UX writing: Crafting user-centric content

Words are essential to a product’s usability. They act as a bridge between users and a digital product, providing explanations and directions to facilitate positive interactions. But if the words you choose aren’t tailored to your users’ needs, they quickly become walls, hindering users from achieving their goals.

So how do you ensure your words are bridges, not walls? Enter UX writing, which focuses on crafting user-centered content that helps your users navigate your product. But what exactly is UX writing, and who should be responsible for it?

This comprehensive guide will take you through the basics of UX writing — its definition, goals, and principles, what a UX writer does, and how to become one. Let’s get started.

What is UX writing?

UX writing is the art of writing the text that appears on products such as websites, apps, and other digital interfaces. This UX design specialization is all about creating a conversation between your product and its users through clear, concise, and user-friendly language.

Unlike copywriting, which involves using words to sell a product to a target audience, UX writing focuses on guiding the user through a specific task. Effective UX writing invites and directs users through completing an action while minimizing confusion and anxiety. Let’s see how.

Invite users to take action

With UX writing, you can let users know what they can do in your product’s interface and how to do it. This makes it easy and more appealing for the user to take their first steps, especially when exploring the product for the first time. Here’s an example:

This UX writing example from Canva starts with a friendly and inviting question, then lets users know they can use the tool easily to “create and share professional designs.” It also encourages them to take their first step: “Start designing”.

Guide the user

You can use UX writing to guide your users using clear and relevant information at every touchpoint, making navigation seamless:

This UX writing example from HubSpot guides you through creating a password by clearly outlining the criteria for an acceptable password. This minimizes the possibility of an error.

Ease the user’s fears and insecurities

When you’re exploring a new product, it’s common to feel some apprehension. Effective UX writing helps ease this anxiety by anticipating and addressing common user concerns. The goal is to make your users feel more in control and reduce their fear of making mistakes:

In this example, Airbnb uses clear UX writing to reassure users that they aren’t making a financial commitment when they click the Reserve button. This can ease any fears about being charged immediately and encourage them to move forward in the accommodation booking process.

Ensure that your user completes their task successfully

Errors and empty states are inevitable when interacting with a digital product. Without proper guidance, these states could quickly become dead ends for your users. UX writing helps avoid this by offering the user a way forward:

This UX writing example from DatoCMS uses what could have been a dead end — an empty list of projects — as an opportunity to elicit action from the user. It presents two clear, easy-to-follow options for the user’s next step.

Ten principles of goal-oriented UX writing

Having explored some of the main goals of UX writing, let’s now look at ten principles of UX writing to ensure your copy achieves these goals:

1. Empathy — Just like any other aspect of UX, empathy lies at the heart of UX writing. For effective UX writing, start with understanding the user’s context and needs. Also, aim to use a friendly, human tone that makes your product a delight to use
2. Clarity — UX writing should be clear. This means using only words and phrases your audience can comprehend easily, avoiding jargon or complicated language
3. Usefulness — Useful UX writing gives users control and prioritizes their needs. And the only way to know your users’ needs is through user research. Learn about your users and focus your writing on what they want from your product
4. Consistency — UX writing should remain consistent across a product. Use consistent terminology and voice throughout the interface to create a sense of familiarity and predictability, making navigation easy
5. Conciseness — Users don’t come to a product simply because they want to read the UX copy; the copy’s purpose is to reduce cognitive load and make the product easier to use. Try to get straight to the point and then get out of the user’s way
6. Relevance — UX writing is about helping users achieve a goal, not sounding clever. Every word in your UI should support the user’s ultimate goal (what they want to achieve with your product), which also helps with keeping your copy concise
7. Accessibility — Use inclusive language in your UX writing that’s easy to read and understand, has appropriate color contrast and font size, and considers the needs of users who rely on assistive technology such as screen readers
8. Action-oriented language — One of the main goals of UX writing is to encourage action. A powerful way to achieve this is by using action-oriented language. Active verbs such as “get,” “explore,” “download,” and “buy” guide users toward taking specific steps
9. Positive tone — Digital products can be complex. A positive tone can help put your users at ease, empowering and encouraging them. For instance, instead of “Error! Invalid email address,” you could say “Try double-checking your email address”.
10. Testing and iteration — Your copy may be unclear to your users, even if it’s clear to you — so testing and iteration are crucial aspects of UX writing. Continuously test your copy with real users and use their feedback to improve its clarity and effectiveness. It may help to leverage AI writing tools so you can iterate quickly

Following these principles can help you write better UX copy for any use case. But is it your responsibility, or someone else’s?

It’s helpful for UX/UI designers to know how to write clear, friendly, action-oriented UX copy. The duty of UX writing may fall to you, especially on a smaller team. But in some cases, your team might have — or want — a dedicated UX writer. Let’s talk about the role.

The role of a UX writer

A UX writer envisions and writes the text users come across as they navigate a digital product — apps, websites, etc. They work alongside other product team members to ensure a cohesive and user-friendly experience.

The specific type of writing that a UX writer does will vary depending on the company’s needs and team size.

In smaller companies, you can find one writer handling multiple tasks: from marketing to interface copy, white papers, and even social media posts. In larger companies, roles are more specialized. UX writers in such companies will typically focus on one product or a big feature.

