Microcopy: Button and Error Text That Helps
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
The texts that lose users are the smallest ones. A button labelled Submit, an error that says Something went wrong, an empty screen that offers nothing. Each one costs a fraction of the people who reach it, and on a form or a checkout that fraction is the difference between a lead and a bounce. Microcopy is the discipline of writing those small texts so they help. This guide gives the rules and rewrites the common cases, in both Swedish and English.
Error messages that help
An error message has three jobs: say what happened, say why in terms the user can act on, and say what to do now. Most fail all three with a single word. The other common failure is blame: Invalid input tells the user they were wrong without saying how. Write from the user's side, name the field, and prefer a fix over a description.
- Instead of Invalid email: Check the email address, it seems to be missing an @. In Swedish: Kontrollera e-postadressen, den verkar sakna ett @.
- Instead of Error 500: We could not save your changes. Your text is still here; try again in a moment. In Swedish: Vi kunde inte spara dina ändringar. Din text finns kvar, försök igen om en stund.
- Instead of Payment failed: The card was declined by your bank. Try another card or pay with Swish. In Swedish: Kortet nekades av din bank. Prova ett annat kort eller betala med Swish.
- Instead of Personal number invalid: Enter the personal number as ÅÅÅÅMMDD-XXXX. In Swedish: Ange personnumret som ÅÅÅÅMMDD-XXXX.
- Never show a stack trace, a code alone, or a message that ends the conversation. Always leave a next step, even if it is a phone number.
Empty states and hints
The first time a user opens a list, it is empty, and a blank screen reads as broken. An empty state says what will live here, why it is useful, and gives the first action. Hints do the same job inside forms: a short line under a field that prevents the error instead of explaining it afterwards.
Empty list
No invoices yet. When you send your first invoice it will appear here with its status. Button: Create invoice. In Swedish: Inga fakturor än. När du skickar din första faktura visas den här med status. Knapp: Skapa faktura.
Field hint
Under an organisation number: 10 digits, as on your registration certificate. In Swedish: 10 siffror, som på registreringsbeviset. Prevents the most common formatting error before it happens.
Search with no results
No customers match Andersson. Check the spelling or add a new customer. In Swedish: Inga kunder matchar Andersson. Kontrollera stavningen eller lägg till en ny kund.
Tone in Swedish: du or ni
Swedish interfaces address the user as du almost universally, and the informal register is not a style choice but the norm, including in banks and government services. Ni reads as either a company being addressed collectively, which is fine in B2B copy about the organisation, or as a dated formality that many readers find odd. The practical rule: du for the person doing the task, ni when you genuinely mean the company, and never both in the same sentence.
- Use du in buttons, errors and hints, because they address the person at the keyboard.
- Use ni in text about the customer's organisation: Era fakturor, ert konto, when the account belongs to a company.
- Keep the imperative short and neutral: Spara, Skicka, Avbryt. Do not soften with vänligen; it reads as translated English.
- Match the tone across languages: if the English says We could not save, the Swedish says Vi kunde inte spara, not Sparningen misslyckades.
Testing microcopy
Microcopy is cheap to change and cheap to test, which is why it should never be settled by opinion. Watch five people from your actual audience use the screen and note where they pause, reread or ask what a button does. Each pause is a text to rewrite. For high-traffic screens, run the two versions side by side and count completions; for everything else, the five-person test is enough.
- Read every button label out of context. If it does not make sense alone, it does not make sense on the page.
- Trigger every error deliberately and read the message as a first-time user with no technical vocabulary.
- Check the Swedish and English versions side by side for length; Swedish is usually longer and breaks buttons.
- Keep a shared glossary of your terms, so a customer is not a kund on one screen and a klient on the next.
When you do not need help: a small site with one contact form can fix its microcopy in an afternoon with the tables above. Where it pays to bring in a review is a product or checkout with many screens, two languages and a measurable drop somewhere in the flow; text is usually part of the cause. That is one of the things our UX audit covers, screen by screen with rewrites you can paste in; it is priced on the pricing page, or book a call and show us the screen that worries you.
Frequently asked questions
Should buttons be in first person, like Create my account?
Rarely. First-person labels work in a few consumer contexts but read as gimmicky in Swedish and in B2B tools. Verb plus object in the imperative, Skapa konto, is clearer and shorter.
How long can an error message be?
Long enough to say what happened and what to do, which is usually one or two short sentences. If it needs more, the fix belongs in the form design, not in the message.
Can we use humour in microcopy?
In an empty state or a success message, a light touch can fit the brand. In an error, never; the user is already frustrated, and a joke about it reads as indifference.
Who should write microcopy, the designer or the developer?
Whoever writes it, one person should own the glossary and review every string before release. In practice the designer drafts, the developer flags where text breaks layout, and someone with the customer's vocabulary checks the words.
Have a form or checkout where people stop?
Fifteen minutes: show us the screen, and we will point out the texts most likely to be losing people and what to write instead.
Book a free 15-minute call