The differences between UX writing and copywriting

Seaside or mountains? Dogs or cats? Devil or holy water? Most importantly... UX writing or copywriting?

Today we focus on the latter pair of terms with the goal of explaining how they differ and, more importantly, why it’s important to be clear in your head that they are two very separate activities.

While not as antithetical concepts as the others we opened the piece with, there are far more differences than commonalities between UX writing and copywriting.

By the end of this article, you’ll be in no doubt as to when you need to use one activity or the other and what goals each can help you achieve.

Definitions of UX writing and copywriting

The first and easiest aspect to analyze is the definition of the main types of writing in the professional field.

Copywriting

Copywriting is writing aimed at selling a product or service.

Don’t be fooled by the term “sell”, that is, don’t think that it only means those texts that contain a direct offer to buy something. If the goal is sales, however, effective copywriting doesn't come across as aggressive or pedantic as some conventional sales copy is, especially on the internet (think of the landing pages you typically get to from promotional videos on YouTube... yes, we know you’ve clicked on them a few times too, there’s no shame in that).

Well-crafted copywriting contributes to the commercial success of a company by creating, brick by brick, an image for the company, a set of values for the brand, ideally, an ideology with which the customer identifies. In short, it is an activity that is anything but reprehensible, if it is a matter of making it clear to whom and how the product or service in question can help.

The source of much of the confusion and, let’s face it, coldness with which some people look at copywriting stems from the gross use that too many pseudo-professional writers have made of it, especially by mixing it with content writing. Content writing should be geared towards creating value for the reader, explaining something or solving a problem they are dealing with. It is important that content writing is done in line with the tone of voice of the brand you are writing from. The focus should be on the reader’s problem and the proposed solution, not on the merits and successes of the brand itself.

Too many blogs and publications these days forget about this distinction between copywriting and content writing. They offer content of very low customer value, little more than bar talk. They are nothing but excuses to offer their product as a panacea against all ills.

And yes, there is no shortage of opportunities to apply the principles of copywriting: online and offline advertising, slogans, taglines, website texts, SEO texts, email campaigns (warning!, not newsletters), promotional videos, press releases, catalogs, billboards, brochures, jingles, social media posts (alternating with valuable content).

Your potential customers want to know more about what you do and why you do it well. The important thing is not to hide advertising under generic or superficial advice.

It is therefore essential to have promotional texts in which your brand talks about itself, and this is where copywriting can help your company in its growth. As long as it is done in the ways and contexts dedicated to it: ways and contexts completely different, therefore, even from those of UX writing.

UX Writing

UX writing is the writing of the texts that appear in the interface of a software or digital product. Its purpose is to enable communication between the system and the user, making sure that the user knows what to do at every moment of the interaction and makes the most of the use of the system.

UX writing is complicated for three reasons:

1. First of all, communication is asynchronous. When the user is browsing the digital product neither the UX writer nor any member of the company is there to control what they are doing and why. A challenge of UX writing is therefore to guess at what point the user will need help with a certain message and anticipate their doubts and uncertainties.

2. Little flexibility in text length. Let’s leave the FAQ writing to other professionals who do that for a living (by the way, how are your tech writers doing? Do you have any in your company?), the UX writer’s job is to explain in a few words, one or two sentences at most, what the user should do at that point and whether they have one or more options to choose from.

3. Whoever uses a program, an app or any kind of software is well aware that he/she is interacting, precisely, with a software. He doesn't perceive the interaction as if he’s talking to a person. Rather, he approaches the texts and the interface as if he were holding an instruction booklet, which evolves and follows him step by step through the digital journey. The texts must be adapted to these requirements in terms of both content and tone of voice.

The tone of voice, we’ll never tire of repeating, must be kept consistent across all communication channels that the company has with the public.

In the same way, the contents of the interfaces should be modulated by choosing between a more or less formal approach, more or less direct, etc., finding a balance between the effectiveness of the message for its precise purpose and consistency with the corporate image.

As opposed to copywriting, UX writing applies to system messages, navigation instructions, notifications, error and buffering messages, and interface text such as page titles, call-to-actions, menu items on web pages, etc.

UX Writing examples

We show here some cases of effective UX writing, because everything has been said about copywriting and the problem is to understand which sources should serve as inspiration and which are just noise. We like for example the blog Crazyegg, or more generally the section on online publications of Seth Godin’s blog.

However, we will allow ourselves an initial, popular and somewhat extreme example to clarify once and for all the difference between the two activities. To do that, let’s go back a few years, to a world where the internet hadn't yet been invented. The product in question is one of those unwavering ones: Levi’s jeans.

Copywriting or UX Writing? The Last Word

Copywriting is but one (if not "the") evolution of traditional advertising. In the case of Levi’s, think of its proverbial slogans. My favorites are two.

“Quality never goes out of style” is a successful slogan because it distinguishes a brand that is aware of its most important values (quality) and is not afraid to leverage its strengths in communication, emphasizing the longevity of its success.

Similarly, the more dated “Have you ever had a bad time in Levi’s?” is effective because it leverages the emotional connotation that the product has for consumers and helps create a real system of ideals that people can feel identified with.

UX writing, we’ve said, is an art proper to the online world by definition. But if we were to try to find a counterpart in the pre-internet era, in the case of jeans the text that most closely corresponds to it would be the label with the washing instructions. Wash at maximum 40°! Dry avoiding high temperatures! Iron at maximum 120°!

Provided that the user of the garment knows how to interpret the icons on the label, they are a useful tool for continuing to use the product in the best possible way over time. The good news is that, for digital products, there is much more maneuvering room available to UX Writers, who can indulge themselves while keeping the effectiveness of the message high. Let us look at some exemplary cases together.

