5 strategies for effective UX writing
Photo by Polina Kovaleva from PexelsThere’s a lot of knowledge on the Internet about how to create “good” UX writing.
That’s not this blog post.
This blog post doesn’t drill down into the basic principles of UX writing or important UX writing misconceptions. That’s for another time.
Instead, this blog post dives into the 5 strategies that make UX writing effective. These strategies are deeper than tactics — they’re mindsets and habits that take coaching and practice to master.
1. UX writing systems build equity
You can’t have effective UX writing without comprehensive style guides, voice & tone guidelines, and glossaries because:
UX writing systems make life easier by simplifying processes and unifying the company
UX writing systems build a holistic, consistent experience, building trust and equity
UX writing systems allow your company to scale with intention
Without UX writing systems in place, your inconsistencies will get worse, your users will notice, and scale will leave you not knowing where to start.
2. Never build an experience in a silo
To all my fellow natural introverts out there, I know how appealing it can be to do your own thing.
It can seem ten times easier to read the brief, ask questions in the kick-off meeting, go to town on your own, and then present your execution.
Great UX writing isn’t a product of one, though. It’s a product of many curious minds, from different backgrounds and disciplines, coming together to collaborate.
Sure, the UX writer is the one actually coming up with the words, but if that’s all the UX writer does, they miss out on:
Learnings gleaned from the design process
Hearing insights from users themselves in research
Gaining input from people who know all about the technical nitty-gritty
Questioning goals to get to the truth of what’s being accomplished
If the UX writer just fills in the blanks, the user misses out on the substance that comes from not working in a silo.
Because when you work in a silo, you’re working with directives, and great things come from creative, curious people who push beyond what they’re told.
3. Always be empathizing
Empathizing comes in two key forms:
Getting outside of yourself
Imagining every state a user could be in
Getting outside of yourself
We’re all biased. Not because we try to be, but because our backgrounds and experiences shape our view of the world, for better or for worse.
When we’re building experience for others, it’s crucial to break the mold of our identity and imagine how someone else will experience what we’re creating.
I find method acting to be helpful, as silly as it may sound. By assuming the role of the user, I attempt to understand their:
Background
Goals
Worries
Accomplishments
Fears
Relationship to the product
And more
With my acting hat on, I write as the user, not as myself.
Imagining every state a user could be in
From different moods to life stages, you’re going to meet different users in different states.
Your users can range from being newly unemployed and in debt to being fresh off of a promotion.
Pretend you’re writing for Venmo. How would you write a push notification reminding each of these users they have a money request waiting?
It’s important to write with delight, but we can’t always assume a positive emotion.
For example, when I consulted for Chime, I was tasked with writing triggered reminder notifications for people who had yet to take action on a Pay Friends request, similar to the Venmo example.
Here’s an example of the notifications I wrote:
Here are some intentional tactics I used:
I positioned it as a friendly reminder, not a demand
I explained that the request ‘expires’, not that it’s ‘due’
I gave the user the option to ‘respond’ as opposed to ‘pay now’
By being careful in my writing, I created an inclusive experience. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure the act of sending this will cause stress for some people. But as UX writers, it’s a UX writer’s job to ease that stress as much as we can with strategic choices.
Check out the full Chime case study for an in-depth look at the project.
4. It’s as much about adding content as it is taking it away
UX writers design with words.
That means we envision the best placement for specific words to create a useful, clear, and concise experience. And the best placement may be no placement, in some cases.
Adding in words doesn’t always make you or the experience shine. Masterful UX writers know that sometimes writing nothing says more.
The more content you have on a screen, the higher the cognitive load. When you can puzzle piece which elements are unnecessary and strategically strip them away, you’re on your way to a streamlined product your users will thank you for.
5. Translate the value of facts for the user
A lot of UX writers stop at stating the fact or feature. That’s a recipe for creating copy that doesn’t get acted on.
We can’t expect users to care about what we’re talking about, especially if it’s something interrupting the path they’re on.
90% of the time users scan the header and CTA and try to get out.
Because of that, LinkedIn, for example, can’t say “Join Premium” and expect users to act.
Instead, we need to translate what they get out of Premium and slap it in the header.
Fact + value = action-oriented header
So, instead of ‘Join Premium,’ next time say something like ‘Get seen by 10x more hiring managers with Premium.’
This isn’t the full list of strategies, but I think these are important ones to start with.
Effective UX writing is hard to execute, and it’s our responsibility to use all the tools in our arsenal to help people accomplish their goals.
