1. Home
  2. Insights
  3. Content Experience
  4. UX Writing: Audit & Guidelines

UX Writing: Audit & Guidelines

To create content that resonates with its target audiences, UX writers analyze the language used on web pages and optimize it as needed.

25.04.2024 12 min reading time
Von: Michelle Mossier Content Writer Denice Su Cronauer Content Manager

Content

  1. In a nutshell
  2. UX writing: Definition
  3. UX writing vs. copywriting
  4. Conduct a UX writing audit
  5. Important questions and answers

In a nutshell: UX writing

  • UX writing facilitates effective user navigation and enhances brand visibility
  • A UX writing audit involves cataloging the linguistic content on a website
  • The audit evaluates the structure, target audience approach, inclusivity, readability, and other important factors
  • Establishing guidelines is essential for efficient and standardized UX writing practices
  • Tailoring microcopy is crucial for creating a distinctive and memorable brand experience

What is UX writing?

When we refer to "UX writing" (user experience writing), we're discussing the creation of user-friendly text for digital products, such as user interfaces for websites or software applications.

"Before the digital age, humans were the only beings who used language to communicate. So when someone speaks to us with language, our brain immediately reacts to the other person as if they were a human being."

Yifrah Kinneret: UX Writing & Microcopy, Bonn 2020, p. 23.

Based on this quote, we can say that as UX writers, we engage users personally, much like an interaction at an office desk or a café. In addition to design and technical implementation, appealing and accessible texts are vital components of a holistic digital user experience.

Provide orientation

UX writing helps users navigate elements and pages effortlessly. As UX copywriters, we prioritize honesty and simplicity in our content to reduce the mental effort required for users to comprehend it. We strive to create an accessible content experience that motivates, convinces, and invites users to take action.

Create a brand experience

Strategic UX writing aids users in achieving their website goals, sparks curiosity, and maintains clarity. Ultimately, precise and empathetic text fosters a unique brand experience that can inspire user loyalty.

Optimize readability

UX writers develop concise, easy-to-read text or small modules with significant impact – like button labels and form fields – that facilitate seamless interaction with the user interface and instill a sense of security and familiarity. Effective click triggers, such as CTAs positioned near buttons, entice users and pique their curiosity.

Just as many people keep returning to their favorite café, they also keep revisiting user-friendly, familiar websites. This presents a fantastic opportunity for companies to cultivate lasting customer loyalty.

Tools

We recommend several useful tools that have proven effective for crafting tailored microcopy. There are various options available based on where and how we write copy:

  • in graphic design software (e.g. Figma)
  • in content management systems (e.g. Django, AEM)
  • in copybooks as structural guides

Important: Avoid using Lorem Ipsum text. Only actual copy can determine whether content, layout, and text length are in harmony.

UX writing vs. copywriting

In addition to user experience writing, we at Moccu are also trained in copywriting and SEO copywriting. We also create SEO content briefings for keyword-optimized texts that generate high traffic and enhance brand visibility.

Copywriting focuses on longer texts, while UX writing includes shorter modules (e.g. button CTAs)

For UX writers, crafting microcopy – such as instructions, pop-up windows, tooltips, empty states, chatbot texts, and 404 pages – is part of our daily routine. In contrast, our copywriting tasks typically involve creating content for landing pages and newsletters.

It’s crucial to integrate UX writing and copywriting within the team. That’s why we recommend leveraging the combined expertise of UX, content management, SEO, and copywriting.

The following illustration provides a framework for distinguishing between UX writing and copywriting.

Copywriting

  • Focus on marketing
  • Should capture attention and persuade
  • Creative, narrative writing
  • Content stands alone
  • Longer texts included

UX-Writing

  • Focus on user guidance
  • Inconspicuous and supportive
  • Technical, solution-oriented writing
  • Content builds logically
  • Short texts

How a UX writing audit works

To optimize UX writing and better meet user needs, we recommend conducting a UX writing audit, which involves inventorying the existing text on a webpage. This includes evaluating the quality of various content types (i.e. button labels, informational texts, teasers, info cards, navigation links, and emails).

