All the content in apps, websites, or other digital products is produced by expert writers who work untiringly to capture the reader’s attention and provide crucial information about the functionality of those products and services. This content includes product descriptions, tutorials, internal messages, FAQs, tutorials, links, data, blog posts, etc., that must truly engage with clients to ensure fidelity and encourage them to acquire new related products or services.
In general, professional writers who create this content fall into two categories: UX writers and content strategists. In the following sections, we will describe how content is created by both types of professionals, highlighting their key skills, and mentioning the main differences between UX writing and content strategy.
What Is UX Writing?
Source: Uxknowledgebase.
UX writing, or User Experience Writing, is the process through which writers develop copy that users interact with while using a digital product.
Good UX writing provides tools, data, and resources for a good user experience, allowing users to easily find what they are looking for or solve their issues inside the digital product.
UX writing reaches all the sections within an application, website, etc., and generally shares space with marketing copywriting, such as blog posts and landing page information, in some cases.
Example of good and bad UX writing.
Now that you know what UX writing is, it’s mandatory that you also understand the role of a UX writer and their necessary skills. Let’s delve into this topic.
What Is a UX Writer?
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UX writers help users utilize digital products such as websites and applications. Their work involves creating UX copy for several areas of the digital product. It means they write, among other things, tutorials, technical data, landing pages, error messages, interface messages, emails, notifications, settings, and all the messages the client sees within the product.
A UX writer is a complete professional with a clear understanding of how an app works in terms of interface and how clients interact with the information. They continuously participate in meetings with designers and developers during content development and engage in designing ideas regarding the product’s visual aspect. To write effectively, UX writers collaborate with other professionals to resonate with the digital product.
Note. To delve deeper into the role of the UX writer and other professionals such as copywriters, read our UX Writing vs. Copywriting article.
Skills that a UX Writer Needs
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Since this UX writer vs content strategist article looks to unravel the main differences between both professionals, let’s discuss the fundamental abilities of the user experience writer.
Copywriting Skills
Source: Testgorilla.
First and foremost, a UX writer has to know how to write and communicate ideas effectively. They should also possess strong copywriting skills, as their words need to entice and engage users, encouraging them to stay and continue using the digital product.
We have to clarify this. Copywriting skills are not limited to advertising or marketing efforts. No! It encompasses the ability to communicate ideas, features, benefits, etc., attractively and engagingly throughout the user flows.
Consider copywriting in UX writing, such as the opportunity to continuously feed and nurture the current client’s positive image of your product across the sales funnel. In other words, you’re continuously selling the benefits of your digital product by solving problems and pain points.
Great Skills as a Researcher
Source: LinkedIn.
User research is one of the main activities that the UX writer will carry out to deploy their tasks successfully. This is because they need to know the profiles of clients so they can address them when building the UX copy. In this sense, the UX writer should perform impeccable user testing.
Providing an accurate service within your digital product requires you to know the needs of your target audience and how they interact with your website or app. Suppose the vast majority of your product is a young audience between the ages of 20 and 25 – for example, a video game. This audience will be more committed to seeing audiovisual data, such as videos, rather than written information. Thus, the task of the UX writer is to provide a seamless user experience that considers visual features and guides users without problems.
A Consistent and Actionable Language Usage
Source: Fastercapital.
Although UX copy is much shorter than content found in blog posts or landing pages, it still requires appropriate language and word usage. Of course, the content writer should boast similar aptitudes, but in UX copy, this is crucial due to the direct data you, as a UX writer, should provide.
Not all writers, whether professional or novice, know how to be accurate, straightforward, and concise. Many tend to wander through different ideas without focusing on what is important. A UX writer, on the other hand, must be precise when creating UX copy, to drive traffic correctly throughout the digital product in the right direction. This requires excellent communication skills and the ability to use direct and actionable language.
Marketing Experience
Source: Linearity.
We understand that marketing experience can be quite broad, but any work involving the creation of sentences or phrases to promote a product is a solid starting point. Writing, crafting messages, structuring a job description, or creating infographics are excellent practices that help build the character and skills of a UX writer. With this marketing experience, a UX writer will be better equipped to encourage users to take specific actions.
Keep in mind that the user’s journey is full of invitations to click here or there, complete a process, see specific data and other aspects, or even complete a purchase. Your marketing experience is a plus when writing the UX content needed to provoke the user to execute the above actions.
Understanding of Client’s Needs
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A complete knowledge of the target audience is likely one of the most important skills of the UX writer.
User journeys demand discussing and proposing several solutions, answers, and responses to the client’s needs; thus, knowing those needs beforehand is crucial to providing a complete user experience.
