The importance of UX Writing
UX Writing is a game of words. The language used when building a product or service is of great relevance.
The way you speak to the user defines the way the user behaves toward your product. It is very important that the level of communication be understandable, and human friendly. To the point that it creates a bond. In essence any writing should be dummy proof. When the language is not clear, same as in real life situations, the user doesn’t really understand what’s going on. This is a risky situation, especially online.
UX Copy is a hyper-focused discipline within the world of writing. It’s about crafting the voice of your product projects into the world. It entails understanding how others interpret that. The UX writer distils knowledge into a voice. This creates a repeatable system for the way your product speaks to users.
You only have one shot. Similar to when you want to give a good impression after meeting someone for the first time. You just have one chance to talk to the user and create the basis of your first communication, and that is in writing form. You need to be careful because the user invests their attention when reading rather when listening. Written text stays longer in a human’s memory.
UX Writing can do a lot of heavy lifting for you, if your writers understand what’s going on and are able to help translate that for the user. As a writer with a technical background, I’m allergic to jargon like ‘authentication error’ or ‘gateway unavailable,’ because it means nothing to your users!
Why is it important to have writers onboard?
- Writers use more conversational language, which makes it easier for users to understand the product.
- Writers are able to add feelings to words and get the emotional response from users.
- Writers can maintain brand consistency while following the company’s style, a tone of voice, etc.
- Writers are detail-oriented and they tend not to miss the misspellings, misplaced commas, or incorrect phrases in the text, which makes the product more trustworthy.
The best thing you can do for your business is bring UX writers in early, as you’re first imaging what your product might look like, to help craft copy that forms a tight knit with your design. The way your products speak to users are what they’ll remember, and getting it right the first time can grow your business in the long haul.