Piece #8: Plain Language
And why it's important for UX writing
A couple of previous days were packed with UX Writer Conference talks, presentations, and conversations with experts in the field of writing for digital products, UX writers, researchers, and designers, technical writers, strategic writers, creative writers, copywriters, and, all in all, a bundle of creative thinkers, doers, makers, and really, really nice human beings 😊
And it was a blast!
As one of the speakers at the UX Writer Conference, that was happening on June 9-10, I had the honor to talk about choosing the right words for your digital product, communicating clearly with your audience, and the importance of plain language.
Today's newsletter (hmm, perhaps I should consider relabeling this as ‘a newsletter on every Friday’ 🤔) is inspired and based on the presentation I shared with the auditorium of UX writers at the conference.
I'm happy to deepen the topic here, so please feel free to comment below and share your thoughts. Let’s get the conversation going, because...
Writing is tough.
UX writing is even tougher.
It calls for clarity and brevity.
It calls for simple, condensed messages that speak loud and clear to your users at every point of their journey.
Usually, you can’t simply put the first words that come to your mind and expect them to skyrocket the conversions overnight. You need to think it through.
As a novelist, you could sit and wait for your muse to appear in all of her magnificent glory and help you pour the words out of your mind, immediately translating them into masterful sceneries.
As a UX writer, you know your muse appears in the human form. And she has a name: user.
Users are your muse. They are the people who help you translate their problems, wishes, and challenges into a meaningful copy. All you need to do is to talk to them promptly, listen to them carefully, and observe their behaviors patiently.
Although we usually juggle between stakeholders, managers, researchers, designers, developers, marketing team, sales, support, legal, translation, and other teams inside our organizations, there is only one rule to remember:
The user is in the center of everything.
Of course, there are business goals to accomplish.
Of course, there are sales targets to hit.
Of course, there are legal policies to comply with.
Of course, there are marketing goals aligned with business goals.
Of course.
But your product is there to serve people, right? It exists for the people, and it exists because of the people. Without users, you wouldn’t have a product. It's as simple as that.
So, when writing a copy for a digital product, you can’t really afford big, impressive words and long, neverending sentences. It can be distracting, irritating, frustrating, and even repulsive.
You need to use sharp words, evocative language, and self-identifying explanations.
You need to show your mastery in creating smooth experiences.
You need to be persuasive, but not salesy (nor sleazy!).
You should grab people’s attention in a split of a second and glue-stick their eyes to the screen (okay, now I’m being too descriptive 😂).
Anyways, let me explain why plain language is so useful and why choosing the right words is so important.
Why should you use plain language?
The title of my conference talk was: Plain language: Choosing the right words for your product.
But, just for a second, imagine that the title was this: Contemplative thoughts on the specific mode of expression.
The latter one wouldn’t be untrue. But there's not a chance that anyone who saw that title would’ve ever thought it is about plain language, words, UX writing, and digital products. No way. This phrase is so vague, empty, and meaningless.
So, this is the point where the plain language enters the scene.
The words we use, and the messages we want to convey, need to be immediately understandable.
Imagine people scrolling through your website thinking:
“Huh, what does this even mean?”
“Did I get this right?”
“Does it apply to me?”
“Hmm, what will happen if I click here?”
“Oh, great, now I'm completely confused.”
“Whaaat? Need to go back to square one.”
“This isn’t working. I’m getting out of here.”
Instead, wouldn’t it be delightful if they thought:
“Oh, wow, this is great!”
“This is exactly what I needed right now!”
“OMG, I’m loving this app”.
“This checkout process was a breeze.”
“I’m subscribing straight away. Thank you!”.
“This was so easy. I’d return any time.”
Words are the essence of your website and digital product. Make sure they are usable and understandable.
It's easy to go with jargon, buzzwords, and big phrases. It's actually harder to refine the copy by using clear yet powerful and evocative words. So, it's not dumbing down, it's actually leveling up your UX writing skills 😉
Plain language helps you to:
Avoid complex, confusing words and over-decorated, hard-to-read sentences
Use simple, everyday words and short, easy-to-understand sentences
Help people easily find the information they need and instantly understand it
You can’t fool your audience. Don’t even try it. People will sense dishonest approaches. They will also recognize the authenticity, integrity, and honesty in your content.
How to choose the right words?
There is a simple answer to this. And I bet you already know it because it goes like this:
It depends.
It depends on the purpose of the copy, its goal, the situation and the context, users’ needs, habits, pain points, their mental and emotional state, your brand voice and tone, and so many other things.
But, on a global scale:
The right words are clear, useful, and accessible to everyone
The right words are also relevant, accurate, and aligned with everything
The right words are respectful, encouraging, and supportive, too
As UX writers, our job is to communicate timely and clearly, make smooth transitions, seamless processes, and navigate users from end to end. One step at a time.
As UX writers, our goal is to encourage every user, make them feel comfortable, and put off any doubts they may have.
