Writing should be useful

September 24, 2024

This is the start of a series about UX writing, based on my workshop Writing for Product Teams. Over the series, I explain three tenets: The writing we use in digital products should be useful, usable, and kind.

Writing in digital systems is useful when it is purposeful.

You can try some activities to help make your writing more useful.

Useful writing is purposeful

The purpose of writing in digital systems is to solve problems, and the practice of UX writing gives us the means to do this. You don’t have to be a “designer” or a “writer” to practice UX writing. Any product team member who has influence over the words that are used or how they are used shares the responsibility. As the book Strategic Writing for UX (2019) explains:

“We need words” is not the problem that we solve as UX writers. We communicate. We invite action. We inspire loyalty. Our teams need to know that UX writing can be used to solve problems.

Many problems can’t be solved alone. Individuals may have to work together to meet their respective or shared goals. Working together minimally requires a meaningful exchange of information or resources.

Between people, this exchange happens through verbal or written conversation.

Between a person and a digital system, this exchange happens through a user interface, such as an app or website.

We can use our daily experience conversing with other people as a guide for the writing we use in user interfaces.

The more you know about another person, the more effective your conversation. You should identify who they are to you, learn more about them, and speak to them in a relatable way. In terms of a user interface:

1. Identify your audience: Don’t write for a “general audience.” If your website is meant for college students, think about where they are in their journey. Are they prospective students, enrolled, or alumni? Are they first-generation college students? Get specific enough while not excluding anyone within your intended audience.
2. Research your audience: Ask questions to learn about your audience’s knowledge, expertise, interests, concerns, needs, tasks, and goals.
3. Write for your audience: Write in a way to help your audience find the content they need, understand that content, and then use that content to meet their goals. Speak to the user as a member of your audience.

Mutual benefits

Because you know your audience, you can make the conversation easy for them. Be cooperative. Reduce the required effort or upfront knowledge they need to engage in the exchange. The conversation should be mutually beneficial. Each side should be satisfied with what they invested in it and what resulted from it.

In this example at a restaurant, the waiter states upfront the options available to the customer. The customer can provide a simple response by selecting one of those options.

Waiter: Would you like wheat bread or gluten-free bread?

Customer: Wheat, please.

Waiter: Great!

In contrast, an uncooperative salesperson could be curt and not offer next steps. This could frustrate a customer and cost them extra time and effort.

Customer: Can you call me when this furniture is back in stock?

Salesperson: No.

Customer: Then what should I do?

Salesperson: Check back later.

In this third example, a customer and a home improvement store both benefit from their exchange:

1. A homeowner wants to hang drywall for the first time. This requires knowledge, materials, and tools.
2. They discover Home Depot has an online guide to walk through this project with videos and written instructions suitable for do-it-yourself homeowners.
3. They gained knowledge, but the page also lists the materials and tools that they may need and a means to find them in the customer’s local store.

The store aims to gain a loyal customer (and their money) by making it easy for the homeowner to learn about and complete their projects.

Activities for useful writing

Summarize a conversation as a user journey (steps toward meeting a goal). This user journey and the language used in the conversation can be the basis for designing a user interface.

Preparation

Prepare a list of sample situations involving an exchange between two people, such as:

• Customer wants dinner to be delivered for their family of four.
• Customer schedules a haircut.
• Customer buys corn at the farmers market.
• Customer asks the post office about a missing package.
• Friend invites you to their birthday party.
• Friend asks you to care for their pet this weekend.

Instructions (solo)

1. Select a sample situation.
2. Write both sides of the conversation as if it is a text message thread.
3. Write a user journey based on the conversation’s text.
4. Repeat as time allows. Add variation by changing:
   • Time, place, and environment
   • Mental or physical impairments of individuals
   • Outcome of the conversation
5. Reflect on what you did and learned.

Instructions (groups of two)

1. Participants vote on sample situations and select one for all groups to use.
2. Participants split into groups of two people and each determine a role to play based on the selected situation.
3. Use a speech-to-text tool (such as Microsoft Translator, the Microsoft Word dictate feature, or the Google Docs voice typing feature) to record a conversation between the participants based on the selected situation and participant roles.
4. Write a user journey based on the recorded text.
5. Repeat as time allows, with participants rotating roles. Add variation by changing:
   • Time, place, and environment
   • Mental or physical impairments of individuals
   • Outcome of the conversation
6. Afterwards, each group should share what they did and learned.

Example: Pizza order