly.

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