To accomplish our goal, we need:
To understand (the product, users, their journey, specific tasks, the context)
To collaborate (with every team inside our organization)
To have time (as opposed to jumping in at the last moment and 'putting some words here and there')
The most common objections to using plain language (coming from product owners) are:
It feels like dumbing down
We want to be different
We want our product to stand out
We want to impress our users
These are all understandable objections. But, the truth is – a plain language is a powerful tool. It doesn’t mean you are going to sound too ordinary. It gives you the power of creating meaningful statements and conveying clear messages to the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. That's all you're ever gonna need in the realm of product development.
Also, don't try to differentiate your product by using different names and labels for common assets. People are creatures of habit. They will land on your page and start using your product with pre-existing expectations. Using uncommon terminology can create confusion, increase product adoption time, and even increase the churn rate because people might find it hard to get used to different terms.
So, here are some basic dos and don'ts in UX writing.
Don't:
Confuse users
Leave them without a clue
Drive users crazy
Exhaust users
Misguide users
Misinterpret information
Deceit users
Do:
Inform users
Educate users
Make users feel comfortable
Guide users through every step of their journey
Make clear statements
Be honest and transparent
And here is how plain language can help you with that.
Don't use long, complicated, mouthful words. Instead, use shorter synonyms, simple words, and common phrases.
Don't try to communicate vague, empty, meaningless messages. Instead, tend to communicate with clarity, substance, and style.
Don't try to sound cool, fancy, hype, or impressive. Instead, tend to be informative, helpful, and consistent.
Don't be authoritative, pretentious, or demanding. Instead, be friendly, confident, thoughtful, and supportive.
Don't write as if you're talking to your peers, experts, and stakeholders. Instead, write as if you are talking to your 12-year old nephew.
Don't use idioms and words with a dual meaning or multiple meanings. Instead, think of non-native users and localization.
So, language-wise, do always tend to use concrete nouns, active verbs, evocative adjectives, and personal pronouns. But, be careful with phrasal verbs, idioms, metaphors, and jargon.
Where to start?
For every piece of copy that you write, you can start with these 3 questions:
What do users need to know at this point?
What do you want users to feel while reading the copy?
What do you want users to do after reading the copy?
Here's another set of questions. It's the 5Ws + 1H. Those are the fundamental questions in journalism: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. In UX writing, though, you get to use them to understand the situation, context, and your users.
So, you could ask (and answer) some of these:
Who is a user (persona)?
What do they want to do here?
Where did they come from? Where are they headed next?
When is this happening? When will the outcome occur?
Why do they need to know this? Why do they might not be able to complete this task?
How will they complete the task? How will they know whether they completed it successfully?
Use these to:
Mind users' needs
Be thoughtful about users' mental/emotional state
Mind users' habits, behaviors, and anxieties
Think of users' abilities and disabilities
Prioritize messages
Anticipate mistakes
Write task-oriented copy
And another set of important questions, coming from Krisztina Szerovay from the UX Knowledge Base Sketch.
At every point, your user needs to know the answer to these:
Where am I right now?
What has just happened?
What will happen next?
What could happen?
What if I make a mistake?
Regarding the last one, here is a quote from Jean Luc Sorak, a person with dyslexia and dyspraxia. As a guest in the A11y Rules Soundbite podcast, he had a message to designers and developers (and writers, I must add):
“Mistakes will always occur, no matter how clever their UI is, and no matter how proud they are of what they’ve done. It should always be possible for users to reverse those errors, to reverse those without penalty and without difficulty. A very good example of that is the option to undo sending an email in Gmail.”
- Jean Luc Sorak
There are hundreds of ways to say the same thing differently, to explain, attract, inform, guide, convince, engage, and activate users. But the catch is – you should use the simple ones, the clearest ones. And it’s not easy. It calls for the mastery of wordcraft. Yet again, it also calls for the use of plain language. Because the top priority goal for your communication with users is to be helpful and informative.
And, yes, sometimes a simple 'undo' can help.
How to know whether the words are just right?
Test, test, test.
Test your copy with real users. Test with non-native speakers, people with disabilities, and non-tech-savvy people. Test it in different situations, and under different circumstances.
During these tests, ask:
How successful users are at completing tasks?
How long does it take to accomplish tasks?
How enjoyable the experience is for them?
Once you get the feedback and gain insights, rephrase your copy accordingly:
Make a statement as clear as possible
Rephrase it in a positive manner
Eliminate unnecessary prescriptive or directive elements
Rephrase everything that doesn't apply to everyone
Use one idea per sentence
Use words that your users use
Rephrase to eliminate subtle distinctions
Simplify everything
All of this is especially true for legal documents and any other technical documentation that people usually find hard to understand.
And if you ever find yourself in a situation when you need to convince your legal team that the documents should be more easily understandable, you can always refer to the study from content strategist Christine Cawthorne and a law professor Christopher Trudeau.
This was a follow-up study for professor Trudeau's study from 2011, and, this time, they asked hundreds of people about their thoughts on legal communication. Christine Cawthorne explained it in more detail during the GatherContent webinar The real cost of not using clear language, but here are the main takeaways.
