UX microcopy: finding a balance between empathy and humor

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

If I learned anything from Pixar in the last decade, it’s that life is complicated and often requires a balance of joy and sadness to make it through the tougher times (Inside Out, you get me).

Whether you’re in the writing/design field, or someone who deals with customers on an ongoing basis, the key to creating memorable experiences starts with putting yourself in your users’ shoes.

The trick, of course, is getting it right, and getting it right is usually what separates the best brands from the worst.

Empathy and humor aren’t necessarily in opposition of each other in most respects, but with microcopy, there’s a balance that often needs to be struck when the writer goes through their decision-making process.

Humor

Making people laugh is arguably one of the hardest things to do in the world. Legendary comedians like Dave Chappelle, Hasan Minaj, Ali Wong, and Conan O’Brien, are all naturally talented at telling jokes through storytelling, and it always makes them more relatable to their audience.

Humor is, of course, subjective, and when it comes to humor in UX, it can be even more so. UX writing is probably not the place you want to tell that mama joke your little cousin told you, so understanding the type of humor you need for your brand voice and tone is the first step to creating great microcopy.

Empathy

Unlike humor, empathy is pretty universal. We don’t need much to tell someone we’re sorry, or apologize when we’ve done something wrong. The act of contrition is usually enough, but finding the right words can make a difference between a positive and a generic experience.

Poor empathy results in not only in losing customers, but people generally staying away from your brand due to tone-deaf lack of awareness.

Here’s an example of getting both humor and empathy incorrect, as is the case for most forms of “confirm shaming”.

Also fwiw, don’t use animals as props to insult please

Confirm shaming might seem like a clever way to endear yourselves to your audience, but there’s been a wave of online rebellion against these predatory tactics, and as content creators you should be aware of this.

Here’s a few more microcopy examples that you may have seen across the internet:

Deleting Stuff

There’s an ongoing joke in the UX community about some of the early days of awful UX writing, and sort of like the crying Jordan meme, they never get old.

To be fair to the programmers who likely wrote this, if writers tried to write code in the 90’s I’m sure the result would’ve been much worse.

It’s inspired some of us UX writers to create our own inside microcopy jokes that can give us some levity in times of need.

Hey, we’re not all Dave Chappelle okay?

The big guys aren’t innocent from poor UX writing either. Apple is great at a lot of things, but this little bit of microcopy isn’t so much:

Clear as mud

That’s a lot of copy to say that you might want to transfer some data to your iTunes library before updating.

Also, if updating means you lose all unsaved/transferred data, it’s going to suck if the customer presses continue, and finds out later their Taylor Swift albums have all been deleted to eternity.

A Better Approach

Generally, cancellations and deleting stuff aren’t ideal situations for quipping out your best one-liners. More often than not, these actions can’t be undone, so clarity is more important than reinforcing your brand voice.

So now we focus on clarity, and that’s what EventBrite did with this copy:

Okay now it’s suuper clear, but I’m still not a big fan of how many times “cancel…order” appears. This might be a case of too much clarity (ie: repetitiveness) and copy.

I would make the subheading the main headline and make it easier.

One less “cancel order” line

So now we have a concise message that also emphasizes clarity by making it the only copy that stands out.

To add the right touch of empathy, I would write a secondary screen to confirm the cancellation, and add a message that says something along the lines of “Your order has been cancelled. If you’d like to leave a comment, please write us below. Otherwise, we hope you stay in touch!”

404 Error pages

Error pages used to be a point of major frustration, but thankfully with the infusion of more UX writers and copywriters on design teams, we’re seeing less and less error messages written like this one:

Fixing the Error Message

When possible, describe the specific error message to the user as best as possible, and offer some constructive ways for them to find their way back. Privately, error pages are some of the most fun things for UX writers to work on, because it gives us a chance to emphasize our brand voice, while writing a clear message that helps the user understand the issue.

While it’s important to be empathetic to the frustration of an error message, we can generally afford to have a little more fun, as they don’t cause any permanent damage or irrevocable actions.

Here’s how Pixar does it:

Thought you’d make it through without another Inside Out reference? You thought wrong.

Meanwhile AirBnB has a charming little animation, as well as some helpful links to get the user back on track.

Error screens and/or empty states are a great way to inject your brand voice into an otherwise negative or confusing experience. But if you have to prioritize, make sure it’s clarity first, subtle humor second.

Signup and invalid log-in screens

Sign-ups are a first touch point for many users, so the tone you set here has a high impact on the customer journey. Many brands take a typical “Wrong username or password” message if you try to log-in with the incorrect credentials, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that (other than, why not be more specific-is it my username or password?).

But if your style guide and product can make it work, why not use a little brand voice to reinforce your identity?

