Copywriting for Interfaces – Takeaways

Here’s what I’ll try to remember from UX Planet’s great article on Copywriting for Interfaces.

• Headlines should be catchy and short so that they could quickly draw users’ attention
• The perfect length of the headline is 6 words (underlying research)
• Captions should provide new information so it shouldn’t describe obvious statements which users already see in the photo.
• Keep CTAs at a minimum, usually not more than 1–2 words
• Applying imperative case in CTA microcopy gives strong and direct instructions of what to do next.
• Notifications with less than 25 characters perform much better than long text.
• Error messages should be polite and friendly. A bit of humor can relax annoyed users but must be used carefully.
• Place an UI element that offers further action close to an error message.
• Tooltips work best when having 150 characters or less