Why You Should Pay Attention To Product Copy?

Imagine you're on a road trip and you just entered a new city that's barely indexed on Google Maps.

You're looking for the mall to pick up a few things. You decide to follow the sign boards.

You see one that says "Right turn only". You comply and hit a dead end. You backtrack.

You spot a building that looks like a futuristic mall from a distance. You see a sign saying "Park ahead" thinking there's a parking lot there. Turns out, it's a playground park.

You zigzag through a few roads to get closer to the mall. You spot the signage. It says "Lorem Ipsum".

You finally park & get to the entrance.

The signboard on the gate just reads grocery, bookstore & food court but doesn't specify where these exactly are.

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What is your impression of this new city? Ill-planned?

Regardless of how shiny your product features are, the number of integrations you support or the speed of the app - the copy that sits on each interface/screen/pop-up governs a lot of the user experience.

Yet, copy is the last thing people think about when prototyping, wire framing or testing a new build.

It's imperative for the product team to get the copy right. In many cases, it can even cover up for sub-optimal user flows & hold up the product like glue.