Trello’s sign up process is not only quick and easy, but a delight for any casual to hardcore X-files fans:

The Dropbox brand isn’t exactly known for its hilarity, but that doesn’t doesn’t stop them from using a more playful and personal tone with their log-in error message.

TeuxDeux manages to incorporate both empathy AND slight humor in this simple, yet effective microcopy:

Time to use a style guide?

Knowing when to balance humor and empathy depends on a lot of various factors, influences, and context. There’s no one right way to do it, so it’s important that your brand accounts for various scenario’s, and create a style guide to address them in a way your team will be consistent about.

Mailchimp has one of the best style guides in the industry, and it’s available to anyone to reference.

Welcome to the Mailchimp Content Style Guide | Mailchimp Content Style Guide
Guidelines and resources for web writers and editors. Includes: voice and tone, grammar, web style, social media, email…styleguide.mailchimp.com

Here’s what they have to say about humor:

Our humor is dry. Our sense of humor is straight-faced, subtle, and a touch eccentric. We’re weird but not inappropriate, smart but not snobbish. We prefer winking to shouting. We’re never condescending or exclusive — we always bring our customers in on the joke.

Specific, yet open enough for any creative writer to use their best judgement in any given scenario.

Moral of the story-adjust your brand tone to the user’s experience

Most brands tend to play it safe with their humor, and not safe enough with their empathy. I say if your writing is genuinely funny, go for it. Just be sure to do so with the user, all users that is, in mind.

Many of my references in this article are thanks to Kinneret Yifrah for creating the “bible” of UX writing called “Microcopy: The Complete Guide”. Get it now at http://www.microcopybook.com/

Using Your Best Guess to Make Decisions

I was working on an email campaign for one of my clients recently, and the topic of email subject lines came up during a discussion. Having worked in the business for several years now, I always assume to know the most proven/best practices when it comes to copywriting.

I went to work, developing dozens of various email subject lines, plugging them into an email subject line analyzer (this one is my favorite), all to test the results and use a data-driven approach to creativity. All of this before I even had my morning coffee. 

The client made one, basic subject line using cringe-worthy email practices such as multiple exclamation marks, cliche phrases and too much copy. 

But when it came down to the A/B test, guess what happened? Well, my subject line still won out, but not by very much. It won by a measly 1% point. 

What did those results tell me? Well, for starters:

1. I may not be as smart as I think
2. I'll NEVER NOT need coffee, and
3. Sometimes things just don't make any sense

That's not to say that you shouldn't use data, or analyzation tools to drive decisions; in fact, that's exactly what you should be doing. But with that should come the expectation that even your most "educated guess" may not work out as well in real life as it does on paper. And that's okay. If it doesn't work, digging deeper to find out why not is part of the battle. 

Nothing is for certain-even in industries like science, where people much smarter than me test theories for a living. And that's especially true in marketing/copywriting, where not only is the industry ever changing, but the methodologies evolve almost as fast as the technology. A well executed, insightful ad campaign however, like the recent marketing push behind the movie "IT", are almost impervious to failure (provided the movie ends up not being a Rotten Tomato).

Ultimately though-it's about having confidence in your best, most educated guess. You can't know until you try something, and sometimes just trying (and failing) is the path to a better outcome. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back and relearn everything I thought I knew about email subject lines. 

Seattle Eater-because food matters

For those who know me personally, you've seen that I have recently started writing for Seattle Eater. I love the work, as finding out about new places in the city to explore is something I have a lot of passion about. 

And I love to eat, so there's that. 

I should make it clear that I am not a food critic. I can't explain to you how the flavors of an Unagi roll interact with each other to balance salty and savory sensations together to produce a party in your mouth, I just know when something tastes good. 

It's also developed my writing ability to be agile enough to talk about various industries. I've historically written about the interior design industry (Seattle Lighting, LightArt, 3form, Terris Draheim) or non-profits (Malama Honua Charter School, John P Hanson Cancer Foundation), but now I get a chance to tackle the juggernaut that is the food industry.

Check out some of my work on Seattle Eater where I've covered the Indian food scene as well as the Dim Sum. 

And if you have any suggestions for maps, restaurants or article ideas, please reach out to me and let me know. 

I appreciate your support in advance! And keep eating! (that's a horrible sign off, but oh well)

Turn customers into fans with social media

When you hear the term "social media", what goes through your mind? 

If you're over 35, the chances are that you think social media is this satan's spawn of a creation that will ultimately prove to be the downfall of civilization (which you'd be wrong about. You're thinking of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Duh) all while screaming "Get off my lawn!"

And if you're under 35, you probably think social media is just this thing that has been around since Jesus times, and you can't believe how stupid old people are because they don't know how to tweet or make themselves puke rainbows on SnapChat. 

