What is UX writing?

UX writing includes all the written content on a website or app, meant to guide users across the entire user experience.

UX copy takes on many shapes, such as error messages, call-to-action buttons, tooltips, and pop-up modals.

How to write a successful microcopy?

Great UX writing is a skill – the more you practice, the better you will get at it.

That being said, let’s go over some basics for creating an effective microcopy.

• Encourage users to take action: Even if a user love your product, they need that final nudge to get them across the finish line. That’s where effective CTA buttons come in; to prompt the user to take the next step.
• Use positive language: In-app help sometimes sounds technical and cold. Instead, a friendlier tone conveys greater empathy and is seen as more helpful, making users feel heard and at ease.
• Answer users’ potential concerns and provide additional support: Instead of having users sift through complex situations on their own, use your copy to provide context and useful information.

14 effective UX writing examples in SaaS

Here are examples of good UX writing examples designed for various purposes, from encouraging action to simply building brand personality.

In short, there’s something for everyone, so let’s take a closer look.

1. Userpilot uses social proof to build trust

It’s important to build trust and ensure that your product occupies a favorable position in the user’s mind, especially if it’s a new user.

New customers might still be unsure about your product and could easily switch if they don’t feel comfortable. Userpilot combats this issue by using social proof in its UX copy to build user trust.

Once new users see how the product helped others, they will feel more inclined to trust it too, leading to greater engagement.

2. Slack taps into customers’ needs with time-aware copy

A good UX copy should be relevant. It should let customers know that you are aware of their shifting needs and have the right solution for them.

That’s exactly what Slack did during the COVID pandemic. It used the landing page banner copy to position itself as the best solution for work-from-home employees.

3. Dropbox creates a fun UX design by coupling copy with a clever image

Creating a good UX copy isn’t a one-person job. At times, it requires the UX designer and UX writer to work together to produce something great.

Dropbox is an excellent example of such a collaboration. The copy on its signup page and the accompanying image convey Dropbox’s value proposition in a clear and fun way. Such a UX design is unique, captivating, and sure to get a laugh.

4. Hotjar uses a conversational tone to appeal to users

It’s good practice to adopt a more conversational and casual tone. Using such a tone makes people feel more at ease, which means more open to trusting your brand as well.

Hotjar is a good example of using the right tone. Hotjar uses welcoming words to invite the user, like “What site do you want to track first?”.

Imagine instead if it adopted a more serious tone, using words such as “Enter site details”. The formal tone may put new customers off, or even confuse them if they don’t have much experience with site tracking tools.

5. Airbnb puts users at ease with the booking page microcopy

Airbnb understands that customers want to get an idea of the “all-in” price, including taxes and fees before making a final decision. However, it also knows that customers might be confused about when they’ll be charged.

To make things simpler, Airbnb uses the microcopy to clarify that the user won’t be charged yet. Knowing this, the user is more likely to click ‘Book’, thereby moving down the sales funnel, without feeling rushed to do so.

Airbnb’s example helps show how proper use of smart UX writing can potentially help increase conversion.

6. Notion populates empty states with clear CTAs that prompt action

An empty state is a screen within your app that might be entirely blank, to be filled out by new users. These pages can be problematic because they increase Time to Value. Instead, you can use placeholder text to fill the empty page.

Notion is a nice example of this. It uses educational content to fill the page while giving new users a demo and an onboarding checklist, all in one place. Moreover, it uses clear CTAs that prompt users to take action, such as creating a new page or adding a template.

7. Hootsuite adopts a benefits-driven UX writing approach to drive engagement

Instead of focusing on the feature, a good UX copy focuses on the feature’s advantages and benefits to users.

Hootsuite’s UX copy is the right example of such an approach. It highlights the benefits, i.e. saving time, that can be achieved with the feature.

Such a UX copy increases the likelihood of feature engagement. Customers no longer have to try out the feature to see why it’s useful. Instead, the copy lets them know what customer needs the feature is fulfilling.

