Our approach
Even the shortest line of copy will work harder with some thinking through first.
What you say
Think about:
- what your message is
- how it meets OVO’s goal
- how it meets the customer’s goal
- any legal parameters or compliance requirements
How you say it
Remember:
- tone of voice can affect how people feel reading the content
- who you're talking to
- what their mindset is
- where they are in their journey
Where you say it
Make sure the copy:
- follows UX writing best practices
- works for the type of medium it's going in - component, page or message
- serves the customer in the best way
- aligns with the OVO brand
Best practices
Keep your content easy to digest and accessible with these tips.
UX writing
- frontload headings with meaningful words that will anchor the user
- left-justify text where possible to mirror natural eye movement
- use shorter text in UX components, as it helps users process ideas faster
- use shorter sentences and paragraphs in long-form content to help users easily digest what they’re reading
- consider the life of your content – is it as evergreen as possible?
- use questions, which force important messages further down and put pressure on the reader - compare for example “How do I see my energy use?” vs “Energy use for the month”
- use FAQs as they’re hard for users to find what they need and are hard to keep content up to date
- use acronyms or other unclear headings such as “FAQs” - instead give more clear and descriptive headings
Accessibility
- keep up to date with accessibility best practices
- write with screenreaders in mind – if the link text or call to action (CTA) was read on its own, would it make sense?
- aim for a reading age of between 9 to 11 years old
- add alt text to images that contain useful information - if the image does not, developers should provide an empty alt attribute
- add easy-to-access transcripts for videos
- include hidden text to CTAs to aid screenreaders
- use meaningless link text like "Click here", "Learn more" or "Get started"
- write out URLs in text
Footnotes and substantiated text
Footnotes and substantiated text are not accessible. They shouldn't be used as a way to include more context that is either unnecessary or could be included in the main body copy.
Things to check:
- does the copy make sense without further context?
- are you adding substantiated text just because you’ve run out of space in the body copy?
- can you justify putting the context in a footnote rather than in the body copy?
If you're struggling to fit context in the body copy, try to:
- pick out your key points and focus on including them
- consider if the context is relevant to the user and if it really needs to be included
- make sentences shorter and simpler
- include context in the body copy, if it's needed
- only use footnotes for legal or source information, for example for statistics used in the body copy
- wrap footnote text in code that aids accessibility
- use footnotes for any other purpose
- include any key information in footnotes or substantiated text