UX writers typically create:

1. Error messages — Clear and helpful text detailing what went wrong and how to fix it
2. Button copy — Engaging text prompting users to take specific actions, like “Sign up” and “Buy now”
3. Onboarding text — Step-by-step guide for new users to help them understand how to use a product
4. Instruction text — Detailed text that shows users how to use a feature or complete a task
5. Tooltips — Brief explanations or tips that appear when a user hovers over a specific item. They provide contextual information or guidance to help users understand the element’s function
6. Form field labels — Brief text explaining the information needed in an input field
7. Empty state messages — Text letting users know what to do when there is no content to display, like in an empty shopping cart
8. Confirmation messages — Text that appears when a user completes an action; e.g., “Message sent”
9. Help and support content — FAQs, in-app support text, and help center articles
10. Legal notices — Privacy policies, terms of service, and other legal information that users need to read and understand

It’s important to note that a UX writer’s job doesn’t end with crafting user-facing text. In addition to creating clear and helpful UX copy, a UX writer is also expected to:

• Teach and empower others to write clear and helpful copy
• Partner in usability testing and market research
• Advocate for the users and their needs to other product team members
• Collaborate with product team members to create cohesive written and visual design solutions
• Work alongside marketing, development, and design teams from the start of a project
• Use design tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch
• Work with content strategists to ensure the overall language is effective, appropriate, and properly managed

Having explored what is expected of a UX writer, let’s look at some skills needed to become a UX writer and how to develop them.

Essential skills for UX writers

Here are some essential skills required to succeed in the field of UX writing.

Writing skills

You need a strong command of spelling, mechanics, and grammar alongside an ability to convey messages clearly and succinctly.

To develop this skill:

• Write daily to improve clarity, grammar, and conciseness
• Study various UX writing examples to understand the different tones and styles
• Take writing courses to hone your skills

User-centered design

You’ll need an understanding of user behaviors, needs, and pain points as well as the ability to test copy with real users and interpret research to inform UX writing.

To develop this skill:

• If you’re not familiar with UX design already, learn the basics by taking courses, reading books, and following tutorials
• Participate in user testing sessions to understand how users interact with content

Technical skills

Technical skills aren’t compulsory if your focus is on writing over design. However, UX writers need to understand how their copy fits in the overall design. So a basic understanding of the design environment and how things work is helpful.

Work on building some familiarity with design tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch. A basic knowledge of the fundamentals of web development, like heading levels and image tags, also helps.

To develop this skill:

• Learn how to use design tools like Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch through tutorials and practice
• Take introductory courses in HTML and CSS to learn the basics of web development

Understanding of accessibility

It’s important to refine your ability to write accessible and inclusive UX copy, with a strong working knowledge of WCAG standards.

To develop this skill:

• Learn about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Read books and articles on inclusive and accessible writing
• Learn about how users with various abilities and disabilities interact with your content. You can do this by observing content testing sessions

Collaboration

Even if you’re a small or one-person team, it’s crucial to have clear and effective communication skills and the ability to work closely with designers, developers, researchers, product managers, and other stakeholders.

To develop this skill:

• Join collaborative projects to build teamwork and collaboration skills
• Network with other UX professionals to share knowledge and experiences

Now, let’s look at how to actually become a UX writer in 2024.

How to become a UX writer

If you’re new to writing and want to start a UX career, you can start by developing the skills we’ve already discussed. For a more structured approach, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you kickstart a UX writing career:

Learn what UX writing is

A great first step is to learn the fundamentals of UX writing. Learn about user experience, what UX writing entails, and the end-to-end process of UX writing. Here are some introductory books you can start with:

• Nicely Said by Nicole Fenton & Kate Keifer Lee
• Strategic Writing for UX by Torrey Podmajersky
• Writing is Designing by Michael J. Metts & Andy Welfle
• Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

It’s also a good idea to join UX writing communities as early as possible. Through these communities, you can get the guidance that’ll help set you on the right path faster. Here are a few of them:

• UX Writing & Content Design on LinkedIn
• UX Writing Hub newsletter

Take UX writing courses

While a UX writing course isn’t compulsory, it does have numerous advantages. You learn from the experts and get a chance to put the knowledge to practice through capstone projects. And when it’s time to enter the job market, you’ll have some work samples to present to potential employers.

If you’re worried about making a huge financial commitment, here are some free courses to get you started:

• A Taste of UX Writing – A short course by UX Writing Hub
• 15-Day UX Writing Challenge

Once you’ve had a taste of what UX writing is about and you’re still willing to delve deeper, here are some paid courses:

• Fundamentals of UX Writing for Beginners – Domestika
• Fundamentals of UX Writing – UX Content Collective
• The UX Writing Academy – UX Writing Hub

Learn about user-centered design

UX writing and design go hand-in-hand. Therefore, a user-centered design background is essential as it will make collaboration easier. To learn the basics of UX design, check out this Google course:

• Google UX Design Professional Certificate

While at it, you should also learn how to use design tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD.

Gain practical experience

The best way to consolidate your learning is through practice. Create mock projects to practice writing various forms of UX copy. You can also offer your services to small businesses and non-profit organizations to gain experience.

Create a portfolio

Creating a portfolio can seem daunting, but it helps in the long run by making it easy to showcase your skills to potential employers. If you’re not sure what to include in your portfolio, these articles will help set you on the right path:

• What We Look for in Content Design Portfolios and Work Samples — by Hubspot
• 5 Tips for the Best UX Writing Portfolio – by CareerFoundry

Of course, your portfolio doesn’t have to be perfect from the start. As you improve as a UX writer, you can update it to match your skill level.

Once your portfolio is sorted, you can apply for UX writing jobs. This job board by the UX writing hub lets you know what companies are hiring and how to apply:

• UX Writing Job Board

Wrapping up

UX writing is a user-centered approach to writing copy for user interfaces. It can significantly impact user engagement, satisfaction, and retention by enhancing usability.

In this guide, we highlighted some key principles of effective UX writing, essential skills for UX writers, and more. If you’re considering entering the field of UX writing, the step-by-step approach in this guide can help you get started on the journey to crafting delightful and impactful user experiences.