My copywriting icks (and some redeeming examples)

The concept of an ‘ick’ has been trending on social media over the last year or so. Typically, this is used within the context of a potential romantic partner who would do something seemingly inane that would single handedly completely reverse any and all romantic feelings toward them (my personal favourite example is a girl who got the ick because her date’s umbrella turned inside out). Perhaps the rise of the ick is a signifier of modern dating culture focused on apps, where people become disposable due to a vast array of choice at our fingertips. We’re all looking for instant gratification and we’re looking for perfect. The ick frenzy also exists in parallel to todays ‘cancel culture’. 1 strike and you’re out. 1 inside out umbrella and you’re done. The digital realm and the nature of social media allows our darkest moments and our mistakes to be blown up on in a vast arena for the world to see and scrutinise. But this is an article for another day…

I recently learned the hard way that not only do we need to navigate icks in the romantic world, but in the digital world too. I was going through my email inbox the other day trying to free myself of the copious amounts of marketing emails I’ve been getting, when I encountered what I have decided is my ultimate content design ick. This phrase staring back at me on a web page is enough to make my skin crawl and a sure fired way to confirm my choice of unsubscribing. And the phrase is….

‘We will miss you!’

Eurgh! Gross. Worse still, I saw this message on a few other companies unsubscribe pages. I stopped to think about why it bothers me so much, and the reason is because it is so overly familiar and disingenuous. I know I’m not the only girl you’re saying this to, Snapfish. Of course they don’t miss me — a random person on an extremely large automated mailing list. And of course I won’t miss them; from a UX perspective, I used Snapfish maybe 1 or 2 times over the last 5 years, and that’s the extent of my interaction with them. They are irrelevant to me. At this point in my user journey, I am simply wanting to perform the task of ending the emails because I am bothered by them. The message is completely at odds with the way the user is feeling at this point. And this is the thing with content design and UX writing — the message has to be appropriate to the users given context. It’s a really fine line to balance, and so I want to cite some examples below.

Duolingo

Well, well, well. I couldn’t write a content design article without mentioning Duo could I?! I imagine many people reading this are familiar with Duolingo and their controversial tone of voice. The below message began trending on social media for it’s passive aggressive tone. I would love to be a fly on the wall and see the UX writer that came up with this and what their intention was, and see the internal reviews as well. My assumption is that this wasn’t written with passive aggressive intention, but that is very much how it comes across. Particularly within the wider context of the other Duo messages, whereby the user is pretty much bombarded by notifications that are pushy and sometimes threatening.

This message also begs the question; if they aren’t working, why send another message simply to tell me you’ll stop sending them? It’s unnecessary. If they aren’t working, read the room and don’t bother the user with another message.

What’s been interesting is to see how Duo have actually leaned into their branding as aggressive and threatening, and used it for marketing campaigns. I actually think this is quite clever, as it shows they are engaging with their audience and also makes them stand out. Kudos, Duo, you’ve redeemed yourself.

Gym & health apps

For the last 5 days I’ve been sick with a cold and stuck inside the flat. I absolutely hate being sick, because I’m not good at being unproductive and lazing about. I miss my workout routine and I want to check errands off my to do list (bit sad, I know). What really rubs salt into the wound is my gym app chiming in with reminders that I have been utterly inactive. I think tone of voice is especially important when it comes to these types of notifications for gym and health apps, because you don’t want the messaging to read as if you are shaming the user. For many, diet and fitness is a sensitive topic and therefore a simple notification could be all the more impactful. As designers and writers, we must approach this type of messaging with extra caution and consider our role in safeguarding people who may struggle with eating disorders or body image issues.

On the topic of health apps, I also wanted to do an honourable mention to women’s health apps. There are many, many scenarios in which you don’t want to receive a notification saying ‘Your period is due in 5 days’. It’s often the case that other people see notifications that pop up on your phone, and as a lady I can vouch for the fact that we don’t want Bob sitting next to us on the bus to know this type of information (no shade to Bob i’m sure he’s a great guy). We also have to consider sensitive situations when it comes to health, for example, someone that may be struggling to conceive. For them, receiving a notification like this will be extra triggering and inappropriate, particularly if they are out and about. This is why it’s so important to consider all the potential scenarios and context’s that someone might be reading these messages in. I do question whether for health apps where the information is highly personal, it’s best to have notifications defaulted to off. This is the type of information people would want to access within the privacy and comfort of their own home, so let’s design accordingly for that.

Slack

Now we’re moving towards my favourite examples of content design. I have to rate Slack at the top here — they absolutely know what to say and when to say it. They keep it simple where it needs to be, making sure their product is simple and frictionless. See a couple of examples below, and note how in the examples Slack is picking the right moments within a users flow to display clever little messages, like in this loading status:

This example below is actually one of my favourite bits of UX writing I’ve ever come across. I found it really funny and it brought a smile to my face in my work day. That’s how you do it, ladies and gents. 👏

Uber

I wanted to end with this example, because this is something I came across lately that caught me by surprise in a positive way. It almost makes up for the ‘We’ll miss you’ incident…almost.

Whilst getting an Uber home from the train station, we got stuck in traffic and were stationery for quite a long time. My phone vibrated and Uber had sent me the below notification. Of course, I felt completely safe in this moment and there was no threat, but I was struck by how considerate and clever it was. I have often felt unsafe as a female alone in taxis, and it provided me with some level of comfort knowing that Uber was aware of the situation. This is an example of how to use physical data to interject with messaging at the right point in a user journey. And of course, in this example, it’s not just any messaging - it could provide real value and have an actual impact to someones life. Upon reading about this feature, I found out that Uber actually has a ‘Safety’ team dedicated to creating user experiences that will help in dangerous situations. This is a really important application of UX and content design practises. We love to see it ❤

The end

I hope you guys enjoyed reading through some content design examples. I’d absolutely love to hear and see more, so please let me know of any icks or favourites you have yourself! And if any UX writers from Duo happen to be reading this, I would absolutely love to hear from you