The role of UX Writing in digital teams

UX writing is all about creating user-centric content that delivers an optimal user experience. The UX content represents, on the one hand, the guide that orientates the user during his user flow. On the other hand, it embodies the brand's voice to reach its target and federate it around its product/service.

The presence of UX writing skills in a digital team is important in order to create efficient HMI interfaces. These devices allow the user to find the information they are looking for in a quick and easy way.

What is UX writing?    

UX writing (or UX editing) is a relatively new discipline, which stems from the growing need to optimize the overall user (UX) experience of a digital interface. It is a user-centric approach that consists of adapting content to the needs of the end user and the ergonomic requirements of the interface.

The UX editorial team assists the user during his or her journey. It is the practical guide that helps them understand the steps to follow and the different actions to be taken to interact with the interactive system, whether it is a software, a site or a mobile application. This also applies to multimodal or interoperable systems, such as Google Home and digital car interfaces.

UX content depends on several criteria: the company's sector of activity, the target audience and the tone of voice envisaged. As a result, we can distinguish these types of content :

• User Interface (UI) content or the voice message transmitted when interacting with the digital system.
• Microcopy: this refers to small pieces of text such as: Call To Action (CTA), error messages, titles, FAQ…

Each word or phrase has a determining role in the composition of the microscopy. Indeed, each copy must be easily assimilated by the user in order to orient it intuitively towards the desired objective, such as information in a blog article or a product on an online store. 

A copy can also represent a clear and converting CTA message to encourage the user to carry out a specific action, such as adding a product to the shopping cart or subscribing to a newsletter.

UX writing ensures smooth communication between the user and the digital device and a coherent architecture of the information on the interface. 

Best practices for producing high-performance UX content 

In order to produce efficient UX content, it is relevant to apply these techniques:

• Adapt the volume of content to the requirements of the user interface: size, margins, font style used, space between content blocks, and the size of each paragraph. This ensures better consistency between interface components and gives the interface a visually pleasing appearance.
• Avoid complicated vocabulary. Indeed, UX writing must be explicit and easy to understand.
• Use concise but effective sentences to save the user the mental load and time to understand the information.
• Broadcast the brand's voice. The UX writer must produce microcopies that represent the company's image in an attractive and engaging way.

What does UX Writer's job involve?

The job of the UX writer (or UX editor) is to design user experience based on writing. It consists of writing user-oriented content designed for interface design.

The UX writer is involved from the beginning of the UX design project as well as during all stages. Here is an overview of his fields of intervention :

• He is an integral part of the UX team. In particular, he participates in the UX Research phase (or UX Research) in order to obtain a better knowledge of customers: their profiles, needs and expectations. This helps the UX writer to produce useful content that is closer to their mental model.
• It creates consistent, clear and easily accessible copies across different browsers, platforms and reading terminals. 

In some cases, the UX writer is entrusted with certain responsibilities, which are not part of his core business, such as :

• The content strategist: Manages the planning, writing and publication of all content.
• The information architect: This is the guarantor of a coherent hierarchy of information. 
• The UX copywriter: His mission is to write attractive content in order to capture the attention of more customers. This type of copywriting is mainly for marketing purposes.
• Content design: His role is more extensive, as he is in charge of creating all types of content: text or media: images, animations or videos. 

Capian tool: the ally of copywriters and UX writers

Capian allows UX writer to optimize their content and reinforce their added value through some very simple actions: 

• Capture content that you feel is imperfect.
• Annotate the captured capture and make recommendations for correcting or changing the content in question.
• By validating this screen, this finding will be added to your report, which you can share with your colleagues.

Capian is your ideal partner to improve the profitability of your conversion tunnel with quality UX content.

The role of a UX writer in a digital team

The mission of a UX writer varies according to the type and size of the company in which he works. For example, in a small organization, he may be responsible for writing all content: blog articles, social network posts, white papers. 

On the other hand, large organizations have a team of UX editors, each of whom occupies a specific position: copywriter, content strategist, etc. 

The UX writer works in concert with a digital team that includes different disciplines such as web professionals, UX and UI designers, UX researcher, product managers, etc. The UX writer works with a digital team that includes different disciplines such as web professionals, UX and UI designers, UX researcher, product managers, etc. The goal is to create UX content with an adapted tone of voice.

The UX Writer: eating the UX editorial charter  

The main role of a UX writer is to produce UX-oriented content that provides an intuitive user experience. It is the guarantor of compliance with the rules of the editorial charter that define the objectives of UX content: increase traffic, acquisition of qualified traffic, loyalty building, sales, SEO optimization, etc. To this end, he is in charge of the following missions:

Define the main lines of the UX editorial charter

It is a question of specifying certain major editorial pillars, such as :

• Target profiles: this allows us to understand the characteristics of the targeted people and to adapt the microscopies to their needs.
• The tone to be used to address the target audience: formal or informal, familiar or informal, technical or familiar vocabulary.
• The degree of precision to be adopted, particularly when writing blog articles, UX writing can integrate figures, quotes, links to reference sites into its content.
• Pictures or illustrations to make the content more interesting and more attractive.

Define editorial rules :

These rules concern the following elements:

• Frequency of publication: it is important to specify the rhythm of publication: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Note that publishing on a regular basis is very effective to be always present in the minds of customers.
• Content structure: the UX content writer must implement certain criteria to prioritize the information in a readable and easily understandable way. He must obtain a structure that fits the interface design and offers a pleasant UX. To this end, he must choose carefully: the number of titles and subtitles, the number and size of paragraphs, the number of words.
• The lexical and semantic field, which depends closely on the company's activity. In addition to the strategic keywords to be used to ensure a sustainable and profitable referencing.
• The editorial style: it must depend on the publication medium: showcase site, online store, blog or mobile interface. The UX content writer must define the type of voice: passive or active, the format to be adopted for each communication channel (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) and the type of content to be published…) and for each reading terminal, such as: desktop, tablet or smartphone.

The UX Writer: the guarantor of the consistency of the content of a GUI interface

Through a consistent, clear and conclusive copy, the UX content writer can arouse the user's empathy and curiosity. In particular, it ensures that the user easily understands each step in his journey and what action he needs to take to move on to the next step.

A well-designed micro copy also ensures simple and intuitive navigation. The user can thus reach his objective in a flexible and uncomplicated way. This is the key to creating a "talking interface" and avoiding misinterpretation of information that creates a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction among the user. 

To do this, the UX content writing must :

• Analyze the navigation plan between the different interfaces, in order to prioritize and classify the content to be put in each page. 
• Create succinct copies where each word or phrase has a meaning and conveys a specific message.
• Find the right compromise between user expectations and brand objectives when designing UX content.

Conclusion

The main mission of the UX writer is to produce clear and understandable UX content, which allows the user to navigate smoothly during his interaction with the system. He is responsible for creating useful copies that make digital interfaces more intuitive and easier to explore and use.

Since the UX writer's work is user-centered, therefore, he must compose microcopies that simulate the user's thoughts and generate satisfaction. 

To learn more about this profession, it is interesting to consult consistent resources and groups specializing in this discipline on social networks.

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