Hot answers tagged copywriting
242
My suggestion: never use the word "Cancel" in the default action.
To cancel a subscription, you can, for example, say "Remove Subscription" or "Unsubscribe."
To cancel a download, you can, for example, say "Stop Downloading".
To cancel a setting, you can, for example, say "Revert Settings".
216
The reason I believe it is important to have an apologetic tone is to ensure you are communicating to the user that, though a mistake has been made and he is interacting with a machine or application in this case, you still respect his action and are humanizing the mistake.
To quote this article from UXMatters:
“You’re going to display your error ...
126
Here's what Facebook does when cancelling a payment subscription (Facebook subscription API).
There's no reliance on Yes/No. There's no misleading use of the word cancel. Clear explanation and buttons that clearly define the impending action.
Then they clearly confirm what just happened.
Skype on the other hand shows what not to do. Much confusion!
57
Let them know what has happened. Here are some situations with longer, clear example notifications that use proper English grammar:
Only the name changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully renamed to "dummy".
Only the data changed
The task "foobar" has been successfully updated.
The name and the data changed
The task "foobar" has been ...
51
While Mervin's answer is excellent, I would go beyond saying it is "acceptable" or "preferred". I would say you "must" use an apologetic tone for one very good reason: if the user is making a mistake, it is because the user does not understand the rules or logic of the system. That is not the fault of the user! It is responsibility of the system to ...
39
If it's clear, say it in the least number of words possible. If there is no confusion, then there is no problem.
"Import image" - clear.
"Create app" - clear.
"Add description" - clear.
For further reading, I suggest the Android Writing Style.
33
Taking a step back: Why was this feature made available (visible) to the user in the first place?
If it is a feature not available to a specific user (or user class), hide it.
If it is a premium feature that you'd like to upsell - do so.
History export is a great way to backup your data, but is available on premium accounts only. Get in touch with ...
32
A few of my guesses:
Numbers are harder to anthropomorphize - we've reached a point with our understanding of computers where we regularly refer to the computer as another being we regularly interact with. It's much easier to give this creature some kind of name vs. a number, especially given that numbers are often used to "dehumanize" things and make them ...
32
Name the buttons for what they do. If the default is "cancel", then cancel the cancel should be something simple like "Don't cancel".
I know that it's not ideal to use the word 'cancel' in both of them, but it's the clearest option in this unique situation, and clarity is far more important.
Edit: Some good suggestions from the comments below are to ...
27
Rewording
I would try my very, very best to avoid using the term 'cancel' for terminating the subscription. Cancel is generally considered to be a safe action. Here, you are using it in a more destructive sense, thus causing the confusion you noticed.
If you manage to avoid the term 'cancel' for the actual activity, you can resume to use it for the cancel ...
25
If you feel like jumping the action (click/tap) you can directly say "Select" the ...
Rather than a generic word, I would suggest you try to check what device the person is using and then say "click/tap" appropriate for the platform. But, then come the devices with both, a peripheral device and touch capability, which make this situation awkward-ish. You ...
23
A question mark ? doesn't represent 'help'. It represents a question in general, or a question about more information on a specific point. Some apps and websites have used it for contextual help as it is cleaner for that.
If you want a menu option for a help menu, call it "help". This has become so entrenched that the name for it is a "help menu". ...
21
A good error message should:
Let you know what the problem is.
Make you feel like there is something that you can do about it.
Speak like a human, and be a consistent extension of the personality of the rest of the application.
For generic error messages, you can't do much about the first point, but you can do something about the other two.
Do something ...
20
Yes, error messages should apologize whenever it's remotely plausible to do so. People will ascribe human emotions to computers, so the computers should be as polite as possible, regardless of whether they're actually at fault.
A chapter "Bringing Affect to Human Computer Interaction" has a section on apologetic feedback:
Nielsen (1998) argued that ...
19
At least one part of it is that stories sell.
Andrew and Jenny, like many people in digital marketing, ran some
sites on the side to get a little extra cash. They were sitting in the
pub one day and chatting about how they were each doing.
"I've just made the final payments on my car," beamed Andrew, "and
it's all down to my side project".
...