Main result:
80.2% of participants preferred the plain language.
Key insights:
In every major English-speaking country, people overwhelmingly prefer plain language.
Preference for plain language increases with the participant's level of education.
People will appreciate you explaining the technical terms, even if it makes the text longer.
TL;DR
If you just landed down here because the amount of the previous words was too overwhelming for you, take these notes as key takeaways.
Whatever you write:
Put the users first, always
Make it understandable to everyone
Make your copy inclusive and accessible
Answer who, what, where, when, why + how
Write to inform, educate, and encourage
Be confident, thoughtful, and supportive
Stay honest, transparent, and consistent
Don't make any assumptions
Don't make any value-based judgments
Don't claim anything to be true unless backed by data
And a single quote that wraps it all up.
“Clarity is the goal. Simplicity is the way to achieve it.”
- Charles McDowell Jr.
As a journalist and reporter, Charles McDowell Jr. said these wise words during the seminar for editors at the American Press Institute in the 1980s.
The way he put it, “simple writing means relying on clear statements of fact, sincere and natural, free of deceit or pretentiousness. Simplicity can be elegant and eloquent – and understood”.
I see this wisdom from Mr. McDowell as the North Star for UX writing.
Clarity, simplicity, and understanding.
That's what we should all strive for.
Read on (& Watch)
For more wise words of Mr. McDowell and insights into the foundation of simple, clear, and effective writing, read this article by Chuck Haga, a journalist, and a professor at the University of North Dakota. The article is from the Nieman Storyboard.
“Professionals want clear, concise information devoid of unnecessary jargon or complex terms. Plain language benefits both consumers and organizations.” For more of this wisdom, read the whole piece from the Nieman Nielsen Group (NN/g) to see why plain language is for everyone, even experts.
Interested to learn more about professor Trudeau’s original 2011 study on language and legal documentation? With this study, he tried to find the answers to some of these questions: To what degree does the public prefer plain language over traditional legal language? How do people react when they see a complicated legal language that they do not understand? How often will people look up these complicated terms? Have they ever been so frustrated by such language that they quit reading a document?
In his article Lexically Speaking: Phrasal Verbs Aaron Raizen takes a deep dive into the meanings and possible complications with English phrasal verbs for non-native speakers (and how it all relates to UX writing). It’s published on the UX Writing Hub and it’s a good read.
Aaron Raizen has also written a Lexically Speaking piece for UX Planet. This time, he was talking about the passive voice and UX writing. Don’t miss out.
For improving the readability of your copy, check out the Readability Guidelines, a universal style guide initiated by Sarah Richards of Content Design London.
Words can make or break the user experience. To see how copy and content can save the day, read all about it in Oliver Lindberg’s article on Adobe's XD Ideas blog.
To see why plain language isn’t always possible when writing about finances, learn how to be intentional about the balance between transparency, plain language, and information overload, and see how Sarah Ebbs builds the case for incorporating jargon, head over to her article about plain language and technical jargon for the Shopify UX Medium publication.
If you are a UX designer who wants to sharpen writing skills, follow these 8 practical writing tips that can significantly improve your UX work. Written by Rikke Friis Dam of the Interaction Design Foundation.
For some great UX writing examples and detailed case studies, check out the ReallyGoodUX website. Built by Apcues, it's a library of inspirational UX copy. And you can send good examples to help it grow.
To see the method behind the magic and learn how to choose, adapt, remix, and find just the right tool for focusing your content on your users, go through the slide deck of Scott Kubie's presentation on being user-centered with content.
Torrey Podmajersky is a UX content strategist and, currently, a UX writer at Google. She was also running one of the amazing sessions at the UX Writer Conference. And she is the author of an excellent book Strategic Writing for UX, where she dives deep into the subject matter of strategic methods of attracting, engaging, supporting, and converting users with just the right words. It's definitely one of the must-reads for everyone in this field. Highly recommended!
Another great must-read book is Writing Is Designing by Andy Welfie and Michael J. Metts. It's full of real-life examples and practical advice on how to provide clarity, collaborate with other teams, and improve the words inside products a.k.a. improve the user experience. Because, without words, there would only be empty shapes and forms.
Here's something to think about. "There are a million new Internet users every day, coming from undeveloped countries, with low understanding of how things work, using mobile phones only. Are your products ready?". IDEO, Google, and Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation thought about it. That's why they got together to build tools for digital confidence. Do check them out.
For inspiring talks on UX writing, watch the DesignTalks: UX Copy series by InVision. There are four 30-minute talks with UX experts about the process, inclusive UX copy, how UX writers and designers can better collaborate, and how to improve forms with great copy.
Now, here is something you'll recognize.
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm...
Words are meaningless and forgettable...
Enjoy the silence
It's a beautiful song, but oh-so-not-true when we talk about UX writing.
It's just the opposite.
Words are so meaningful.
Words are so necessary.
Words should always be helpful.
Words should only do good.
I leave you with this tune in mind and all these words to think about.
Thank you for reading 🙏
Keep your calm and keep writing,
Nadja