Microcopy: Discover How Tiny Bits of Text Make Tasty Apps and Websites

by Niaw de Leon

Microcopy consists of small pieces of text like headings, hint texts, placeholders, summaries, and instructions throughout a website or app. These little bits of content often get overlooked to the detriment of the application or website you’re building, which is tragic since they make the difference between products that fade into obscurity and those that go on to become extremely successful.

In this book, we'll see

● One retail firm increased its monthly revenues by $25,000,000 by changing one word
● A website prevented hundreds of credit card billing errors using a single sentence
● An enterprise chat app used playful microcopy to grow to a $3.8B valuation

You'll understand the power of microcopy through many real-life examples and learn how

● Analyze microcopy for strengths and weaknesses
● Identify opportunities to use microcopy
● Plan your microcopy
● Start writing better microcopy
● Validate its effectiveness

Here's some praise for the

"The content is good. Copy is something that I've been trying to get my hands on so Chapter 7 was very helpful for me." -- Jelvin Base, UI/UX Designer

"I really like it since i'm still new to microcopy and gives me an idea why microcopy is important for every app and website. It's easy to understand and apply especially for beginners like me. I will definitely recommended this book to my friends." -- Eric Luciano, Front-End Developer / Designer

"Niaw prepares her readers for the wonderful world of Microcopy (and burritos) with great examples here and there partnered with the value of using it, reasoning as to how Microcopy works, and flavourful wordplays. This short but tasty book proves how powerful small things like microcopy can make a big difference to your designs." -- Pierce Jonota, Designer

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Writing

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2017

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen libro para empezar el viaje del microcopy.

[Lorena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and quick read, but more of a beginner's guide to microcopy without any real insights for someone who's worked in the field for a few years. Negative examples are mostly from the Philippine Airlines website; would have been nice to see a few examples from other industries. I recommend it for anyone who wants to get started in UX Writing and microcopy.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly just a collection of positive and negative examples of microcopy (spoiler alert: if you want to see 99% of the positive ones, just go through Mailchimp‘s sign-up process). Probably nothing new for people who‘ve worked with UX and copy, but it‘s a quick and nice enough read.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

User-friendly with a touch of humble humor

Found it to be highly informative, with many examples to demonstrate insights. As a newbie in this field, could not have asked for a clearer introduction.
Will be reading again....

[Truong Binh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short copy but nice reading. Microcopy is not about being clever, it’s about connecting with your customers or users, giving them good service, and talking to them how they wish to be spoken to - with respect and kindness.

[Andrés Watanabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book for the really begginers.
If you have little time working as UX Writer maybe this book gives you some interesting tips.

I read this books as a quick reminder of the basic rules of writing microcopy.

[Marina Machado · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a very easy read and it’s ideal for people that are new to the material. It’s very friendly with a lot of examples. But if you are already experienced in microscopy it won’t give you many insights.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably best suited for beginners, as it was super basic. I wish he'd provide more examples that weren't just different aspects of Mailchimp.

[Tirta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very brief, only about 80 page-ish on my e-reader. Suitable for UX Writing beginners. The author reinforces every point that she makes by providing examples, both good and bad, from real apps.

[Hussain Al-essa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Resource! I ended up highlighting half the book

Micro Copy delivered exactly what was promised. I had it for few weeks but once I started I realized that it was a quick read. Writing for software is essential in the wire-framing and prototyping stages. Not having your micro-copy ready may affect the adoption rate of your digital product.