Ads are everywhere these days, going beyond the traditional forms of marketing in billboards, TV & newspaper ads. Almost every website and every social media platform has loud, flashy ads vying for our attention.
How do you compete with that? How can your company build an effective and customer-centric marketing campaign?
The answer lies with good user experience and content techniques that are relevant in guiding users through the loud noise and provide them with the much-needed insights into solving their problems.
In other words, UX writing and content strategy. These two terms are often used interchangeably since they are so similar but they are very different things. Let’s look at what UX writing and content strategy is.
UX Writing
UX writing: Text or content that helps users to connect with the company’s touchpoints. These are interactions that include live chat, emails, websites, and mobile apps. UX writing enables a link between the voice of the company to the users’ expectations and demands.
We are more and more aware of the importance of user experience, in fact, it’s so important that Google has decided to rank UX in their search engine algorithm. Companies that have sowed into strong and pleasant user experience early on are reaping significant rewards and benefits.
UX writing has many advantages that include an increase in conversion, engagement and user confidence. It also helps to avoid errors, friction and uncertainty which contributes to the user experience and brand image.
It works in addressing the thoughts and concerns of users, helping to guide and encourage users towards their intended goals. Furthermore, by implementing storytelling and conversational copy, it reaches the users’ emotions. This helps in engaging them and creating a sense of motivation for users to go on.
As the user progresses through, the writing should adapt accordingly to ensure that the user journey is quick and painless. It’s important to communicate well to users, because it affects the way users perceive the company, and thus affecting how users behave towards the product and company.
Communication is a two-way bridge, and it’s vital to build a strong bridge between the user and the company or product. When potential users use your product for the first time, it’s all new and they may not know what to do. Instead of letting users get lost and losing them, companies can make use of UX writing to guide the user through.
Don’t forget the little details too, microcopy are tiny words but with a huge UX impact, these are the words that users see when they go through the user interface. This could be error messages, labels, confirmation message, all the small stuff that is often overlooked that helps users get through their user journey without feeling overwhelmed.
Credit: https://login.mailchimp.com/login/post/
Mailchimp uses a friendly and conversational tone to help their users feel at ease, even when they face an issue. When the user tries to log in, but their username can’t be found, they don’t just say “Username not found.” Instead, they are friendly and considerate, offering the user an easy solution to guide them to their next step without creating a negative emotion for users.
Needless to say, UX writing isn’t an option but, in fact, should be a compulsory priority for every company.
Content Strategy
Content strategy is about the creation, placement, and promotion of specific content based on budget and efficiency. These could include creating supporting materials such as videos, articles, presentations, online masterclass, case study etc. Attracting relevant backlinks is also a part of content strategy.
With even more competition in this day and age, content strategy is a useful tool for companies in standing out by putting the right content in the right place.
Content strategy is an important authoritative aspect of UX design in continually converting business objectives into sets of action. The content therefore plays a critical role in meeting these business objectives.
It focuses on building brand awareness and brand loyalty, highlighting the company’s values and vision. As well as educating potential users and engaging them by humanising the company.
Credit: Wise
Wise’s (or formerly known as Transferwise) testimonials are an excellent content strategy aimed at educating potential users, and it highlights the brand loyalty and creates awareness, conveying the company’s values and vision.
Similarities Between UX Writing and Content Strategy
The Big Picture
UX writing and content strategy both employ a grand scheme approach, both these concepts address the elements of the experience with the specific product. In order to leverage both, it’s important to identify problems that the company encounters to plan out how best to mitigate the product flaws.
Words
Both UX writing and content strategy use words to build brand awareness and convey information. Content strategy comes in handy even before the user interacts with your product, and after they take a step in, UX writing guides users through their exploration.
Cross-Functional
UX writing and content strategy both work in close collaboration with experts from other fields, UX writers would work with graphic designers whereas content strategists collaborate with SEO specialists.
How Does UX Writing and Content Strategy Work Together?
UX writing actually belongs under the umbrella of content strategy, UX writing isn’t effective without content strategy but content strategy will still work without UX writing.
UX writing is done according to requirements detailed by content specialists, and it functions to convey the company’s voice. It is advantageous to make use of content strategy insights in creating an intuitive user interface.
For example, a UX writer might ask “What are the steps someone would take to get here?” whereas a content strategist would ask “Who are we trying to reach and what are the pain points that we can solve?” These content strategy insights would then contribute significantly to the UX writers’ understanding on who the user is and the task they need to do, and therefore be able to write content for the user interface that supports the user journey.
Summary
It’s vital to ensure that users have a pleasant user experience, making them feel positive and have repeating visits. UX writing and content strategy both play an important part in achieving this, working hand in hand to portray a personable experience between the user and the company.