8. TripAdvisor employs humor to minimize user frustration during error messages

No one likes getting an error message. But a bit of humor might make it easier to put up with.

That is exactly what makes TripAdvisor’s UX copy so effective.

It is the perfect example of using smart humor to reduce user friction and make them smile instead. Of course, make sure you don’t overdo it; just a few words of humor and that should be enough.

9. MailChimp sends a friendly success message to reassure users

Who doesn’t need a bit of reassurance once in a while? We all do, and that includes your users as well. A nice example of this is MailChimp’s UX copy.

MailChimp knows that sending a batch of emails is scary. The sender is constantly anxious about the potential typos and mistakes in their email. To reassure its customers, MailChimp sends a comforting high-five, leaving them feeling warm and fuzzy.

10. Hubspot’s functional error page copy helps users move forward in the funnel

If done appropriately, metaphor usage makes for good UX writing. The UX copy of Hubspot’s error page is a good example of this. Instead of displaying a typical error message, Hubspot adopts a funny and functional copy.

By doing so, it can keep users on its website by giving them other page options to navigate to, away from the error page. This ensures that users don’t just bounce and instead move ahead along the user journey.

11. Duolingo adds a human touch to microcopy to streaming communication

The UX writer’s role is a tricky one. You have to work hard to create a copy that feels natural for users to read, almost like they were talking to you in person.

While this might sound hard to pull off, Duolingo’s UX copy is proof that it can be done. The copy adopts a more conversational tone, humanizing it and making it easier to read and understand.

What if, instead, Duolingo used a formal tone, like “All progress will be lost if you close this window. Are you sure?”. That sounds cold, compared to Duolingo’s current message, which sounds much more personal.

12. Adobe tooltips have clean and concise microcopy to avoid cluttering the interface

Keeping the user interface clean and clutter-free is important. The more elements you add to your UX design, the harder it will be for users to make sense of it.

Instead, opt for a more clean and concise microcopy, just like Adobe does with its smart use of tooltips. The copy of the tooltip is short and to the point to save space and not overwhelm users.

13. Slack shares one layer of information at a time to lower the cognitive load

A key difference between good and bad UX writing is how it displays complex content. Slack’s UX copy is a great example of good writing because it explains a difficult concept in such a simple manner.

Moreover, Slack’s copy also makes use of the “onion” approach. In this approach, you only share one layer of information at a time. This makes it cognitively easier for the users to digest such information.

14. Spotify has a helpful and descriptive ‘Top artists this month’ label

Take any UX writing course and it’ll teach you one thing: context is important. Context helps users understand how to frame the information in their head.

Spotify is a good example in this case because of the “this month” in the title below. “This month” helps define the context, so users know that this list only represents their likes for a specific month.

Plus, the microcopy stating “Only visible to you” is useful too. Any possible questions about privacy concerns and visibility are preempted and already addressed simply because of this clever snippet.

Best practices for creating UX copy

The examples we just discussed covered a bunch of tips to keep in mind. But there are still a few best practices left that UX writers should know about. Let’s take a look at what these are below.

Refine your product microcopy with AI

Instead of slaving away trying to perfect your microcopy, use AI to help you refine it. There are some great AI writing assistants available now that can help you shorten, paraphrase, or rewrite the UX copy in your product.

All you need to do is find the right AI writing assistant and then you’re done. No lengthy processes to set it up or anything like that.

Run A/B tests to identify the best-performing version of your copy

To find out which version of your UX copy performs the best, you can simply run A/B tests. To start, you need two versions of your copy to compare.

Next, different segments will be shown in either of the two versions.

Conclusion

Feeling inspired yet? After going over all these examples of good UX writing, you probably already have a few ideas in mind.

Want to get started on implementing tips from these UX writing examples? Get a Userpilot Demo and see how you can create UX designs that satisfy users.