Best UX Writer Skills in 2024
UX writing skill is often confused with copywriting. Copywriting is associated with marketing, while UX writing originates from UX design to enhance user experience. UX writing is a narrower field with a focused goal to improve user experience.
A UX writer drafts error messages, product guidelines, and in-app texts. They are also responsible to coordinate with UX designers and make the overall experience seamless for product consumers. If you’re interested in learning more about a UX writer’s skills via video then watch below. Otherwise, skip ahead.
Best UX Writer Skills in 2024
If you are looking to become a UX writer, here is the list of UX writing skills you should master:
1. User Experience
User experience matters the most in UX writing. UX stands for user experience. So we can call UX writing user experience writing as well.
The text that appears on digital products like mobile apps, electronic equipment, and other digital products is written by UX writers. So, the main goal of a UX writer should be to enhance the experience of a user using a product.
One of the goals of UX writing is to ensure the ease of the target audience. This is the main reason that UX writing demands the UX skills and ability to understand the user’s level of expertise on using a product.
2. User Research
This skill is associated with an analysis of user experience. The better a UX writer is familiar with users and their needs, the more productive UX writing is.
UX writing demands user-centered thinking. User-centered thinking is developed only through research. This way a UX writer thinks from a user’s perspective and writes what the users demand. It is also necessary for a UX writer to keep track of audience needs. This way, they can identify the user touchpoints of the digital product. Hence, it is necessary for a writer to conduct user research and log user data into their work.
A simple google search has the potential to build this skill in UX writers.
UX writers then use the gathered user data from the conducted research and write content according to the target audience’s expertise.
3. Communication Skills
Communication skills play an important role in UX writing. Good communication skills help UX writers convey their message properly to the target audience.
Effective communication is achieved through good writing skills. Writing skills includes the grip on grammar rules, sentence structures, clarity, and conciseness of text.
Good communication skills demand clarity in writing. Clarity helps the target audience understand what you want to convey. So a user can easily build an understanding of conveyed information.
Good communication skills lead to the conciseness of information. UX writing should be simple and concise. Active voice should be adapted, and passive voice sentences should be avoided. The use of active voice improves the engagement of the reader. Communication skills also demand good use of grammar and punctuation.
Master all the technical and non-technical UX writing skills through our UX writing course:
4. Technical Skills
It is not wrong to say that UX writing is a derivative of technical writing but has different goals. Dedicated UX writers focus on effective communication by delivering technical knowledge to users in simpler words.
A UX writer should be aware of the backend technicalities and software interfaces of a product. At the same time, they should be aware of the mechanism so that they can convey useful information to the readers in simpler words.
UX writing is a technical and high-paid career choice, hence mastering the technical skills is fundamental. Technical skills associated with UX writing are UX, content strategy, and marketing. All these are discussed later.
5. Design Tools
UX writing involves the use of various design tools. No doubt that UX writing is different from designing, but the comprehension of design tools for a UX writer is necessary.
A UX writer should not necessarily be a designer, but it is a good move to have the basic knowledge of the development process and design tools.
In UX writing, words are a part of the design, hence mastering this skill provides you insights into the ways you can nourish your writing and make it more readable for the readers.
UX writing demands collaborative work. UX writers work along with design teams, and content strategists so familiarizing themselves with their tools, and with the design process will make the collaboration and work a lot easier.
6. Content Strategy
Working with strategy and a plan brings success to work. Any job performed without planning and strategy is a game of guesses. A UX writer should have a proper strategy and a content guideline before working on a product.
A UX writer should be aware of the writing goals, and what the target audience should do. This demands the knowledge of company goals along with the product goals.
In most cases, UX writing demands the skill of content strategy. Content strategy helps to decide the writing tone.
The company’s style guides also help you understand the business strategy and goals. If such documentation doesn’t exist, then you’ll likely be preparing those documents.
On the other hand, you can work along with a content strategist. It is great if you have mastered this skill, collaboration with teams becomes a lot easier.