UX Writing best practices and examples

We report now a series of basic principles of UX writing followed by one or more examples of correct application.

• Familiarity for the user is more important than an accurate description.

  On Twitter, we notice that there are “Messages” and “Notifications” sections. Notifications are nothing more than messages from the system itself, but it is clear that keeping messages exchanged with people separate from system messages is an advantage in terms of clarity for the user.

  Along the same lines, we find the item “Home” where in the IT field it would be a “Feed”, i.e. the section of the platform where you collect the content that the algorithm thinks you might be interested in.

  

• Take advantage of needed messages to convey your brand’s tone.

  Here are some posts we found on various web pages replacing standard buttons or titles: “Fresh Articles” as the title of the Blog section of a healthy eating site (playing on the meaning of fresh) “Awww, don’t cry. It’s just a 404" for the respective error code on Pixar’s site “High Fives!” for confirmation of a campaign launch with MailChimp.

  

  

  

• Tailor the message to the emotions the user will experience at some point along the way.

  In this, Airbnb is always one step ahead of everyone. For example, the replacement of the "Book" button with the words "Check availability" was designed to make this step less stressful in the eyes of the user, as well as the addition of the message "You will not receive any charge at this stage" responds to the need, felt by all, to know exactly when the time to pay will come and especially what will be the final amount.

  

• Always give the user an alternative route to take.

  Here the example is of a car insurance comparison platform. Since the search works by license plate, the button "Enter license plate number" appears on the home page. However, there are other options in case you don’t know your license plate number: "Can't remember your license plate number?" and "Did you just buy the car?" (assuming the license plate number has not yet been assigned). Bonus points for entering these options in the same place and style as the arcane "Forgot your password?" that appears on countless sites.

  Message on insurance comparison platform

• Be creative: it is your site, after all.

  Menu titles are an integral part of UX writing and help users find what they’re looking for quickly. However, there is nothing to prevent you from choosing a title different from the usual four or five pre-packaged "home, about us, services, customers, contact", or similar. On one web design agency’s page, the "Clients" section was renamed "What If" so that potential clients could experience first-hand the feeling of renewal that the agency had granted to others. A wording therefore less immediate but certainly more stimulating, original and evocative.

  

New Jobs: the profession of UX writer

What are the characteristics to look for in whoever will be in charge of writing your UX texts?

Let’s start with the obvious: This is not a job to assign to "someone" in the company who is not particularly busy and can spend time on this task. And it doesn't matter if it’s an intern, a manager, or the Mega Galactic Director.

That is, unless you want to quickly dispose of new users or potential customers: don’t forget that the period of time a user takes to evaluate a digital product is very short and UX texts are one of the main components of that first impression.

Before entrusting UX writing to a certain corporate professional or vendor, consider the following:

• UX writing is a job. The UX writer must be a specialist.

  Don’t let the word writing mislead you. The UX writer possesses a whole range of skills that have nothing to do with a writing professional who deals with other types of texts. This applies equally to copywriting. If writing informative content is and should be the prerogative of everyone, as long as they have valuable knowledge in a certain field, copywriting is another activity that should always be entrusted to a specific professional, to avoid expiring in the hybrid and disappointing texts we mentioned above.

  If a professional copywriter or editor combines a proven track record in UX writing with other specializations, fine, but don’t fall into the trap of pompous job titles and look for someone who has already successfully ventured into this specific activity in the past.

• The UX Writer cannot work alone.

  If there’s anything the name UX writing suggests, it’s that this kind of writing belongs to the broader concept of UX design, the design of user experience. In this area, an absolute must is Steve Krug with his various books and online publications. Text writing is one of the components that make up the practice of optimizing user interfaces in terms of ease of use, purchase intention, and aesthetic appeal. It is natural, therefore, that one or more experts in each of these areas should work together and that none of them should be able to proceed without continuous discussion with the others.

  We take this into account when launching a UX writing project, asking for example if the supplier can count on experts in the various areas or, in the case of independent contractors, if they have experience in projects of this type to be carried out by several hands.

• The technical skills are not a must, but..

  The digital context in which UX writing takes place is full of technical pitfalls that not all professionals can face with the same fluency. From small details like the length of the text (think of some buttons or points on the web page where it’s not possible to "wrap") to more complex challenges like articulated workflows, the technical infrastructure is another element that influences the work of the UX writer. Not to mention that a certain familiarity with the system can provide an extra gear in the creation of the texts that will appear there.

  On the one hand, it is clearly preferable to rely on a professional UX Writer than on a technician who is very knowledgeable about the digital product but less fluent in composing related texts. If, however, the range of possibilities that we have in front of us is open, better to wink at those who can give us a hand on the technical aspects instead of leaving us to manage them internally or worse create complications from this point of view.

Conclusion

"I only see two rules: care for the reader and respect the reader. Everything else stems from them. It’s easier to understand how to address people you don’t know once you accept those two rules.” — Moses Kim, Shakuro

Summing up, despite the confusion that still generates in the heads of some professionals and not, UX writing is an activity with clear and well-defined boundaries.

In case you are looking for a collaborator, we have extensive experience with UX Writing and can count on skilled professionals, contact us and let’s discuss to see if we are right for you.

If you have a website, chances are you could benefit from a consultation from a UX Writing perspective, to check that you’re not losing a large chunk of the visitors you’ve been struggling to intercept along the way. If you’re then creating a web app, software, digital product of any kind, then it’s out of the question, you need to pay double attention to this aspect.

Optimize your UX Writing as soon as possible if you don’t want your potential customers not to convert because of small but annoying inefficiencies in your texts or, worse, that those who buy are then dissatisfied with the usability of the product. You know that one frustrated customer is more dangerous than a hundred unconverted leads.