Week 6: User Research
The ‘why’ and ‘how’ of user research in UX writing
Good user experience writing is backed by user research.
For user experience writers, user research is about understanding your users: who they are, what they want to achieve with the product, what they say in relation to its use, how they say it, their pain points, and so on.
Why
If you don’t know your target audience, then who are you writing for?
Knowing who’s using your product is essential in deciding word choices, tones to use, and ultimately establishing a relationship between brand and users.
More so, user experience writers are not limited to writing, and are supposed to be the users’ advocates. But you can only do this right when you know who you’re advocating for.
How
You may conduct a basic user research on your own or a more advanced user research with the help of UX researchers.
User interviews : It’s often said that users make for good copywriters since the best copy to adopt in your product are the ones spoken by the users themselves. This way, you use words that resonate with your target audience. By conducting user interviews, you get to know firsthand how people interact with the product copy.
Data analytics : This is testing what phrases users search for, the words other businesses use that resonate well, what words perform better than their synonyms, where users encounter trouble in the user journey, and so on.
These methods are mostly done by non-UX writers, depending on the company.
In working on your project portfolio however, there are ways you can conduct a simple user research by yourself:
- Get familiar with associated words. Find out what words are commonly used by people in that niche — both customers and businesses. This can be done via Google search and other search engines.
- Go through conversations. Another way to find out what people are saying and how they say it, is to listen to them talk about the product (and similar product offerings). Forums, reviews, social media, and customer service logs, are great places to find these conversations.
User Personas
User personas are built from user research. They help put the product into context from users’ perspectives and are useful when crafting microcopy. The actions, thoughts, and emotions of your users are taken into consideration to help shape a product that is truly empathetic and useful to people.
Further Reading
7 UX research methods to build an understanding of your users — Prototypr.io
That’s all for now, see you next week! 👋
(⬅️ Last week’s post)
Let’s Practice! 👩💻
Hi! Hope you enjoyed this week’s topic. Leave a clap if you did :)
At the end of every week, there are challenges for us to complete. You ready?
Week 6 challenge
Based on your chosen project, make a list of at least ten (10) words that are widely used by people in that space. For example, if working on a fast food delivery app, find the common words used by fast food buyers and food delivery services.
Tip: Check related product reviews, forums like Quora & Subreddits, and social media platforms.
Hey there! Do you want to contribute to UX Writers Learn by sharing your experience or insight on any area of UX writing? Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn here. I’d love to hear from you.