In this context, the UX writer should be able to deploy surveys, interviews, etc. – together with other professionals and stakeholders, such as designers and developers of the design team – to meet clients’ needs so that they continue moving forward through the user journey. Understanding these needs and clients’ backgrounds will allow you to touch points and satisfy their needs.
What Is Content Writing?
Source: Forbes.
In a broader definition, content writing is the activity of writing, editing, and publishing copies in digital media to entice customers, create awareness, and engage a target audience. It is one of the main marketing strategies online since it helps businesses promote their products and services and make their brand known to online searchers.
Content writing uses several strategies to produce the best writing; thus, content writers should boast unique skills to complete this job successfully, whether writing a blog post, a review, a landing page, or something else. Below, we discuss the main skills of a content writer.
What Is a Content Strategist?
Source: Blog.milestoneinternet.
A content strategist is generally oriented to business goals and promotes the brand’s products and services at different levels. This professional controls the content production process by developing a content strategy that addresses most of the channels and media through which the brand communicates its products.
When building the marketing content strategy for the company or brand, the content strategist plans content for podcasts, white papers, video scripts, social media posts, articles, emails, chatbots, landing pages, blogs, external sites and platforms, and every other medium that can produce results. Thanks to the content strategist, the content improves, which results in better results at the end of the day,
In this sense, content writing represents the first layer the user interacts with when looking for relevant content and learning more about the brand or product. It aims to implement digital marketing and promote the brand’s offerings to increase conversion rates and awareness.
In summary, content strategists tend to focus on big-picture content, while UX writers get into the details. Despite this, the skills for both roles often overlap, and both roles require collaboration across departments.
Skills that a Content Strategist Needs
Source: Contenthacker.
Now that you have a better understanding of what a content strategist is, let’s examine the indispensable skills of any content strategist to effectively differentiate between both types of professionals—who, in many cases, share multiple characteristics.
Analytical and Organizational Skills
Creating content and organizing a good marketing strategy based on constant publications in various media is a difficult task. It requires a high level of analysis, structuring ideas, and planning further content to achieve an ultimate goal.
A competent content strategist understands that all the content they create is part of a larger strategy, where each piece of information works together to build comprehensive knowledge about a particular theme. That said, this professional is responsible for planning the organization’s or business’s content plan.
In this sense, managing content with an eye on the future – is a skill that content writers must develop to create a vast and successful marketing strategy.
The Ability to Keep an Eye on the Big Picture
Source: Hubspot.
This skill is a corollary of the previous one since analyzing and planning an entire content marketing strategy requires keeping an eye on the horizon and the big picture. Consider that you, as a content strategist, will probably be creating content for a particular marketing campaign for weeks and months. Therefore, every piece of content should be related to the existing content and project through related topics and links on the site or in the digital product.
The content strategist will manage and participate in all the stages of the marketing campaigns, keeping in mind the journey that will take customers from A to Z while providing extensive information about features, components, instructions, benefits, and everything related to the product or brand.
The importance of keeping an eye on the further content marks the difference between a solid content marketing strategy and a weak and testimonial content.
Copywriting Abilities
Source: Blog.quuu.
Although it may seem obvious, it doesn’t hurt to say that every content strategist should boast excellent copywriting abilities.
A content strategist should be able to edit and improve previous content by analyzing its performance metrics, identifying gaps or outdated information, enhancing readability and engagement through better structuring and formatting, optimizing it for SEO with updated keywords, and ensuring it aligns with the current brand voice and messaging. Additionally, they should incorporate new data, trends, and insights to keep the content relevant and valuable to the target audience.
UX Writer vs Content Strategist
Knowing the main characteristics of a UX writer and content strategist is mandatory for success in the marketing world. Yet, every brand should boast professionals in these two practices to address content from every perspective and customers’ needs to generate awareness and a better user experience.
The UX design should be in harmony with the UI design to provide an excellent and user-friendly experience throughout the digital product. This is when the UX writer enters the scene to create content that facilitates the user’s virtual life.
Another common source of confusion is misunderstanding the responsibilities of UX writers compared to technical writers. If you’re interested in this topic, check out our article that explains the differences between technical writing and UX writing.
Visual artist, professional writer, and senior content creator specializing in digital marketing and copies that resonate with readers and users. For more than eight years, he has provided significant contributions to companies interested in positioning their brands and products by creating marketing strategies and high-quality content based on SEO. His writing ranges from construction and architecture to gaming and cryptocurrencies, including sales, investments, travel, and more. Currently, he participates in several Spanish and English companies, proposing, planning, and delivering unique copies. Football player twice a week, a published author, and a fan of the Final Fantasy series.