How to write copy for your website like a UI/UX genius

This article shares the key takeaways from a webinar run by our Head of Creative Innovation, Ioana Negulescu. You can watch the recording here.

People don’t read websites. At least, not in the dutiful, top-to-bottom way you might hope.

They scan headings. They notice numbers. They read the first few words of a paragraph and decide whether the rest looks worth the effort.

Often, they leave a page within 7–15 seconds.

A little brutal for the person who spent all afternoon polishing paragraph six. But useful to know.

Good web copy is designed around the way people actually use websites.

Here are eight UI and UX principles that will make your copy clearer, easier to scan and more useful.

People are lazy. Design for it

We’re all busier and more easily distracted than we’d like to be. That’s just human nature. While ‘lazy’ might sound judgemental, we simply mean that people usually take the quickest route to an answer or solution. Good design and UX recognises this and removes unnecessary work.

You can see the same principle in everyday products:

• Sports drinks have wide bottle openings because people drink more and faster from them.
• Crisp manufacturers study crunch sounds because a louder crunch can affect how people perceive freshness.
• IKEA instructions rely on illustrations because pictures can produce fewer errors than written directions.
• Ketchup bottles now stand on their lids because waiting for ketchup to make its way down a glass bottle was objectively annoying.

The product adapts to the behaviour. It doesn’t demand that the person behave differently.

Websites should work the same way.

You can’t force somebody to read every word. You can make the important words easier to find.

How people actually scan websites

Research from Nielsen Norman Group has tracked website-reading behaviour for decades.

While websites have changed enormously, one finding has remained fairly consistent: most users scan rather than read.

They look for visual and verbal anchors such as:

• Headings
• Opening sentences
• Bold text
• Links
• Buttons
• Images
• Digits

Only a small minority read every word.

This is why ‘scannable’ copy is not simply copy with shorter sentences. Structure, hierarchy and formatting all matter.

The F-pattern

When a page lacks a strong hierarchy, people often scan across the top, move down, scan across again and then continue down the left-hand side.

This creates something resembling the letter F.

The further right a word appears, the less likely it is to be noticed. Important information buried at the end of a heading or sentence may never be seen.

The F-pattern is what happens when users are left to find their own way through a wall of content.

The spotted pattern

Some readers jump between things that stand out visually.

Numbers are particularly effective here because their shapes look different from letters. The eye can spot them even when they sit inside a sentence.

They also promise information. A number suggests evidence, scale or a measurable result.

Compare:

More than one hundred and fifty businesses

With:

150+ businesses

The second version is shorter, easier to spot and faster to understand.

The layer-cake pattern

Readers move through the page by scanning its headings and subheadings, as though looking at the layers of a cake. They skip much of the supporting copy but still understand the overall message.

The headings are doing the work.

Try deleting the paragraphs from one of your web pages and leaving only the headings, numbers and calls to action.

Does the page still make sense?

If not, the hierarchy is probably relying too heavily on people reading every word. They won’t.

Write for the way people actually use websites

To reiterate, people do not move through web pages neatly or patiently. They scan, skip, backtrack and make quick decisions about what deserves their attention. The rules below will help you write copy that stays clear, useful and persuasive, even when visitors do not read it in the order you intended

1. Web pages are not documents

A document has a beginning, a middle and an end. The reader starts at the top and the writer controls the order.

Website visitors are less cooperative.

They might:

• Read the hero banner
• Jump to the bottom
• Scan two sections
• Return to the top
• Click onto another page
• Leave because somebody sent them a Teams message

Web copy needs to survive this disorder.

Each section should communicate a complete point without relying on the reader having seen everything above it.

A simple test is to scan your page from top to bottom and then from bottom to top.

Does each section still make sense? Can somebody understand the proposition without following the intended sequence?

Remember, you’re not writing one continuous narrative like a letter or a novel. You’re writing several connected blocks that need to work independently as well as together.

2. The heading is the message

Writers sometimes treat website headings like chapter titles.

They introduce a topic without explaining it, for example:

• A smarter way forward
• The difference that matters
• Our unique approach
• Discover what’s possible

These phrases could mean almost anything.

A heading on a web page needs to communicate the point, not merely hint that a point may be arriving shortly.

This matters because most users will not read the paragraph underneath it. For them, the heading is the message.

Instead of:

Results that speak for themselves

Try:

Reduce reporting time by 35%

Instead of:

Why choose us?

Try:

20 years of Microsoft expertise

Give scanners the conclusion first. Interested readers can continue into the detail.

3. Use digits when numbers matter

Eye-tracking research shows that numerals attract attention, even when they appear inside body copy.

There are two likely reasons.

First, digits look different from letters and interrupt the visual pattern of a sentence.

Second, they suggest facts. And facts are useful to people trying to assess a business quickly.

Write:

• 180 websites
• 3 simple steps
• 24-hour support
• 92% client retention

Not:

• One hundred and eighty websites
• Three simple steps
• Twenty-four-hour support
• Ninety-two per cent client retention

Of course, a number is only helpful when it says something relevant.

‘We have lots of happy customers’ is vague.

‘125 organisations use our service’ gives the reader something concrete to evaluate.

4. Stop repeating yourself

Website copy often repeats the same idea across the heading, subheading and first sentence.