7. Proactive Problem Solving
Once again, UX writing is user experience-focused. One of the main aspects to enhance user experience is to solve the problems a user is likely to encounter.
Also, teamwork often results in an ambiguous working environment, team workers can face problems. So, such an environment demands proactive problem-solving skills.
UX writing involves multitasking, so offering a solution to a UX designer will move the work progress forward.
A problem-solving skill not only helps to resolve the issues of the target audience by conveying the right and precise information but also improves the work environment.
8. UX Design
Professional UX writers work along with the UX design. In the end, it is all about a better user experience. The error messages, in-app button’s text, or the info on the buttons of your toaster are written by UX writers. If a button is unnecessary and is conveying repetitive information to perform a task, an experienced UX designer can easily spot this issue.
Similarly, if an instruction is repetitive, an expert UX writer can also spot that.
As these two experts work along with each other, both of these require diverse knowledge of each other’s skills to ensure work efficiency.
UX writers also increase their knowledge by conducting UX research and reading a UX-related subject.
9. Teamwork
As stated earlier, UX writers work in a collaborative workspace and work along with UX designers, product managers, content strategists, and sometimes marketers as well.
If you are a UX writer, you rarely work alone. You are always working with multiple teams and collaborating with different departments to accomplish a project.
Teamwork is necessary for such circumstances. Relation-building skills are also appreciated in UX writing. A habit to receive feedback is a good habit of a UX writer.
All these above-mentioned skills can be enhanced by collaborating more with the senior UX writer and the UX writing community. Some UX writers also prefer to take guides from their favorite UX writing groups to nourish their skills and to keep them up-to-date.
Master the above-mentioned skills to become an expert UX writer.
What Do Hiring Companies Look for in UX Writer Job Applicants?
As UX writing is an in-demand skill, tech companies like Google, Uber, Apple, and Amazon are on a continuous urge to hire UX writers. But what skills do hiring managers look for the most in the UX writer role before hiring them? Here are some of those skills:
- User-oriented writer
User-oriented to ensure that writer writers from a user perspective instead of listing down one’s thoughts
- Problem solver
Capability to work on the resolution of audience’s issues and needs
- Skillful to tackle complex knowledge
Proactive ability to write down technical and complex information into easy and readable texts
- Better strategist
Good strategist who gives importance to not just major but minor details as well
- Agile Practitioner
An expert agile practitioner to tackle huge tasks successfully
- Practical worker
Skillful to utilize complex information and technical knowledge into workable/practical prototypes
Well-known tech companies prefer these skills. It is also a good practice to build a great Adobe portfolio that mirrors your UX writing skills, this way you are likely to secure a top place in writing job titles related to UX.
Conclusion
We can wrap up the conversation with the saying that UX writing is a well-paid career choice in the tech industry. So, if you are looking to become a UX writer, master the above-mentioned skills.
A UX writer can have a good grip on UX through user research. UX writing is user-centered. So, good research skills lead to effective communication and a better user experience.
UX technical writing demands not just technical knowledge of a product but also technical skills. Problem-solving skill is a must-have skill for a technical writer. This way a UX writer knows how to break down the complex and technical knowledge into a workable prototype for a user.
Most product writers have a writing background. Writing improves communication skills which complement the work of a UX writer. The less jargon and passive voice, with clarity and conciseness results in a readable text.
Familiarity with design tools and the design process helps a UX writer to work well with the design team. As UX writing demands teamwork, familiarize yourself with the user experience designers’ and content strategist’s tools. It eases the work and results in an efficient collaborative workspace.
Last but not the least, working with a plan and good strategy leads to productivity and good UX writing.
All these skills point towards professionalism. Many companies hire UX writers with great communication and technical skills and a problem-solving mind. Master these skills to become a UX writer and secure the next UX writing job opening with your talent.
If you are new to UX writing and are looking to break-in, we recommend taking our UX Writing Certification Course, where you will learn the fundamentals of being a UX writer, how to dominate UX writer interviews, and how to stand out as a UX writing candidate.
