Why your organization needs a UX writer
By now, most of tech has heard of UX writing. Not everyone totally understands what it is, but they know the big boys have UX writers (aka content strategists, aka content designers — Google, Facebook, etc. — and so they start thinking they should want one, too. But they’re not sure what to look for in a UX writer or what they should actually expect the person to do. For the latter, see What do UX writers do all day? As for the former, well that’s a story for another time. Here I want to talk about why you do in fact need (at least) one.
Increase Revenue
Much research has been done showing that humans expect interfaces to act and sound like humans these days and humans use words (if you read just one thing on this topic make it The Man Who Lied To His Computer by Clifford Nass). They want to interact with human words and not just any words: In the real word, i.e., not digital world, good service providers use clear and helpful words in an empathetic tone, answering or even preempting your questions at just the right time. Even more than good prices or years in business, the customer service experience is a big part of why people choose one bank over another, or one insurance company over another, or even one OBGYN over another. The right words said the right way at the right time in the right place go a long way toward getting users to want to work with you — to pay you.
Time is money and people will pay more if they have to deal with you less to get where they’re trying to go. Words help direct them in a way visual design can’t do alone, so it’s worth investing in getting them right.
Decrease Expenses
Not only can good UX writing help you bring in more revenue, it can help cut expenses. Good UX saves software engineers heaps of (expensive) time fixing broken flows and building patch upon patch upon patch.
It also decreases support tickets so that you can employ a small, specialized team, instead of an auditorium full of bored employees answering the same questions again and again, all getting paid a salary. Good UX, which includes UX writing, is good for the bottom line.
Improve Usability & Accessibility
It’s the right thing to do and makes you more money.
Everyone’s got UI designers. Most companies have UX designers. (Personally I have found that “UI/UX designers” tend to be UI designers by a sexier name… but of course that’s a case-by-case basis thing and each designer should be judged according to their own experience and skills and not their title.) And that’s awesome. It means a serious shift from forcing humans to adapt to interfaces to forcing interfaces to adapt to humans. It means accessibility to more audiences, like the grandmothers out there who want photos and video chat with their grandkids and can have it now because it’s gotten that human and intuitive. Our hearts and minds are in the right place. We know that investing in usability and accessibility is the right thing to do, that it is good and also makes business sense. So we want to invest in it. And UX writing gives you sure fire ROI.
But visual design can only get you so far. For example, visual design often relies on conventions (e.g., most icons) that many segments are unfamiliar with (remember the grandmas). By adding words, you quickly tune in whole segments that otherwise could not use your interface and could not access that wonderful tech your R&D team created. And after all, what’s the point of innovation if no one can use it?
Make a Better Product All Around
Good UX writers are data-driven and are always testing and tweaking copy. There is no way a good UX writer will not help hit KPIs in a way that you just wouldn’t without them.
In addition to quantitative improvements, UX writing goes a long way toward making qualitative improvements, namely, what we in the biz call “delight”. If two products offer the exact same value props, but one provides a delightful experience, you can bet which one the masses will use (all things equal, of course, like marketing efficacy). And words go a long way toward the delight level. Words are the literal conversation users have with you. It’s the main component in building rapport. It determines how much they are willing or even yearn to interact with you, how often they’ll visit, how long they’ll stay each time, how much they’ll talk about you to their friends, how much they’ll tell you (data is the name of the game these days…), and how much they’ll pay you. How much they like your product persona is everything and words are the key to the front door.
Can’t Any Writer Do It?
You might be thinking, “OK, you’ve convinced me. Words matter. But I already have writers. I have a content writer and a copywriter and a technical writer… why do I need to hire? Can’t they just do it?”
No. Not if you want it done right. Here’s an analogy: a company wants to save money so instead of hiring a front end developer and a back end developer, they hire a full stack developer. Did they really get more bang for their buck? I would argue not. They didn’t actually get two developers for the price of one… they got a part time FE and a part time BE for the price of one full time developer and they didn’t get an expert in either. The same goes here. If you want a copy/UX writer or a content/UX writer (and I have seen a ton of these job descriptions lately) you’re going to get half of this and half of that and a super duper neither. If there are any roles you would combine, I would never suggest making UX writing one of them. It is so specialized, and has so much potential for ROI, that if you are already getting one, do it right and go all the way. Good UX writers are still a little hard to come by these days because the field is young so there are plenty of entry levels and a few super gurus, but far fewer 3–5 years’ers which is what you probably need. UX writers tend to love what they do. So let them do it all day, every day. You won’t be sorry. “How to find one” coming soon…
