*Scenario A traveler is in an airport waiting for the last leg of a flight home when their flight gets abruptly canceled due to bad weather.

Challenge Write a message from the airline app notifying them of the cancellation and what they need to do next.

Constraints Headline: 45 characters Body: 175 characters max Button(s): 25 characters max*

Target audience

The microcopy is targeted at the user of an airline company whose last leg of a flight home got canceled due to bad weather.

User journey

Where do they come from: the notification pops up suddenly and it carries bad news. Feelings: rage, sadness, anxiety, frustration, tiredness - they were almost home! Where do they go from here: their new flight detail, a help page, the dialler with the customer service number How do we help: being short, informative, useful and just a tiny bit empathetic. They probably just want this to be over quick, not to be entertained.

Goals

The goal of this microcopy is to help put the mind of the stranded traveler at rest and direct them on how to navigate their way following the canceled flight. UX writing is about holding the hands of digital product users and helping them on their journey. Therefore, promptly informing the traveler about the rescheduled date and time is one step closer to solving an inconvenient problem.

Solution (option 1)

• I choose not to go with this because I wanted to give the traveler the opportunity to make a choice by themselves.
• The power of making a choice among options should be in their hand.
• I didn’t just want to reschedule their flight and reverse a hotel without their permission.

Solution (option 2)

Thought process

In crafting the headline, I thought about writing it in that manner to ensure it strikes a cord in the traveler's mind. Research has shown that while a person is waiting for an event to occur, they try to buy time by getting engaged in other activities, mostly leisure. This could mean being on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or other engaging social media platforms. Most times, people often get carried away by these activities and forget their immediate surroundings or needs. The heading of the flight cancellation message reading “Urgent Travel Update” would certainly bring them back to reality.

Let’s move on to the body of the message. As learned in Kinneret’s Microcopy book, error messages need to fulfill the following:

1. Explain simply and clearly that there is a problem and what that problem is.

2. Provide a solution so that users can return and complete the process immediately.

3. Turn the delay into an experience that is as pleasant as possible.