Psychology of UX Writing

UX writing isn’t just about being technical. We write for real people with their own motivations, expectations, and limits. To create a smooth digital experience, it’s important to understand how users think and feel before they act.

This idea comes from behavioral psychology or behaviorism, which says our environment shapes how we behave. With the right approach, you can guide someone’s actions. While some say behaviorism doesn’t consider things like free will or emotions, it can still be useful for helping people navigate digital spaces.^[1]

Social psychology adds that people are influenced by others and social norms, even when alone — this is where the idea of social proof comes from. Cognitive psychology, which looks at how we process information and make decisions, also plays a key role in UX writing. Understanding these principles helps make digital experiences easier and more intuitive for users through UX writing.

The main goal of any designer is to create an intuitive interface. But what exactly does "intuitive" mean? Is it about intuition? Not quite.

Intuition is the ability to know something without needing proof — like a gut feeling. However, an intuitive interface isn't based on this. Instead, it refers to how well a product aligns with what users expect.^[2]

When an interface matches a user’s mental model — the way they assume things will work — it feels intuitive. For example, when you shop for groceries online, your mental model is based on real-life shopping — selecting items, putting them in a cart, and checking out. If the online process flows just like that, it feels natural and easy to use.

For UX writers, making interfaces intuitive means using the language your users are familiar with, avoiding technical terms, and ensuring the process feels as expected. This lowers the cognitive load and makes the experience smoother.

People are naturally drawn to patterns. Our brains resist change and seek the easiest way to complete tasks. We tend to rely on past experiences and look for familiar patterns when facing new challenges. For example, when visiting a website, we expect the menu to be at the top or inside a hamburger icon.

We expect both the appearance (UI patterns) and behavior (UX patterns) of elements to follow familiar norms. When things don’t match our expectations, we can feel confused or frustrated.^[3]

In UX writing, it’s essential to avoid forcing users to learn new terminology. Giving standard buttons unique names increases cognitive load and slows down task completion.

While every product is unique, common elements should be familiar, behave consistently, and use standard terms. As Jakob Nielsen puts it, “People don’t want to spend time learning; they want to spend time doing.”^[4] So, use "Like" instead of "Appreciate post" or "Buy" instead of "Make a purchase."

One of Susan Weinschenk's psychological principles states that people avoid working or thinking more than necessary. Our brains, wired for survival, are easily distracted.^[5] They identify, label, and ignore things until they become relevant. Information patterns activate the brain’s reactive system, which is fast, automatic, and subconscious, requiring little thought.^[6]

When users can't find quick solutions and have to rely on logic (the analytical system), they get frustrated and may abandon the product. How can designers and writers avoid this?

• Keep defaults upfront: Minimize cognitive load by ensuring the default settings match the most common user preferences. Place simple solutions in the most visible spots, following natural reading patterns. For example, in a Maps app, showing the most recent destination is more helpful than showing the most popular one, because recent use is often more relevant to users' current goal.
• Talk like users: UX writing should use familiar language to make feature recognition easy. When you use words that users already know, they can recognize them quickly without having to think too much, making interactions smoother.

People are social by nature, and much of our behavior is influenced by others. We often look to others for guidance, especially when unsure, a phenomenon called social validation. We want to act in line with others, whether choosing a product, place to eat, or making other decisions. But why do we do this?

According to social psychology, behavior is shaped by both the situation (culture, social roles, and others’ presence) and personal traits. The theory of situationism suggests that our environment, including other people, plays a key role in guiding our actions.

This explains why customers trust ratings, reviews, and statements like “People also liked” or “Selling fast”—these cues provide reassurance. Other digital elements like product descriptions, tips, and notifications can also influence decisions, helping users feel more confident in their choices.

Loss aversion means people experience a stronger emotional reaction to losing something than to gaining the same value. In other words, people prefer not to lose $20, than to find $20.^[7]

What does it mean for UX writing? Writers, just like designers, should always put themselves in users’ shoes to understand how they perceive and interpret the situation. Your intentions may be good for your company's priorities, but if users don’t see value in them, they’ll ignore them. For instance, instead of saying, “Add your email for updates,” you could highlight what users lose by skipping the action: “Don’t miss important updates — add your email now.”

Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed a theory that human behavior consists of goals, barriers, drives, and psychological environments. Each time a person has the intention to achieve a goal, they encounter obstacles, and psychological tension is built. The tension is released when an individual completes the task. For example, when users come to a website, they may feel highly motivated to buy a product (driving forces). But, when they're suddenly asked to sign up at the checkout stage, it could create confusion, irritation, and doubt (restraining forces), impeding users from acting and achieving the goal. What can designers and UX writers do to solve this issue?

Studies prove that, sometimes, removing barriers is more likely to help people than adding extra incentives. So, instead of forcing users to create an account to buy products, provide them an alternative to leave their contact details for the delivery and pay without any extra effort. As a designer and UX writer, your goal is to detect potential barriers for action and eliminate them before users decide to leave.

Hick’s Law, established in 1952 by psychologists William Hick and Ray Hyman, states that the more options people have, the longer it takes for them to make a decision, leading to frustration and overwhelm. While it might seem like more choices offer more freedom, studies like the 2000 Jam Experiment show the opposite—customers are more likely to make a purchase when fewer options are available.

Too many choices increase cognitive load and cause decision paralysis, making users less satisfied with their choices, often second-guessing their decisions.^[8]

To combat this, designers and UX writers can:

• Minimize choices: Especially when time is limited, prioritize common options and hide others under a "Show More" button.
• Break down complex tasks: Split tasks like forms into smaller, manageable steps to reduce cognitive load.
• Highlight essential items: Use visual cues like subheadings, color, and font weight to make key options stand out and simplify decision-making.

Imagine your partner asks you to buy a list of groceries: milk, banana, cookies, pickles, whole wheat bread, cheese, and peanut butter. According to the serial position effect, you’re likely to remember the first (milk) and last (peanut butter) items but forget those in the middle, like pickles and whole wheat bread, unless you wrote them down.

This happens because we find it easier to remember the first and last items in a sequence. The first items are processed more easily, and the last items stick in our short-term memory.^[9] The middle items require more effort to recall because they are grouped together, making it harder for our brains to process.

In UX writing, position the most important information at the beginning or end of a list to ensure users remember it, and place less critical details in the middle. For example, place the most common settings at the top of the Settings page, where users expect them to be.

The Fogg Behavior Model explains that for any behavior to occur, 3 things must be present: motivation, ability, and a trigger. If one of these is missing, the behavior won't happen.

Motivation drives action in 3 ways:

• Physical: Basic needs, like hunger, prompt action, such as ordering food online.
• Emotional: Feelings like hope or fear push decisions, like buying insurance out of fear.
• Social: The desire to fit in leads us to join social media or follow trends.

Ability refers to how easy or hard a task is. If a task is difficult, higher motivation is needed. It's easier to simplify tasks than to increase motivation.

Triggers prompt action, like a call-to-action saying “limited collection” or an invitation to a free course.

These factors can balance each other. High motivation might drive action even if the task is harder or the trigger less compelling.^[10] For example, to boost motivation for daily workouts, designers could add a feature to compare progress with friends, tapping into social motivation.

Many designers and UX writers have heard of Miller's Law but often misunderstand it. It’s not about limiting interface elements to the magical number 7. Instead, Miller's 1956 paper introduced the idea of chunking to make information easier to process, scan, and remember. The mention of "7" was rhetorical, not a strict rule.

Miller showed that grouping related information into chunks helps users understand and retain it more effectively. The number of items in a chunk depends on the context and the user’s familiarity with the content.

Key takeaways from Miller’s Law:

• Group content into chunks to make it easier to scan and comprehend.
• Avoid overwhelming users with long lists — show the most relevant items first.
• Use visual hierarchy to prevent clutter and make information more digestible.
• Consider context, as memory capacity varies depending on familiarity and the situation.