Tailored, user-centered texts enhance the overall user experience and communicate your company’s uniqueness more clearly.

Important Note: A UX writing audit is different from a content audit. The latter catalogs and analyzes all content without focusing on text-specific aspects. Each approach provides valuable insights.

Let’s dive deeper into the UX writing audit: to develop new, well-crafted textual content, it's essential to assess existing texts and microcopy. This helps identify concrete optimization opportunities and actionable instructions, ensuring alignment with your company’s strategic goals.

Need help getting started with your UX writing audit?

We’re here to advise and assist you – just get in touch!

Arrange a consultation call

Define criteria for the audit

For your UX writing audit, evaluate your company’s key pages, along with specific elements, modules, and functions, and create a textual inventory.

Click triggers are also part of our UX writing audit

Top 5 analysis points

Final check – compliance with the guidelines

Are there any lingering issues or inconsistencies? During the final check, ensure that the page aligns with the style guide and the company's brand guidelines. This step is crucial for maintaining consistency across all text elements.

Documenting corporate values

Based on the company's values, the textual characteristics that define the communication with users are outlined. This shapes the tone of voice – how the brand should sound – making its personality tangible in UX writing. The tone of voice is also vital for international SEO in global markets.

Examples of values are:

  • Proximity
  • Originality
  • Courage
  • Openness

Suitable properties could be:

  • Committed
  • Creative
  • Dynamic
  • Curious
  • Risk-taking
  • Accessible
  • Tolerant
  • Youthful
  • Unconventional
  • ...

The list of values could also look like this:

  • Sincerity
  • Accuracy
  • Quality
  • Security

In this case, suitable properties could be:

  • Honest
  • Straightforward
  • Reliable
  • Competent
  • Trustworthy
  • Loyal
  • Knowledgeable
  • Demanding
  • Sovereign
  • ...

These values and traits communicate the brand essence and must be conveyed consistently. If no clear corporate values and characteristics can be determined from the text, take the opportunity to elevate their prominence. They should harmonize with the specifications in the company's style guide, corporate language and brand guidelines.

Planning and prioritizing

Before revising individual text elements, UX writers must establish priorities and develop a roadmap that aligns content with user needs, goals, and expectations. It’s essential to ensure that text modules cater to their target audience and enhance the brand experience while contributing to the company's objectives.

AI tools such as ChatGPT/OpenAI can assist in gathering valuable insights about a company, especially if there's limited information or no developed style guide available.

For instance, AI can be used to create a prompt that explores a company's core values and goals – a helpful addition to your research for UX writing or content marketing.

UX writing guidelines

Advantages:

  • Uniformity
  • Brand loyalty
  • Time saving
  • Accessibility
  • Simplifying our work

Guidelines are essential. They provide a foundation for consistently implementing specifications and communicating a brand effectively through UX writing. Consistency in text design and tonality ensure a familiar user experience.

Ideally, guidelines are created right at the start of a collaboration and in consultation with all parties involved. This approach can help to standardize internal processes, promoting efficient work while upholding quality standards and aligning with a content-first approach to UX writing (UX content writing, if you will). This prevents major deviations from expectations and minimizes frustration.

Additionally, clear specifications reduce the need for time-consuming coordination. Defining all important parameters upfront means decisions don’t need to be remade repeatedly, streamlining feedback loops.

Does that sound interesting to you too?

Let’s collaborate to develop UX writing guidelines tailored to your brand!

Get in touch

Accessibility for companies is another aspect that should not be missing from our guidelines. Alt texts are essential as they provide detailed descriptions of images or graphics, adhering to the specified guidelines, including character limits.

Choosing an accessible font is equally important to enhance the readability of UX text elements for individuals with dyslexia. For example, a capital "O" should be easily distinguishable from a zero, and a capital "I" from a one. This clarity helps users quickly comprehend the content.

In addition, we also document how to implement gender-inclusive language.

Why accessibility should matter to online retailers

Website accessibility is often perceived as a niche concern, but it’s essential for all businesses.

More on successful accessible design

Specifications should always deliver tangible benefits or measurable outcomes. For example, incorporating cheering headlines before product grids can significantly boost conversions. These motivating headlines, often with a personal touch, are strategically placed to drive engagement.

