User understanding —> user empathy —> user advocacy —> outstanding UX.
UX writing is more than just microcopy on buttons and error messages. To even have a chance at delivering a supreme user experience, you have to empathize with the user. To empathize, you need to understand the user (via data 💙 and observation).
Understanding the user makes advocating for them come as naturally as sticking up for your best friend.
Why does this matter? If you’re among the living, surely you’ve run into at least one app that made you so frustrated trying to use it that you wanted to throw your $@*%! phone out of the window. Stating the obvious: those apps don’t thrive and, if your product/brand isn’t delivering amazing things, it won’t survive either.
When the throw-my-phone-out-of-the-window moments happen, it likely means the Growth/Marketing team or the Development team didn’t have any user advocates around. They’re focusing on selling the stuff they have to sell (Marketing) and making sure hint text—who cares if it delights or helps the user—pops up when it should (Development).
(NOTE: Don’t come at me. I’m dumbing this down to make my point. Ooobviously, anyone on any team can be a true user advocate. And, indeed, Dev does A LOT more than build hint text.)
In my experience, it’s surprising how many people tend to forget what the user is going through: what causes them pain? What makes their life better? What, exactly, do they need to know and not know at the moment they’re engaging with you? What will help them walk away from using your app feeling smarter and happier, aka loyalty to your product or brand?
So, how do you put your heart into UX writing so you can have a much better chance at building a profitable, useful, and downright lovable app? Put yourself in your user’s shoes and help them like you would your bestie with every word you write.
(Having a great working relationship with a savvy, skillful designer is also necessary, but that’s another story.)