Interface Design is Copywriting
Here is an example I’ve been using lately at HubSpot because it is so easy to see the importance of words in hindsight. For many years the domain setup screen in HubSpot software used the terminology “Add Domain” as the primary call-to-action. When you get set up with HubSpot you want to point your domain to the HubSpot servers so that your website (now hosted by HubSpot) continues to work.
However, we recently did some user testing and found that the words “Add Domain” stopped people in their tracks. The people using the software in our test said something like “I have to add a domain…where do I add it?” or “I already have a domain…why do I need to add one?”. In their minds they already had a domain…there was no reason to add a new one!
But the software had that CTA for years. Nobody questioned it because the entire team knew what it meant. It is important to note that no amount of introspection would have caught this! But to a user…someone who is transitioning from hosting their website somewhere else to hosting it on HubSpot the words were entirely critical to what was going on.
So…the fix was straight-forward. Change the words from “Add a Domain” to “Connect your Domain”. Note the subtle yet crucial difference that two words make. You’re not adding anything…nothing is new here. Instead, you’re connecting something that already exists…a domain that is YOURS. Easy peasy.
Now, multiply this by 1,000 and you might have an idea of how many places in your web application it is crucial to get your words right. Every single headline, every single call-to-action, every single error message, every single bit of microcopy. All of it. Every word matters.