A cheering headline is strategically placed in front of a product grid

We also define the structure of step-by-step instructions for how-to articles, for clients such as STIHL, Hama, and Angelini. Each headline contains a motivating verb, and the maximum number of steps are defined.

Alongside our UX writing guidelines, we also maintain other guidelines that better structure and facilitate our collaboration – such as those for content management. Clear instructions and guidelines are available and help us to enter content in accordance with standardized best practices.

This is particularly helpful because one person often takes on several roles. For example, it's common for content managers to reference copywriting guidelines and vice versa, as many areas are interconnected.

Just as our UX writing guidelines ensure consistent communication, our content management guidelines assist with questions related to the Content Management System (CMS). This alignment guarantees consistent implementation and simplifies the maintenance of articles according to defined standards, such as in a copybook that serves as a structural reference.

Copybook: Structure for agencies and companies

A single content creation document provides an overview, is always up to date, and saves a lot of time in the production process.

More about copybooks at Moccu

It is also essential that the guidelines are accessible not only within the agency but also to external partners. A well-organized filing system is necessary to ensure that once the guidelines are properly stored, they can be accessed and implemented by anyone with authorization.

Ultimately, our UX writing guidelines streamline workflows, making things significantly easier for both our team and our clients. If clients have questions, they can find the essential points directly in the brand guidelines on corporate language without waiting for feedback.

Having guidelines available in text format already – such as in an expandable style guide – makes it easier.

How the guideline creation process can work

  • Analyzing the target group
    First, we want to understand what motivates our target audience. We start by reviewing the materials provided by our clients.

  • Change perspective
    To ensure clarity, we consider the perspective of someone without the same level of expertise. Insights from our audience analysis guide us in this process.

  • Define corporate language
    Next, we establish a clear, audience-focused corporate language. How should we address users, and what terminology best represents the company?

  • Incorporate best practices
    What resonates with users becomes evident over time, and we integrate these insights into our guidelines.

  • Coordination process
    It’s essential to involve the company before we begin implementation. This step ensures that we deliver a final product that everyone can effectively use.

Optimize and test

Next, we implement all planned optimizations based on our UX writing audit and guidelines, testing them through various methods like A/B testing, usability tests, and gathering user feedback.

An overview of usability test methods

Elevate your UX with effective usability testing: Discover the most important techniques.

Explore usability test methods

At Moccu, we also conduct performance assessments. In order to keep the content relevant, accessible and user-friendly, the audit should be repeated on a regular basis, and we will be happy to provide you with advice and support.

Based on our key take-aways, we develop actionable recommendations, much like sorting through a closet to create well-defined piles.

We divide them into:

  1. Linguistic content that is retained
  2. Texts that are optimized, shortened, or merged
  3. Text sections that are deleted due to insufficient relevance
  4. Content gaps that need to be addressed

Based on the recommendations in this ux writing guide, you’ll have a solid foundation to produce linguistic content that aligns with the guidelines and elevates your text. Our goal is to ensure that your messaging effectively communicates your corporate values and strengthens your brand’s essence for the long term.

Important questions and answers

Would you like to know more? Then get in touch.

Stephanie Wölke UX Design Lead

Your message has been sent

Thank you for your message! We will get in touch with you as quickly as possible!

Our team of experts

Michelle Mossier Content Writer

Michelle Mossier has been a Professional Content Writer at Moccu since July 2021. She has a background in the humanities and a strong passion for creative writing. With her understanding for target group-relevant content, she develops texts that strengthen brands and enhance customer loyalty. In her private life, you're likely to find her with a book in her hands.

LinkedIn

All articles by Michelle Mossier
Denice Su Cronauer Content Manager

Denice Su Cronauer has been a content manager at Moccu since March 2022, specializing in the conception, maintenance and optimization of web content. With her eye for detail and user needs, she designs targeted content that strengthens brands and sustainably promotes the digital visibility and success of our customers.

LinkedIn

All articles by Denice Su Cronauer

More on content design and strategy

Back to Insights Back to Top