microcopy-and-stateslisted

# Microcopy and states The words are load-bearing. A page with perfect layout and a state that says "No data" is a page that will generate a support message, or worse, a wrong assumption. --- ## Labels: name the thing precisely Ambiguous labels are how two people read the same number differently. | Vague | Precise | |---|---| | Revenue | Subscription revenue (ASC 606) | | Churn | Logo churn, trailing 12 months | | Growth | ARR growth, YoY | | Customers | Paying customers at period end | | Total | Total, excluding intercompany | | Last updated | Data as of 2026-08-19 14:20 ET | Rules: - **Include the basis** where more than one is plausible — recognized vs billed, gross vs net, logo vs revenue, period-end vs average. - **Include the period and the unit** in the label or the header, once, not on every cell. - **Use the organization's canonical name for a metric.** If the definitions page calls it NRR, the dashboard does not call it Net Retention. - Sentence case reads faster than Title Case and much faster than ALL CAPS. Reserve caps for small muted labels where the size already signals subordination. --- ## Empty states are four different states Each needs different words. Using one message for all four is the most common microcopy failure. **Genuine empty** — the query worked, there is nothing: > **No transactions in July 2026.** > This account had no activity in the period. Prior period had 42 transactions. **Filtered to nothing** — the user did this and can