UX writing guide

UX writing is the creation of customer-facing copy that appears within digital products to help our users quickly understand information.

Typically, UX copy is instructional and goal-orientated. It can be found within various parts of our digital journeys, including:

  • Buttons and switches
  • Checkout flows
  • Comparative tables
  • Help text and validation messages
  • Labels on applications and data capture forms
  • Labels on graphical elements or representations of data
  • Onboarding screens
  • Signposting and navigation

At Standard Life, we have specialist UX writers/content designers who can support designers, developers and product teams across our digital estate.

Like any design we create, all UX copy should go through the same rigorous user testing and iteration to ensure it’s clear, understandable and user-friendly.

UX writing v copywriting

UX writing is different from traditional advertising or marketing copywriting – but they do share some key traits.

Both UX writing and copywriting should:

  • Attempt to create a narrative or journey
  • Be simple, succinct and user-friendly
  • Encourage or help a user to complete an action
  • Have a logical hierarchy
  • Have careful word choices

At Standard Life, the UX team are typically responsible for writing copy that appears once a user is logged in, for example within our mobile app or online servicing. The content team within the marketing department are responsible for creating copy that appears on website product pages and landing pages, brochures, emails and social media. However, there are many points of overlap – and it's important that all of this copy works together.

Microcopy

The term microcopy refers to the small amounts of text we add to things like headers, labels and buttons to encourage users to take an action.

Clear microcopy can help with usability, signposting and conversions, and should always aim to:

  • Articulate value to the user
  • Be short and succinct (although being clear is better than being brief)
  • Clearly describe the action a user is going to take
  • Leave the user in no doubt about what’s going to happen once they take an action

Tone of voice

Although UX and marketing copy are different, we should still write in the same tone of voice when we write for Standard Life.

Our tone of voice is the way we write and speak – and our tone of voice principles here at Standard Life are to be simple, humble and engaging.

All three of these principles are relevant to UX writing – but we should place particular emphasis on keeping things simple.

This is especially important in the financial services industry as we know how complex things like pensions and investing can be.

Even when we’re talking to advisers, we should still use simple language and keep our tone friendly and conversational. No matter whom we’re talking to, we should speak as an expert, using the voice of a friend.

Here are some hints and tips from our tone of voice guide that can help us create successful and user-friendly UX copy:

  • Avoid business jargon and buzzwords so we can communicate rather than confuse
  • Don’t overload our audience (remove unnecessary words and use the simplest phrases possible)
  • Keep things simple and succinct and get to the point as quickly as possible
  • Talk directly to our users and customers by primarily talking about ‘you’ rather than ‘us’
  • Use short sentences and paragraphs (aim for 15-20 words per sentence but vary the length to help with readability and engagement)
  • Write in plain English and use everyday language that our customers can understand

Sentence structure and scanning

We’d like to think our users pour over every carefully crafted paragraph of copy, and mull it over before arriving at a well-considered conclusion. But we know the reality is different.

Neilson Norman Group has been researching how people read online for more than 20 years and the results have always remained the same – people scan rather than read.

Here are some simple things we can do to make sure our customers and users consume and understand our content:

  • Break your copy into small digestible chunks to make it easier to scan and read
  • Front load your sentences with the most important information you want the user to know
  • Use clear headings and subheadings throughout your copy

You can also front load sentences with scenarios to help users quickly identify themselves and home in on the correct information.

For example, you might say:

  • If you pay basic rate tax, you should…
  • If you pay higher rate tax, you should…

The above example also uses a technique called ‘anaphora’, where a succession of sentences or phrases start with the same words.

This technique is useful for quickly creating a recognisable structure and works well when users are scanning online.

A quick (real) example

Original wording

How we invest the savings in our default strategy

When they’re a long way from retiring, the priority is to help grow your employees’ money long-term, even if that means it rises and falls in value in the short-term.

As they get nearer to retirement, the focus gradually changes as their money moves towards investments that are less likely to rise and fall in value. This gets it ready to take as an income.

What’s wrong with it?

How we invest the savings in our default strategy (verbal trip hazard)

When they’re (who?) a long way from retiring, the priority (whose priority?) is to help grow your employees’ money long-term (no hyphen), even if that means it (what’s ‘it’?) rises and falls in value in the short-term (no hyphen).

As they (who?) get nearer to retirement, the focus gradually changes as their money (whose money?) moves towards investments that are less likely to rise and fall in value. This gets it ready (gets what ready?) to take as an income.

How we can improve it

We can work out what this example is trying to say. But the extra cognitive load is making it more difficult to understand and could encourage users to skip through without reading it.

Here’s a quick rewrite, which makes the example clearer and more understandable:

How our default investment strategy works

When your employees are a long way from retiring, we aim for long-term growth with their investments – even if that means they rise and fall in value in the short term.

When your employees get nearer to retirement, we aim to protect their retirement income. So we gradually move their money into investments that are less likely to rise and fall in value.

Quick UX writing tips

To finish off this UX writing guide, here are some quick hints and tips to make your UX copy clear, simple and user-friendly:

  • Assume your user doesn’t have time to read all your copy – so make sure you break up sentences and paragraphs and use clear headings
  • Keep your sentences short and simple
  • Lead with the most important information first
  • Leave your copy a while, then go back and read it again (you’ll always find something you can improve)
  • Read what you write out loud (if you stumble over any words, our users probably will too)