Bold, Italic or Underlined?

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This may seem overly granular, but I'm curious if any of you web copywriters have done any user testing on which sort of typographic emphasis - bold, italic or underlinning - leads to greater conversions.

I was at a web design conference a few weeks ago where a few luminaries in the field made joking asides to how underlining is the new italic. But it got me wondering if this once over-emphatic style has become effective again. Thoughts?
#copywriting #bold #italic #underlined
  • Bold works best for me. Depending on the font used, Italiic can make the word harder to read, and that goes against the whole purpose of bringing attention to it in the first place. Same goes with underlines, they can also make the copy harder to read, and another thing with underlines, so many hyperlinks are still styled with having an underline, that can cause further confusion. For those reasons I like "bold", and sometimes a color change with the "bold" as well.

    George
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • or it could help draw attention to a specific call to action?

      most web users these days have been "conditioned" to kind of
      sub-conciously look for links to click on...

      but George has a good point on how italics can make
      the text difficult to read depending on the size & font.

      I like using all 3 ... it's good to use seperate ways of emphasizing
      throughout your copy otherwise the emphasis can be lost with overuse of one style too many times.

      I especially like using and alongside
      bolds, italics and underlines as it gives you another 3 different combinations to use.

      Interesting topic of discussion!
      (sometimes it's the really little things that get my attention)


      - aj
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Quite agree. I think Bold is the most suitable, too.
      • [1] reply
  • Personally I close the pages where the most part of information is in Italic. Hate reading such documents! And bold is OK!
  • Mostly choose bold and hardly ever underline. It just screams click me please. Only to be sad and disappointed.
  • It depends what you are highlighting. I prefer bold whenever I want to punch in a word and italic whenever I want to highlight an internal thought, something to let the reader know that they are reading something they are not supposed to read.

    This is how I interpret the reasonable expectations coming from the readership. Could be wrong of course. So... my answer is: when in doubt TEST

    Best regards,
    George
  • Personally, I've yet to see Italics do anything serious in any test.

    Underline and bold have both performed well.

    Answer = test.

    - HR
    • [1] reply
    • Bold is the best for me but you can test,test and test!
      Sincerely i don't like italic.
      Bold is great for some fonts: for example if you use impact font(especially for headlines) don't use bold!

      Regards!
  • There is no hard fast rule on this, its more of trial and error. what may work on other sites may not work on your because of a combination of many other factors in the site's layout.
    • [1] reply
    • Good stuff from both of you, especially emphasis. I think people are always trained to see the highlighted text as a web link which makes it less effective as a means of weight.
  • I prefer bold text. Eyesight does not always play favorites with italics and underlining is still over-emphatic and denigrates the fluidity of copy.
  • Just because nobody has mentioned it, underlining is a typographic no-no. Now you can place a rule under text, but not underline.

    At least to the rules of typography.

    As to how it tests, I'm not sure. I use bold almost exclusively.
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    Bold, Italic or Underlined?

    This may seem overly granular, but I'm curious if any of you web copywriters have done any user testing on which sort of typographic emphasis - bold, italic or underlinning - leads to greater conversions. I was at a web design conference a few weeks ago where a few luminaries in the field made joking asides to how underlining is the new italic. But it got me wondering if this once over-emphatic style has become effective again. Thoughts?