SEO, meta descriptions, keywords, al text and UX- digital — it seems that online innovative jargon, trends, techniques and strategies never stop changing and reinventing. The online marketing world hasn’t stayed the same for months now. It’s up to you as a website owner to be up on the trends.
Microcopy is a great example of a word that has just recently entered the digital marketing sphere.
But What the Heck Really is Microcopy?
In short, microcopy is what you would expect it to mean: small pieces of copy. Specifically though, microcopy is the small chunks of text within your website.
Examples of microcopy are:
- Error messages
- Example usernames and passwords in your login forms
- Payment instructions
- Security notes
- Terms and conditions
- Any instruction on how to use your site
- Any buttons and menus
Microcopy isn’t exactly a new concept. It’s always been there in our websites. Yet, only recently have marketing analysts begun to understand how much microcopy in our Web content matters, as well as how much it affects the quality and effectiveness of our Web content.
Many marketing and copywriting authorities currently overlook microcopy in favor of focusing on larger pieces of content such as the home page, about us and sales texts. After all, that’s the really meaty content that compels customers and gets sales- right?
You start to realize the importance of microcopy when you begin to take a look at your Web visitors’ online journey map
Of course, there’s a reason you designed your website in the first place. It wasn’t just simply for the entertainment of potential passers-by. No doubt, that whether you are a not-for-profit organization, an eCommerce business or a company that promotes their services or products online, your website is there to encourage Web visitors to act in a certain way.
It doesn’t matter if you seek sales conversions, e-mail subscriptions or any other beneficial customer behavior. Microcopy can help you achieve the purpose of your website in three crucial ways.
- Microcopy Guides Your Website Visitors and Encourages Them to Stick Around. Research conducted by Kiss Metrics found that the number one reason a web visitor will leave your website before advancing further is poor navigation.
Where your web visitors go will, therefore, depend on two things:
- What they came to your website for in the first place
- How your website is designed to guide your visitor to the solution they are seeking
Microcopy guides the visitor to your website through your ideal, planned visitor journey. Think of microcopy as traffic lights or road signs. Without them, they can easily get lost and if they get lost and the web visit is not optimized.
Take a look at Zen Desk’s guiding microcopy:
Now take a look at Base Camp’s two examples below of microcopy that guides and directs visitors to its website:
Zen Desk and Base Camp both show great examples of microcopy that guides the Web visitor. These buttons that say “try it free” and “see photos and pricing” clearly guides the website visitor quickly to the next step of their journey through this website. A website visitor doesn’t need to work too hard to find the link to take them to what they want to see next.
“Be sure to enter the billing address associated with your credit card.”
This simple piece of microcopy makes a big difference to the user’s experience. By being specific about what information their visitors need to enter, they are preventing error further down the line and disrupting the ideal visitor journey. In such a way, their journey through the website is quicker, smoother and more enjoyable.
- Microcopy Generates Trust. Did you know that online shoppers are still concerned about providing personal data? A survey conducted by PayPal, which questioned more than 15,000 adults, showed that 46 percent of Americans still fear providing payment details online. These security concerns also continue to put off shoppers from using mobile or online payments.
Notice how Base Camp’s microcopy reassures visitors that their payment is secure.
- Microcopy Subtly Communicates Your Brand Message in Big Ways.Microcopy isn’t only functional for your website’s journey map. The small details in your Web content can make a big difference to how your Web content consistently reflects and strengthens your brand.
The detailed consideration of the microcopy here reflects the brand. The wording of “once a month (ish)” shows their playful and informal branding. Here, Moo’s microcopy ensures that their brand is consistently reflected across their website content, which can reassure user’s that your brand is authentic.
Note: Don’t get carried away here, make sure that your microcopy truly reflects your brand. You really don’t want to be creating light-hearted and fun microcopy if, for example, the service or products that you offer should reflect sincerity or professionalism.
A Checklist to Create Effective Microcopy
- Decide what your goal is for your website content. Is your focus on sales conversions? E-mail subscriptions?
- Identify your Web visitors’ ideal journey through your website in order to achieve your marketing goal.
- Check each stage of your ideal customer journey. Evaluate the microcopy at each of these stages, and make sure that the microcopy guides your visitor smoothly, easily and directly.
- Identify the different needs and concerns of your web visitor at each stage of the journey. Provide detailed information in your microcopy to address any concerns or questions that your web visitor may have.
- Craft creative microcopy that reflects your brand for consistent and authentic branding at any given opportunity. The magic is in the detail.
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