UX writing for B2B is the work of writing the words inside a software product or on a company website. UX stands for user experience. The short pieces of text on those screens are called microcopy. Microcopy includes button labels, error messages, form hints, and the text on an empty screen. This post explains how we write that text. Friendlier wording is not the goal. The goal is that the reader always knows what to do next. Your reader is busy and reads fast. We use the same method on a homepage and on a dashboard. The same people write both in our website engagements.
Put information in the order the reader needs it
The order in which you show information tells the reader what you think matters. Show proof before you ask for anything. Give the answer before you show a form. A reader forms a view from the order alone, before they read any line closely.
On a homepage, this is the order of the sections. In a product, it is the first three screens after login. Prodios Labs is an example. When they opened a private-sector vertical, they did not need new features. They needed their case studies arranged for a careful buyer. We built that structure so a procurement lead met each piece of evidence in the order they would ask for it.
The test of good UX is whether the reader can tell what to do next.
Write the empty states
An empty state is the screen a user sees before there is any data in it. Few teams design these screens on purpose. A new user meets them first.
- Design the zero-data screen first. It should say what will appear here. It should also say how to make that happen.
- Write error messages as full sentences. Say what happened. Then say what the user should do. "Something went wrong" does neither. It says nothing about the cause or the fix.
- Rewrite any button that needs a tooltip. A tooltip is a small note that appears when the user hovers over a control. If a label needs one, the label is unclear. The label is what the user reads. Fix the label instead.
Three places B2B interfaces lose the reader
The onboarding screens. Onboarding is the first set of screens a user sees after signup. Most of these screens ask for setup before they show any value. Reverse that order. Show one real result using sample data. Then ask for the connection that makes the result theirs. The copy on that screen should describe the result. It should not list the steps.
The pricing page. Most B2B pricing pages are a table with three columns. The table gives the reader no help in choosing. Before any numbers appear, tell them which plan is for whom. Write one line per plan. Without that line, the buyer has to work out the comparison alone. Most will leave and plan to do it later.
The inquiry form. A form that asks only for an email tells your company nothing. It also tells the buyer nothing about what happens next. Ask what they sell. Ask when they need it. Then say exactly when they will hear back. The form is the last thing the buyer reads on the homepage. It should answer their last question and raise no new ones. We built our own inquiry dialog on that rule. It asks what you sell, when you need it, and how you found us. It promises a reply within one working day.
Each of these is a writing problem before it is a design problem. The layout can only show the order you gave it. When we modernize a B2B site, we start the review with these three screens. They carry most of the pipeline. They also get the least attention from writers.
Fix the words before you add visual emphasis
When a screen is not working, teams often ask for more visual weight. They want bigger buttons, a badge, or an animation. Usually the fix is fewer words in a better order. Here is a test. Read the screen aloud as one paragraph. If it does not make sense as a paragraph, more visual weight will not fix it. Once the words are right, the design can do less. No element needs extra size or color to get attention. That calm is what makes a site or a product feel expensive.