Well I'm here to say that both camps are right. Social media is inherently evil. But a necessary, sometimes entertaining, evil. 

When people approach me about social media, and by "people" I mean my mom, the first question I ask is "Is your router plugged in?" After that I say: Don't take social media too seriously, because no one else really does. 

For all the hoopla we make about strategizing an effective social media campaign, trying to look smart and professional, you should keep in mind that the best strategy for engaging your audience is to be entertaining. I've probably said it elsewhere on the blog but it bears repeating once again-people don't like to be "marketed" to, and it's double true on social media. 

The thing to keep in mind is this: The goal of your social media campaign shouldn't be to attract more followers, because followers aren't an effective measurement. The goal should be turning your customers into fans. 

Let's take a look at an example-Arby's (@arbys). 

Now I haven't eaten at Arby's since college and I wouldn't eat there if it was the last food remaining after the apocalypse...which is a very real possibility because I'm pretty sure their meat is radioactive anyway and could survive a nuclear fallout. 

But I follow them on Twitter because they are endlessly entertaining. They get it. They've found a way to tie their brand into the pop culture phenomena of Twitter. Ex:

This tweet is awesome because it promotes their brand, while playing into the "Walking Dead" (a horribly written but entertaining show) crowd. 

It appears effortless, but this one took some thought. And it was retweeted 1,000 times. 

Another favorite of mine is Chipotle (@chipotletweets). Their social media account tweets with a relatable, humorous tone that most companies wish they could capture. Here's some examples:

These tweets are funny, lighthearted, yet still speak to their brand. People eat this shit up like a bowl of beans covered with E.Coli and they love it. And their use of puns is legendary at this point. 

The truth is that the best brands on social media are the ones that don't take themselves too seriously. Have fun with it, and you may just get something more than customers, you may get fans. 

Building Your Portfolio by Giving Back

As a creative just starting out in the business, you're faced with the same challenge and paradoxical contradiction that pretty much everyone has faced in their life. Here's how that conversation typically goes:

1st job

You: "Hello, I would like to apply for X job please."

Employer: "Great. You seem smart and you knew the difference betwen "Your" and "You're" on the application. But we need someone with at least 5 years of experience."

You: "Well, I don't have 5 years. But I killed my college classes, I'm probably smarter than half your current employees, and I never eat other people's food in the refrigerator."

Employer: "Sorry, we're looking for someone that's worked a meaningless job for 5 years. But thanks for stopping by, and by the way, we don't validate."

2nd job

You: "Hello, I would like X job please."

Employer: "Great, we need someone that does everything you can do, but with 3 years of experience."

You: "That's what the last guy said. Look, I need a job to get experience. If you give me this job, I will have 3 years of experience working here. That's a pretty good proposition don't you think?"

Employer: "Well you don't have the experience needed for this job. But I like your style. We'll give you a job licking envelopes, and maybe grab us coffee once in a while. And then after 3 years maybe we'll see if you can handle sending needless emails and attending random meetings."

You: "Sounds great." (Because you literally have no other options)

And round and round we go. It's the same thing in the creative world, except the only difference is that you just replace "Years of experience" with "Portfolio" and there you have it. You need a great portfolio to land an awesome job. But to have a great portfolio, you need work! Oh what to do?

Well I have a solution (not THE solution. Just A solution.). You can do what I did and start working pro-bono for non profit organizations. Now some creatives ho-hum at this. They don't believe in working for free. And that's a legit opinion. But for me, i like doing it, and am continuing to do it. 

It's really a win-win. Here are just some of the benefits of working pro-bono for an NPO:

• You look really cool in front of your friends (Okay, I guess giving back to the community helps too)
• You get a chance to work with other creatives on a project. As a copywriter, you need to meet and work with as many designers, directors or other copywriters as much as possible. This provides a great way to do that. 
• You might be able to write it off come tax return season? I honestly don't know. I'm allergic to numbers.
• You can add work to your portfolio. Which is what we've been talking about this whole time. 

Okay now that I've sold you on working pro-bono (just go with it), you might be wondering how to do it exactly. 

My personal favorite is a site called Catchafire.org. What I like about Catchafire is not only the way they list their projects, but the organizations they are affiliated with do really great stuff. I have worked for 2 non-profits recently, and in both cases, they were very easy to work with and we came up with some great ideas. 

Catchafire offers opportunities for almost all specialties, from IT, to Branding, to Copywriting, Design, Marketing, Photography and more (just go to their site). Their timelines are pretty reasonable too, so you can definitely work on your own projects and add one of theirs to your schedule as well. 

So get out there, give back, and volunteer your skills. The planet will thank you.