Writing microcopy doesn’t (necessarily) mean being cool
There is no rule that says microcopy (UX writing) should be witty, clever, or entertaining. On the contrary, it would be a disaster if all brands tried to be funny in their use of each word on the UI. The Internet would become a circus that would make it very hard for users to focus on what they need, and to do what they want quickly and easily without getting distracted in all the wrong places.
Writing entertaining microcopy that doesn’t derive from a strategic voice and tone design misses the goal and misrepresents the brand and its customers. There are brands that are serious and don’t need to be humorous. There are brands where being clever or sophisticated is completely at odds with their values. There are brands that will lose their customers’ trust if they try to be playful.
Yes, even an assertive, serious and concise character IS a character, and it can be interesting and engaging.
However, it’s important not to make assumptions up front. For example, if your app monitors the diet of diabetics, you might think it should sound very serious, because it involves an illness that affects the quality of life of many people. But you shouldn’t take this for granted just because “illnesses are serious”. You can also choose to make the app humorous, explicitly to help your users to get through their challenging day with a smile and good humor.
Neither approach is more “correct” than the other; both are suitable if they were chosen and designed in a strategic process. The same goes for financial matters (such as banking, insurance and retirement planning), government services and complex systems.
So how do our customers know who we are?
That depends on the vision of the brand, its mission, values and target audience. These basic definitions can result in two websites or apps, doing exactly the same thing, sounding completely different (and that’s exactly why we design a voice and tone).
In conclusion — a word on balance
Even if you decide that your brand is entertaining, don’t try to be too clever with every word because you’ll exhaust your users. Use humor wisely and adapt the voice and tone to each situation. Remember that being funny won’t always be the correct answer, even if your product or service is amusing (for example, when facing a particularly frustrating failure or when trying to perform an action under the time pressure).
On the other hand, even if you decide that your brand should be serious and concise, be careful not to cross the fine line between serious and alienating. You still need to be service oriented and pleasant and to see things through the eyes of your users.
