6 mistakes in UX writing that ruin customer experience

User experience (UX) writing has become a major point of discussion in UX design as we’re moving through 2021. Contemporary customer experience (CX) is a constant servicing process, it shouldn't be limited to managing support tickets.

According to the UX research by Tech Jury, 52% of users leave websites without an intention to come back due to its bad aesthetics. 79% of users who are not satisfied with what they find on one website would better jump to a different service & continue their research there. Even your domain name has profound effects on your brand identity, and can be disruptive for your leads’ user experience.

Small Biz Genius reported that 88% of customers won’t return to a website with a poor UX design, and 70% of businesses fail due to their poor website usability.

Let’s now take a closer look at the most dangerous UX mistakes that can ruin your customer experience in 2021.

#1 – Robotic tone of voice

The easiest way to discourage a user from getting familiar with your brand is by resorting to a robotic manner of writing. We live in the age of personalization when customers want to establish long-term relations with brands. They need to feel that this brand cares about them. Thus, you should aim to make your writing style with your UX elements as personalised as appropriate.

In terms of this mistake, the most obvious adjustable element of user experience is confirmation and error messages users get when using your website or app. Consider setting up an autoresponder that will engage users throughout UX to boost their confidence for further interaction. A good example of the application of this UX element is Duolingo, a language learning app. They daily cheer a user on to continue learning.

‍Why not adopt a similar approach to your UX writing style?

#2 – Fanatic use of the passive voice

To understand why this UX mistake is harmful, let’s take a look at 2 examples of the same statement written in active and passive voices respectively:

• “Congratulations, your order is ready for shipping. We look forward to hearing your thoughts about it!”
• “The order is ready to be shipped. A feedback form will be sent to the email specified in the order.”

Which one of these 2 statements appeal to you more? It comes down to emotional and psychological triggers since we are all inherently driven by feelings. 

Sam Avery, Senior Writer and Editor at Supreme Dissertation, advised:

‍Keep as personalised as possible when writing web content. Even if you don’t need to market a product, a simple use of “you” or “we” can do a lot to improve your brand personality. This will make your business stand out, and enhance the likelihood for you that the users will convert into your loyal customers.

#3 – SEO keyword stuffing

There’s no denying that SEO ranking plays a big role in how the public will perceive a website or an app. However, using too many keywords in your writing can make the original message lose its meaning.

That is why your SEO content writing and UX writing should rely on keywords and phrases found via Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or any similar keyword tool. Don’t try to stuff your website with as many keywords as possible to boost its ranking artificially. While this tactic can work in the short term, users may eventually discern your true intentions, and decide to avoid your brand in future. So write your UX content and adjust your SEO strategy while keeping balance between them in pre-publishing to spruce up the original writing.

#4 – Confusing website or app navigation

One of the key postulates in UX writing is to spur a user into a certain action. Focus on making UX logical and convenient to avoid miscommunication. For example, eCommerce store categories are used to group different items to simplify users' browsing experience.

A blog section of your website should be called “Blog”, “Articles”, or something similar. Never try to be "too clever" when working on UX – you may simply lose your user base. Such tools as Trust My Paper, Evernote, Grammarly, Grab My Essay can help you prepare a better user experience design.

#5 – Complex and field-specific wording

Good UX design is all about accessibility, which is why you should forgo any complicated and in-depth lingo in your UI and UX design to engage users with your app or website.

According to FinancesOnline, 50% of UX developers have to spend a lot of time on fixing usability issues while they could spend this time on more important tasks. Stick to the established terminology and language that suits your industry to avoid any misunderstanding from the very beginning. Your users don’t need you to be too clever – they need you to be understandable & helpful instead.

#6 – Misspellings and grammar errors

Spelling and grammar mistakes in UX writing can have evil effects on your brand reputation and user retention. Always remember to proofread the content thoroughly before integrating it into your website. Check through your UI/UX elements and calls to action (CTAs) to spot inconsistencies. Although misspellings and grammar errors will hardly be earth-shattering, they still can leave an unpleasant aftertaste for your website visitors, or app users.

UX writing as an industry standard

Good user experience design can efficiently help you propel your product or service, and ensure a better public perception of your business. Poor UX design, in contrast, will lead to user distrust towards your brand and company. Treat your UX design process as one of the core elements in the website or app development cycle, and personalise your UX design to give it a unique image.

Need to keep your user experience at a high level? Contact our team to get a free demo of our low-code platform. Share your case details, and we'll help you squeeze as much as possible from a low-code approach.

About the author: Marques Coleman is a professional writer at Classy Essay and senior content editor at Subjecto. His career portfolio is centered on digital publishing of articles, research papers, and case studies in a variety of fields, including marketing and web development. He likes to write papers for students with the “I need someone to do my essays for me” mindset given his own academic education.