18
If it's the help menu, please just call it that way:
It makes it easier to find
I don't have to think about it "oh, they probably put the help menu under ?"
and it's a larger target for me to click on.
Alt- keyboard combinations should be secondary to having an easily understandable name for the menu option. I don't believe they're that important anymore ...
17
I don't find apologies very humanizing from a computer, any more than an automated hold system for a phone network makes me feel like my call is important by saying, "Your call is very important to us! Please stay on the line for the next available representative."
I don't think the apologies are the main issue here. Far more important is that they are ...
17
I vote A. I read the result/s initially as result per second.
Result(s) seems more natural, but I would prefer the option were you'd detect if the number is larger than 1 and change result to results.
Maybe take a look here: english.stackexchange here the (s) seems to be the standard.
Another option is to put it like this:
Matching results: 1
With ...
17
If you are writing prose, a . (full stop) is there to show a the end of a sentence so that you know when the next one starts. If you only have one sentence, then it isn't strictly necessary for clarity. Hence, if it's a short notification message of only one sentence, you can leave it out.
That said you should keep to the style guides given for your ...
15
Some sites show this in the header to indicate a presumed identity for low risk actions (like add to wishlist), but you can't actually buy anything until you log into the site. So "log out" here would be misleading.
Sometimes "Not John? Sign out." is shown as in place of 'sign out' when properly signed in. This is simply a more human way of speaking to ...
14
These are some UX factors:
(human factors as well as marketing reasons)
Names are more "human friendly" than numbers. ("Windows Vista" feels friendlier than "Windows 3.0")
Names can be conveyed in more intuitive way than numbers (I just got Ice-cream Sandwich on my phone)
Names/Things can be something people feel passionate about. ("I like Lion" feels ...
12
That is a horrible confirmation message.
The close / clear icon being used in a way that makes very little sense, and is inconsistent with the same symbol on the top right.
Additionally, labelling the message as "Confirmation" is redundant and adds no more useful information to the person reading it. It is also lacking any information letting the person ...
11
Be natural, this can be annoying if you're apologizing too often, write your message in plain language—like a human talking to another human. If error is caused by you (your app, your server e.t.c.) add apology, otherwise leave just statement of fact and how to resolve the issue.
For example:
"Sorry, we couldn't send your message because of [some] ...
11
Is there any reason you can only use one word? Since your use case is somewhat unique, perhaps you may want to be more specific with your call to action.
Make Available
Publish To Group
Publish For Review
Issue To Group
Other one-worders that may work:
Circulate
Issue
Distribute
11
I would go with Dropbox's approach.
'Choose files' is clear enough to tell you the action it performs and concise enough to fit within two words. 'Select files' also works.
When labeling buttons, try to explain what the button does. Are choosing files and uploading two steps or a single step? Since in dropbox's case, you choose the files and then press ...
10
I would like to propose a different approach to subscription cancellation.
Instead of confirming that they want to unsubscribe, assume that they were acting intentionally:
If the user doesn't click on any buttons on the dialog, they should be unsubscribed in an hour or five. If they dismiss the dialog with the "goodbye" or "(x)" buttons, they should also ...
10
If at all possible, you should avoid truncating a unique name. Restricting usernames to a maximum length is one way of dealing with this.
However, if you have some very long usernames:
don't wrap the elipsis (…) to another line. This makes it appear at first glance that the full username is visible, and is likely to cause confusion.
you should make sure ...
10
Naming it "sign out" is actually missing something important; clicking "not Bob" doesn't just sign you out of Amazon, it presents the page to sign in. So you're not really just signing out, you're signing back in as someone different; because you're not Bob, you're Alice. I think this is an important distinction from the current answers; you're doing more ...
10
You should limit the label to some action word if possible. This also makes it easier if you want to replace the label with an icon.
Add
Create
Import
And if the context is ambiguous, add a descriptor.
Image
Contact
Description
There are cases where you might want to skip the action and directly use the descriptors. Eg: for login, many sites just ...
9
No. Oranges: 50 is not correct in French. In french, you have to write Oranges : 50, with a non-breaking space before the colon “:”.
In traditional print, including in English, we put this non-breaking space. It is nicer.
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