For example:

We help you grow faster

Our services are designed to accelerate your business growth.

That is one idea wearing two outfits.

Every level of the hierarchy should add something new. Ioana suggests that the next layer should do one of three things:

1. Narrow the point
2. Prove the claim
3. Surprise the reader

The heading can make the claim. The copy below it should introduce evidence, detail or a useful consequence.

For example:

Grow without adding more admin

Our clients have reduced weekly reporting time by up to 35%, freeing their teams to focus on strategic work.

Now the reader learns something new from the second line.

People scan websites asking:

‘Is there anything useful here for me?’

Once the answer becomes ‘no’, they move on.

5. Front-load the useful words

Because people pay more attention to the left-hand side of a page, the first few words of a heading or sentence matter most.

Start with the information.

Avoid throat-clearing phrases such as:

• When it comes to…
• It’s worth noting that…
• In today’s fast-paced environment…
• It’s no secret that…
• At Company X, we believe…
• As a leading provider of…
• We are proud to…

They delay the bit the reader came for.

Instead of:

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, organisations need more flexible support.

Try:

Flexible support helps your team respond to change without increasing headcount.

A useful test is to read the first two words of every heading.

Do they signal what the section is about? Or does the meaning begin halfway through the line?

Don’t bury the lead. Readers will get bored before they reach it.

6. Give each idea its own block

If you have three separate things to say, use three separate blocks.

Don’t hide them inside one long paragraph and expect a visitor to excavate them.

A section might become:

• Three short cards
• Three subheadings
• Three bullet points
• Three vertically stacked content blocks

The format matters less than the separation.

Each idea needs enough visual space to be noticed.

Ioana compares it to a market stall. You don’t throw the oranges, onions and potatoes into one heap and hope shoppers dig through it.

You separate them so somebody walking past can find what they need.

For most website sections, paragraphs should be no longer than three sentences. One or two is often better.

FAQs may need more detail because users arrive with a specific question. But elsewhere, shorter blocks make scanning easier and give each point a fair chance.

7. Replace Marketese with evidence

Nielsen Norman Group found that objective copy performed better in usability testing than promotional copy.

This is not especially surprising.

Readers have seen phrases such as these countless times:

• Cutting-edge
• Market-leading
• Innovative
• Best-in-class
• World-class
• Unrivalled

These words rarely help somebody understand what a business does or whether it can solve their problem.

They slow readers down because they have to filter out the claim and look for the substance.

Try three tests.

The evidence test

Can you replace the claim with a fact, result or example?

Instead of:

Our cutting-edge methodology delivers exceptional outcomes.

Try:

Our process has been used across 125 client projects.

The adjective test

Delete the adjectives. Does the sentence still work?

Instead of:

A comprehensive, innovative and powerful reporting platform.

Try:

A platform that brings reports, approvals and project updates into one place.

The second version explains something.

The out-loud test

Read the copy aloud.

Would a person actually say it in a meeting? Or does it sound like a press release written by three committees?

If nobody would say it, don’t make your website say it.

8. Write for the user, not the company

Maker-centric copy is written from inside the business, looking out.

It focuses on:

• Our framework
• Our proven methodology
• Our expertise
• Our values
• What we are proud to offer

This is easy to write because it reflects the way businesses talk about themselves internally.

But your reader is probably thinking about something else.

They want to know:

• Do you understand my problem?
• Can you solve it?
• Have you done it before?
• What will I get?
• What should I do next?

User-centric copy starts there.

Instead of:

Our software includes automated reporting functionality.

Try:

Send accurate reports without losing Friday afternoon to spreadsheets.

The first version describes a feature. The second explains the effect on the reader.

Technical audiences benefit from plain language too. They may understand your internal terminology, but that doesn’t mean they want to work through it.

As one IT professional told researchers after reading a technical service description: they understood it, but preferred not to think on those levels.

Clear copy respects people’s time, whereas jargon spends it frivolously.

Copywriting is an exercise in empathy

Good web copy starts with an understanding of who will read it, why they need the information and what they need to do next.

Imagine your website visitor is a director validating a potential supplier.

They are busy. They have several tabs open. They probably care about three things:

1. Do you understand my problem?
2. Have you solved it before?
3. How quickly can I confirm this?

They are unlikely to explore 45 pages or spend an afternoon learning the finer points of your internal methodology.

Make the answers easy to find.

Put important proof points near the top of the page. Use case studies and testimonials to answer likely objections. Explain outcomes in the customer’s language. Make the next action obvious.

The main job of website copy is not to sound beautiful.

It is to help the reader decide without wasting their time.

The web copy checklist

Before you publish a page, ask:

• Does each section make sense on its own?
• Do the headings communicate the main points?
• Have I used digits for important numbers?
• Does every layer add new information?
• Are the useful words at the beginning?
• Does each idea have its own block?
• Are most paragraphs three sentences or fewer?
• Have I replaced promotional claims with evidence?
• Is the language written around the user’s problem?
• Is the next step clear?

Is your website making people work too hard?

Great web copy should help visitors understand what you do, trust you and take the next step.

Book a free 30-minute Marketing Strategy Session with Articulate founder Matthew Stibbe. We’ll look at your website, positioning and marketing to identify the bottlenecks slowing you down and the opportunities you may be missing.

Book your free Marketing Strategy Session