UX Writing Strategy

UX writing strategy is part of a broader content strategy focused on creating content that meets user needs and business goals. Before you start writing anything, start by defining the main objectives or setting the writing goals.

Ask: What do users need to achieve? How does the copy support business goals? Align the copy with the product's voice and tone, keeping it consistent and user-focused. Involve your content manager, designers, and writers early in planning. This collaboration ensures accuracy and keeps the copy tied to the overall content strategy.

Think through all user touchpoints with the product — onboarding, buttons, error messages, or tooltips. Every piece of copy should help users navigate the product and complete tasks seamlessly.

By starting with clear goals and teamwork, your UX copy will better meet user needs while supporting business objectives.

Figurative expressions, technical terminology, or professional slang used along with complex sentences may appear impressive and smart, but they require too much mental effort to process and only stand to confuse users. Research proves that even experts and highly educated users prefer plain writing that is easy to scan. Naturally, this applies to international users and people who use English as a second language as well.^[1]

Here's how you can keep your copy simple:

• Use plain language, avoiding jargon, slang, branded terms, and idioms. However, using shared jargon can be helpful if your audience comprises experts (e.g., healthcare professionals or software engineers). Just ensure your target audience commonly understands the terms.
• Write in a friendly, natural way that feels like a real conversation to make the content more engaging and relatable.
• Aim for a 6-8th grade reading level for general audiences. Adopt a habit of measuring the readability of your copy with online tools like the Readability Test, Gunning Fog Index, or Automatic Readability Checker.

Many people have been taught at school to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. According to this outdated grammar rule, instead of saying "What type of accommodation are you looking for?" the copy should say "For what type of accommodation are you looking?"

However, the point is people don't talk like that. Modern grammarians agree that using prepositions at the end of sentences is not a violation.^[2] In fact, it makes the copy sound more human and requires lesser effort from users to understand what they need to do.

On average, users read about 20% of webpage content. Instead of reading word-by-word, people prefer scanning and grasping concepts at a glance.^[3] Unfortunately, some UX authors misinterpret this rule, thinking that the copy should always be short and sacrifice its clarity. Concise copy still has to be efficient, implying that each word serves a purpose.

How can you make your writing concise?

• Cut down redundant words. Avoid unnecessary filler words like articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, passive voice, or linking words (such as "that," "in order to," "in case," "even though," "look like," etc.) if they can be removed without breaking the sentence's meaning, or rephrase the text completely.
• Break content into small digestible chunks. Chunking makes content easier to scan, comprehend, and identify. Short, meaningful sentences are easier to comprehend for all users, especially for those living with reading disabilities. On average, people with moderate reading abilities can grasp sentences containing 5-8 words.

Like company colors and logos, the brand voice tells users a story about your product, using language to evoke emotions and connect with the audience. The key to building a solid brand voice is consistency. When it's applied everywhere in your product's interface and marketing materials, your users get used to it and recognize your brand as they would an old friend.

To establish a strong brand voice:

• Get everyone on board. Your entire team, from content creators to tech support should have access to the brand voice template explaining how the product should sound and the benefits of using the brand voice.
• Use it everywhere consistently. This includes your website or app, blog, social media accounts, email newsletters, support chats, and any other medium you use to interact with your users. If you sound different on different platforms, you can create confusion and lose credibility.
• Brand voice can experience changes. Your product grows over time just as your domain, audience preferences, and environment change too. Be flexible and ready to change your brand voice and traits to make sure your product creates the right impact and is still appealing to your audience.

According to the Nielsen heuristic on error prevention, a good system provides helpful error messages when an error occurs, but the best system prevents problems from occurring in the first place.^[4] UX writing is not only about guiding users towards completing a task but also anticipating users' confusion and removing error-prone conditions during each interaction stage.

Users frequently skim instructions and text because they believe they know how products work and can move around intuitively. UX copy should always be there when they stumble and serve as a crutch. For example, an empty state page that doesn't have content yet should anticipate users' confusion and provide a brief explanation about what users are expected to do. For example, "Your shopping cart is empty. Continue shopping or view your saved items."

Respect is a key principle of any relationship. Writing respectfully means making your copy simple, concise, meaningful, and accessible to all users with any reading level.

How else can you show respect to your users in UX copy?

• Value users' time. Don't expect users to read the copy word-by-word and aim to provide concise, plain, but informative labels, tooltips, placeholders, and instructions.
• Value users' agency. A respectful service or product asks users' opinions, gives them a choice, values users' rights to data privacy, and doesn't force them to do things they don't want to do.
• Value users' dignity. Humor is an excellent tool to make a product's voice sound more human but only if it connects to your users and fits your brand's personality. Don't cross the line, though, and be sensitive to people of different races, religions, ages, and sexual orientations.

Dark patterns manipulate users into actions they didn’t intend, violating their privacy and freedom of choice. While these tactics may lead to short-term gains, they erode user trust, which is essential for long-term relationships.

Many dark patterns involve UX writing. Confirmshaming is the popular technique of guilt-tripping potential customers. Instead of respecting users' choice to unsubscribe, products use the feeling of shame and the fear of missing out (FOMO) to make users feel bad about their decision. Scaremongering is another dark pattern that uses fear to trick people into doing something they don't want to. Exaggerated language manipulates users' needs for safety, health, love, respect, and recognition. It scares people into taking actions they didn't plan to, like downloading an antivirus software (need for safety and fear of losing data) or registering in a dating app (needs for love and fear of loneliness).

Stay away from dark patterns to foster trust and respect users' choices.