Getting to grips with microcopy

I’m a content writer who usually immerses herself in long-form, deep-dive copy and so, on discovering the term ‘microcopy’, I became instantly fascinated with the concept.

I realised all sorts of microcopy had been staring me in the face the whole time.

What is microcopy?

The original use of the word ‘microcopy’ is actually rooted in something a bit different – just take this definition from the Oxford Dictionary:

A copy of printed matter that has been reduced in size by microphotography.

Here, we’re talking about microcopy in terms of all things digital marketing, so we need a different definition here. I like how technical and business writer Rachel Renk puts it:

… small bits of text ease concerns, provide information and guide users so that they can successfully complete a task (and maybe even enjoy it).

You’ll see examples of microcopy across websites and apps in the following places:

• Call-to-action (CTA) buttons
• On forms
• Within pop-up windows (e.g. live chat)
• As e-commerce-related ‘prompts’
• On GDPR/cookie-related pop-up banners
• In error messages

Full article here.