How important is content? UX writing and copywriting in practice.

UX writing and copywriting — how can we tell the two apart and is any of them more important than the other in the digital world?

The process of building digital products consists of many stages of the backend and frontend development process but it is the UI that the user will be interacting with the most. You could compare it to many stages of tarmac production followed by laying it on the ground, but it is the lanes, traffic lights, and other cars that drivers and passers-by are paying attention to so their experience runs smoothly and without any “404” accidents.

UI consists of three elements that UX teams deliver. These are visuals, interaction, and copy. Together they form the UI’s messaging that navigates the user around the digital product. Users will tap themselves out or skip anything that requires just a little bit more effort than they have to give at the moment. That is why there was a need for someone to pay their full undivided attention to using words that create that effortless experience. That is why UX/UI industry which was previously dominated by IT and graphic design experts has now been opened to the “poets” of the 21st century — the UX writers. To click or not to click?! That is the question!

Common mistake: UX writing is just copy.

The difference between UX writing and copywriting is that good UX copywriting blends in while good marketing copy shines. The main goal behind UX writing is to create an experience while copywriting aims at creating desire. Both of them belong to digital products, but they occupy different spaces and play different roles. Let’s take as an example an e-commerce website.

A copywriter will be enquiring about product information, and write a copy that will sell the product. The copywriter may also contribute to the blog content, about us section, etc… Their work doesn’t have to focus on delivering to the users’ emotional state but rather their goal is to evoke a desired emotional state such as want, care, guilt, or relation.

A UX writer will focus on the functional features such as click-through buttons, the navigation system, menu description, subscription forms, screen titles and how these elements interact with the user. They will be designing the interaction around users’ current emotional need and their goal will be to cater to them. UX writers talk to and with the user, not at them. Good UX copy is characterised by flow, simplicity, guidance, feedback, and displays human-like interaction.

The verdict.
Now that we know how to tell the two apart, which one of them plays a more important role in the digital product world?

There are digital products that wouldn’t exist without copywriting work. Practically any website would be impossible to maintain viewership without regular content creation. However, there are digital products, such as home appliance interfaces, that don’t require copywriting yet UX writing as an inherent part of its construction. Therefore the final verdict is that in the digital space, UX writing plays an invaluable role to product design while copywriting ads value to those products.