Summary of Chapter 4 -Microcopy: The complete guide by Kinneret Yirfrah
The microcopy book is a great read I must say. It was recommended by my mentor Miss Joynels and I’ll be giving my summary of Chapter 4 of the book with the heading Sign Up, Login, and Password Recovery.
This chapter was very enlightening when explaining the signup, login, and password recovery process for users. The chapter explained the distaste that most users have for signing up or registering to a site due to the long steps required for registration and it emphasized removing any obstacles that will hinder a user from not signing up willingly to get access to the benefits of the service due to poor communication.
After this, the writer went on to explain how to motivate users to willingly signup for a service in 3 steps which are :
“Change the title”: This first step suggested conversational writing to motivate the users of the product or help build their interest in the services offered. So what is conversational writing - Conversational writing means writing like one is having a conversation to form a communication with the user that is currently signing up or registering. The writer also emphasized that writers shouldn’t get lost in the creativity of designing conversational writing Instead a simple Nice to meet you can suffice.
“Tell your users why it’s worth for them to sign up”: This step talked about giving the best of reasons(2 or more reasons) to a potential user interested in a brand's service to incite action in the heart of the user to signup.
“Remove the obstacle”: The writer strongly suggested in the last step to ease the fear of users with their conversational writings and always remember the confirmation buttons and error messages. To further buttress her points we were given examples of good signup forms(Nike, Life is Good, TED) amongst many more examples.
After this, the writer talked about signing up using social media accounts, advantages, and disadvantages. Its advantage is that it is fast, stress-free, simple, and reduces the stress of users filling registration forms and start using the product. But the user's personal details are all not so private anymore and this is a major concern to most users because they want to be assured that their privacy is kept intact so the writer advised that writers declare their intentions regarding the safety of the users' details right next to the signup button with a simple copy like Your information will never be posted without permission or You are the manager of your account manage the details people get to see about you. The writer gave good examples of sites like Facebook, Etsy, OkCupid, and many more.
Concerning Log in of registered users, the writer stated that “just as regular customers are welcomed with warmth, so they should be treated online” in order to continue fostering the relationship that the user has with the product. For example, Welcome back Timi to make it sound personal you can include the name of the user.
For Password Recovery, the writer made emphasis on a simple, short, and effective copy that will be highly appreciated by a user that forgot his or her password instead of long instructions that will drain the user and be hard to comprehend. This is the end of my summary from reading Chapter 4 of Microcopy:The Complete Guide by Kinneret Yirfrah.
Key Takeaways from Chapter 4
a. Make the users feel welcome when making sign-up forms in order to motivate them to sign up or register.
b. Continue to foster the relationship with a registered user as before in order to earn their trust and bring them back to buy more.
c. Make simple and effective copies that will be of help to users when trying to recover their password rather than long steps and difficult instructions to follow.
Thank you for reading my summary!!!!
