5 benefits when you hire a UX writer

Want a customer-centric brand? A user-centric product or a personalized campaign? Then hire a UX writer!

This seems to be the buzz advice in the digital world today. And with the big guys like Google taking the lead, other businesses are following suit, while the other half don't even know why they should hire a UX writer. Well, let's find out.

Imagine It's a beautiful Monday morning; you're set to listen to your favorite motivational podcast. You open your phone's music app, and weirdly no words appear on the interface. Must be a network glitch." You think, "I guess I'll just listen while commuting."

You're ready to commute. You click open the taxi app. Again, the interface is devoid of text. This is becoming frustrating. You're confused, helpless, and running late for work.

Screenshot of Apple music’s screen without interface text displayed at the?WWDC22, writing for interface

This is your product without UX copy, an interface where clarity is evicted, and confusion resides. A no-go area or land of no return.

It's frustrating, right? I think so too, and so do Apple, Google, Facebook, and other companies hiring UX writers.

Here are 5 benefits you'll enjoy when you hire a UX writer on your team.

1. A UX writer humanizes your product and guides users to action.

Regardless of what it's called these days; UX copywriting, UX writing, or product writing, it's evident that words matter in design, hence the buzz.

We all agree that our days are nearly incomplete without performing certain tasks on our apps, like setting the alarm or listening to our favorite music.?

A UX writer writes the copy on these apps and websites, which allows you to complete these tasks seamlessly.

You see this copy on buttons, menu options, instructions, etc. Though micro in nature – these pieces of text produce powerful results.

Particularly, this was the case when Google replaced the phrase "Book a room" with "Check availability" on their hotel search feature, which led to a 17% increase in engagement, according to Maggie Stanphill, Senior UX writer at Google, during Google I/O 2017.

Screenshots of Google hotel search results.

2. A UX writer interprets research into impactful language.

UX writers are also researchers, which benefits the product team in many ways.

One is providing the right words at the right time through conversation mining. Here UX writers dig deeper into publicly available resources like forums to source language that resonates more with the product's target users.

Product teams can further leverage these insights to interpret and understand analytics better.

For example, a product team may find their app experiencing a low "sign-up" rate during onboarding. Without a UX writer, the first point of call may be to try to solve the problem with a more colorful button.

In contrast, a UX writer knows that using an unfamiliar button label may frustrate users and lead to low conversions. To fix this, a UX writer employs proper techniques in researching and comparing users' language preferences to improve the CTA, as seen in the picture below.

Comparing actionable terms using Google Trends

3. A UX writer boosts the efficiency of your Product Designer.

UX writing and UX design are subsets of user experience ( UX ) but are not the same. Think of them as cousins instead of siblings. Both solve user problems but with different approaches.?

UX writers focus on creating a conversation between the product and the user – think content strategy, written words, brand voice, tone, etc.

In contrast, product designers design a space for this conversation – think interface design, visual hierarchy, typography, colors, etc.

I doubt one person can be proficient and productive in all these key areas. For instance, earlier, we saw the product team without a User Experience Writer and their challenge with low sign-ups. Their first point of call was to increase or brighten the button because that's the primary focus of a UX designer.

Even if some designers can write, they'd pick pushing pixels over punctuations any day.

Don't take only my word for it:?

Add to the fact that according to Indeed's employee burnout report, 52% of all workers feel burned out. It's clear product designers also expected to write UX copy are struggling because multitasking reduces productivity by 40%. 40%!?

So if you want to stand out in a saturated market of over 8.93 million mobile apps, tasking your product designer to write UX copy is no longer an option. If you want them to be effective or stay long-term, hire a UX writer.

4. Hire a UX writer for effective communication

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

Maya Angelou

Some people undermine the value of UX writing. After all, recent apps and websites follow minimalist designs, so how much writing do you need?

The fact that people think of it this way is a job well done by UX writers. After all, when your product sounds human, the reader doesn't notice it.?Or as James Clear – author of Atomic Habits, puts it:

Usually, the better someone does their job, the easier it looks. You rarely realize how hard it is until you try it yourself.

Let's put that into practice. Try translating this error message into a human-readable language.

5. A UX writer increases your customer lifetime value ( CLV ) and reduces your cost of acquiring new ones (CAC)

According to Wikipedia:?

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)is the cost of winning a customer to purchase a product or service.?

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a calculation of the net amount of money a customer spends throughout a relationship with your business.

Think about all the content a company needs to get someone's attention, build a relationship, move them to purchase, and keep them satisfied even after the purchase.

Yet 88% of online shoppers would be hesitant to return if they had one bad experience. Thus, prioritizing UX copy is essential for improving customer retention for a better CLV.?

This type of thoughtful UX copy makes users loyal fans of the experience, thus increasing their lifetime value to the business. They even go further in telling their friends about the experience without any marketing efforts from you, thus reducing your cost of acquiring new customers.

This brings us to building a recognizable brand tone and voice.

This post originally appeared on thekatcopy at https://thekatcopy.com/why-hire-a-ux-writer/ Read the rest of the post to learn how a UX writer can build trust with your users in a recognizable voice.

I advise reviewing your messaging for loopholes in user experience. Remember, 88% of online shoppers would be hesitant to return if they had one bad experience.?

If you need some assistance, send me a DM. I'd be happy to help you review and strategize how you can design a memorable experience for users with words.