Best Practices

Turn passive voice into active voice.

• Make negative statements positive.

• Use repetition sparingly and intentionally.

• Limit exclamation points.

• Replace complex words and jargon with easy-to-understand choices (bank account instead of ACH ).

• Avoid jargon and slang.

• For basic actions, stick to common, simple words.

• Be concise, and carefully consider using more than a couple of words on a button.

• Button labels should be clear and specific.

• Avoid vague, non-actionable text like Click here or Settings.

• Make buttons active-voice and reflect the user's outcome (Save, Submit loan, Add payment method).

• Use title case.

Keep it clear

Product copy must be crystal clear because misinterpretations can lead to mistakes that are embarrassing for them—and potentially damaging for your brand. Write it and rewrite it till the ambiguity has vanished entirely (but stop short of committing legalese). Then reread it with an eye toward possible misinterpretations.

• Not sure if you’re being clear? Have someone else, preferably someone who isn’t familiar with your product—read it and see if they can explain it to you.

• Dead certain you’re being clear? Then definitely have someone else read it.

Keep it brief

People use your product because it helps them get something done. Hopefully quickly. So don’t bog them down with paragraph after paragraph of explanation, get to your point, so your users can get the job done. The best way to keep it brief is by editing. Here are a few shortening-specific editing tips:

• Use contractions. They’re not only conversational, but they also cut down on characters.

• Cut adjectives and adverbs. While they’re nice for color, verbs and nouns do a lot more work for you. Use Hemingway Editor to help you spot and delete them.

• Use bulleted and numbered lists. While they do take up a bit of vertical space, they also help relieve the visual density of text and help people find the content they’re looking for.

• Watch out for wordiness. For example, replace “At the present moment” with “now.” You’ll be amazed at how often you use 4 words where 1 will do.

• Keep your thesaurus handy. So handy it’s in your bookmarks bar. I recommend Merriam-Webster’s.

All too often, users won’t do what you want them to because they’re afraid of the consequences. So defuse those concerns right off the bat by letting them know exactly what will happen if they act, and that they’ll have control over what happens.

Design text for skimming

• Ensure that headings are descriptive and make sense in context, since some users may read nothing else.

• Using wide text margins (narrow linewidth) means that there is less info on the page at one time and that your site will adapt better to smaller monitors.

• Use Progressive Disclosure, whereby information is disclosed in pieces through secondary screens (ex: settings menus or onboarding slides) so users are shown the minimum amount of info they need at one time. It’s been a popular tactic ever since the 1980s when researchers at IBM learned how useful it was at preventing user confusion with products that had advanced features.

Make sound word choices

Choose words your users will almost certainly understand. If you’re writing for a general audience, say, you work at Yahoo! News, choose words that won’t stump a 5th grader. But if you’re designing for The New Yorker, you’ll probably want to elevate your diction a bit.

• Either way, choose words that make sense for their context.

• If you’re sending an email someone might open on their phone, for instance, don’t tell people to “click” a link.