BTP: Content Design with Erin Kelly
Behind the Pixels is a conversational blog series that aims to give a glimpse into the work & life of being a designer at Klaviyo
AH: So it’s our first Behind the Pixels of the new year and we’ve got an awesome person on today. Can you introduce yourself and then tell us how long you’ve been a Content Designer and how long you’ve been at Klaviyo?
EK: Hello, Ally! I feel like I’m on a talk show. [Laughs] I’m Erin Kelly and I’ve been a Content Designer for almost 3 years now. I started at Klaviyo in December of 2021 which is so crazy. Jack, a Senior Content Designer here, and I started on the same day and it’s been a party ever since. I remember our first few weeks, everyone was coming to us with so much energy and so many challenges.
AH: It’s true — all of us were very excited for you to join. But if I’m being honest looking back, I don’t think we quite understood exactly what content design would encompass. So can you give us the lowdown on what is content design at a high level?
EK: At a high level, it’s guiding users through Klaviyo in the way that makes sense to them. Content design starts at the very beginning of a project. We have to be on the same exact page as our designers– finding out the words that our users use, the way they think about things, understanding their mental model– and using that to inform the entire experience. There’s the concept of full stack content design — which is the idea that content designers can successfully contribute to a project at every stage, start to finish. Beth Dunn describes it in her book Cultivating Content Design as “research and brainstorming, determining strategy and scope, sketching out flows, testing for usability and accessibility, proofreading and polishing the final result, measuring success and iterating based on the results.” While that doesn’t encompass it all, I think it does a good job at illustrating it’s more than just the words– a common misconception.
AH: Totally, so it’s more than just the copy. It’s definitely an interesting way to think about the problems. I’m curious, what drew you to a career in content design?
EK: There’s an opportunity to be creative, but there’s also an opportunity to use psychology and guide people through these experiences. I’m very, very collaborative. I need to be working with other people to solve a problem. Also, I always need to understand the ‘why’ behind anything I do. I can’t just do something without understanding why we’re doing it, because there’s no desire for me to get it done. Not only my role, but also Klaviyo uses the ‘why’ to drive our decisions, so I’m really grateful to have something that keeps me motivated every day.
AH: Cool, and I know you’ve worked with a bunch of different people in your year and change here. Can you go through an example or maybe a particular project that is a good example for people to understand content design in action?
EK: Yes! Last year, we didn’t have a clear workflow or experience for users who want to set up SMS. We had previously called it “Get your phone number.” And while that’s true, it’s more than that. Users are setting up SMS as a marketing strategy for their business. And we [Klaviyo] needed to design an experience that made users feel ready, and successfully set up with their new channel. I worked with Sara Reich, Senior Product Designer, and we successfully created a workflow for users to get started using SMS if they were brand new.
AH: So I’m curious because ‘Get a phone number’ seems like pretty simple content. [Laughs] But obviously, there was more to it. How did you kick off that project or begin to understand what the problem was and how you wanted to solve it together?
EK: When we started, we looked at what was working, what wasn’t working, and what was going to be the most scalable solution. We had to take those 3 things and make them work together. We looked at the current flow and worked with our design research partner to understand issues through user research and then took it from there.
What we found was that we weren’t using content that works for user needs and they didn’t know what was going on. I don’t know if you remember, but it was just a modal and a ton of legal language. Users would click a button and would get this ginormous modal of things you can’t send, then click OK. All we did was say, “You’re set up now!” but content wasn’t clear. We didn’t ask what countries they wanted to send to, or describe new terms to them. Users would just show up to their settings and they’d have SMS working but [we] weren’t guiding them how they should.
AH: So the brevity was there, but the logic and the idea of the problem we were trying to solve was totally missing. So moving on to the creative process, obviously on the design side we have all these different brainstorms and activities we do to come up with ideas & designs, so I’m curious is there a particular brainstorm activity that is your go-to for content design?
EK: There’s an activity I’ll do with designers and I’ll copy it below. Truly, I love the Zoom calls where we’re just going through competitors and inspiration sites together. It might be for 30 minutes or maybe for an hour where we’re just getting in the creative mindset and our brains go into ideation mode thinking: “We could do this. Or we could do this. OR! We could do this…” The creative solutioning together really sparks the excitement for the problem that we’re going to solve.
AH: That’s cool. And you talked about collaboration being one of your favorite parts of the process. Product teams have all these people in different roles and it seems like you work with a bunch of them. What does that collaboration look like for you?
EK: When I start a project with a designer, first I have a meeting with them to discuss working styles. As a content designer, it’s important to know that every designer works differently. Luckily, I can mold to different working styles pretty well. I don’t know if that’s a personality thing or what, but I’ll ask questions like– “Would you rather use Slack to talk about these things? Would you rather use Figma comments?” Whatever it is, I just need to know what the best communication methods are throughout our project so we can work effectively and efficiently.
We also have our product partners. I’m always pretty close to the product manager because they have the technical knowledge that I need to write clear content. They have that back-end and front-end mindset that is really great for a partner to have. Right now, Stephen, a Product Designer, and I work together on the developer experience team and we both ask a million questions. Our product manager, Scott, slays. He taught Stephen and I how to make API calls using Klaviyo’s API and that was such a great experience.
AH: That’s awesome. And now thinking over the last year and all the different projects you’ve been on, is there a favorite memory of working here so far?
EK: Last May I met my coworkers in person and saw the office for the first time! Flavia introduced me to my new favorite pastry from Tatte and I beat Ke in Mario Kart. So the trip was a huge win. But then we had the Chicago meet up and that was a blast too! Basically any time I can see my coworkers in person, I have the time of my life.
AH: Getting to know the people you’re working with — it’s part of what makes the work even more fun. I think that’s awesome. Okay, thinking about the future. You’ve completed your first year, but the content team is relatively in its infancy here. What are the biggest opportunities we have for your team in the next couple years at Klaviyo?
EK: I think making our content design system public is going to be the biggest, most exciting thing not just for our team, but for the content design industry. We want to be a company that has a content design system that works not just for Klaviyo’s product today, but for the future of Klaviyo and for other companies that are looking to build out content design or need guidance. But this month specifically, I’m working with Lauren on our inclusive language guidelines. We’re so excited to make Klaviyo more inclusive and more accessible.
AH: It’s going to level up Klaviyo and then you all can create the gold standard for others! That’s actually a really good segway into my final question, do you have any advice for smaller teams or people just starting out who are not lucky enough to have an Erin Kelly and her team at their company. Where should they start?
EK: You don’t need to read all of the books, or the blog posts, or watch the conference talks. You just need to take a couple minutes and read design system guidance. How you frame and structure content within your components shapes the whole experience. When we have a consistent way for users to digest and consume information that they’ve already seen before, they can move through Klaviyo faster and start seeing value faster.
Those guidelines have been curated for so many use cases that work and they’ve been looked at by so many people. Doing it right is important and doing it consistently is also important. I think reading industry best practices for content, and reading content design system guidance is going to help anyone a ton.
AH: I like it — you don’t have to be afraid that you’re copying what other people have. Instead incorporate those best practices into what you’re starting with and then you have a good foundation to build on.
EK: Yep, that’s it!
🗒👩🎨 — It’s been an absolute delight working with Erin & the content team. Can’t wait to continue to watch content level-up our work here at Klaviyo!
Does partnering with a group of talented content designers sound like fun? We’re always looking for great people to join our team.
