General Copy Best Practices 

• Use contractions (they’re, we’re, you’re, we’ve).

• Use exclamation points sparingly (e.g. if you’ve used one in the header, don’t use them in the sub-copy as well).

• Use questions to grab the reader’s attention (Got someone in mind?)

• Use AP capitalisation for headers (Send Love at the Tap of a Button) & CTAs and sentence case for everything else, including strip banners. This a handy tool https://capitalizemytitle.com/

• Use dashes (Don’t wait – it won’t be around for long!) Ensure this is an en-dash and not a hyphen ( –, not -)

• Relate to your audience (We’ve all been there. Who doesn’t love an offer?! We all know someone who...)

• Use ‘we’ and ‘our’ so the voice is that of the Moonpig team. Never ‘I’ – we are a collective!

• It’s ‘at Moonpig’ not ‘on Moonpig’, unless you’re saying ‘order on the Moonpig app’ or ‘on our website’. (Discover cards for everyone at Moonpig. Here at Moonpig we...)

• Keep it simple! The average reading age in the UK is 9 years.

Casing

Across Moonpig we should be using AP capitalisation for headers and CTAs and sentence case for everything else.

Why? 

• All capitals looks aggressive and slows reading speed. Only use this if we want something to really stand out, e.g. ‘Your first card is FREE’. 

• Sentence case is cleaner, more casual, and more natural. It’s how we are all used to reading.

• Title case creates hierarchy, makes text stand out more and creates symmetry but looks unnatural if the text is too long.

Examples of where we use title case: All website headers (homepage, landing pages, carousels, cross-sell, blog, PDPs) email headers, CTAs, navigation, presentation slide titles, product names.

Examples of where we use sentence case: Singular lines of copy, strip banners, all body copy, sub-headings, subject lines and pre-headers, long-form copy, push notifications, social captions, error messaging, product descriptions.

Not sure which letters to capitalise in a title? This a handy tool https://capitalizemytitle.com/ - we use AP title case.

CTAs

• Use unambiguous, clear copy for CTAs. While we love having a fun tone of voice, this is not the place to add personality!

• Each word in a CTA should be capitalised.

• With screen readers, you can choose to only navigate buttons to save time so this is another reason why it’s so important to be clear. Imagine there is no supporting copy – does the CTA still make sense?

Keep It Consistent

Wording rules to follow:

• Use ‘select’ rather than ‘tap’ or ‘click’ to accommodate for all devices

• Use ‘Tap’ only when it’s definitely app or mobile-specific

• Always use ‘shop’ rather than ‘buy’

• Always use ‘basket’ rather than ‘bag’

• Use the CTA ‘Find Out More’ to send user to a page with more information on

• Spell out numbers under 10 (one, two, three, etc) and use numbers for anything over 10

• For bullet-pointed lists, use • rather than -

• For promo codes, write ‘Use code XXX at checkout’

• Use ampersands (&) in headers and CTAs only

• Use ‘dispatched’ not ‘despatched’

• Units of measurement follow the number immediately, e.g. 180mm

Emojis

• Tone and messaging of content will help determine if adding emojis is appropriate - if you’re not sure, steer clear.

• Use sparingly - one or two emojis per piece.

• Don’t use emojis if the message is complex, sensitive or serious.

• Always leave a space before and after an emoji – unless you’re using a trending phrase sandwiched with stars like ✨this✨

• As a rule of thumb, emojis shouldn’t follow punctuation (other than question marks). 

• Use emojis at the end of a sentence if they enhance the statement.

• Use gender-neutral emojis wherever possible 🙌🏻🎁🎉🌸🥳👏🏻🍾😂🥂💐🎄🌹

Examples:

SL: Calling all summer babies 🌞🌈 

PH: 40% off birthdays, here we come!

SL: Ready to spread joy? 🤩🌼

PH: Our new Joy Collection has bloomed!

🌱GREEN-FINGERED GOODNESS 🌱

It’s National Plant Day so treat your ✨soilmate✨ right with £5 off some of our favourite leafy pals. No code needed 🪴