How do I work with a content writer?

User Test the Content, too!

Hi! I’m Angela. I’m a content writer who works with the LXDs at WGU Labs. I’m taking over the LXD blog for a minute to share a series of posts to offer new and experienced designers tips on getting the most out of your work with a writer.

Let’s say you just got out of user testing, and you tell your content writer the user’s comments about the text. You point out sentences where users suggest word changes, and the writer fixes them. A couple months later, product feedback shows that users are struggling with certain aspects of the experience. They’re uncertain what the text is telling them to do.

What went wrong in this situation?

The designer and the writer both seem uncertain about the types of questions or strategies to use to gain deeper insights from users about the ways the text impacts the overall user experience.

Communicate The “Why” of Text Changes More Clearly

Gaining a deeper understanding of how the writer is thinking about the text and its role in the user experience can help you to better communicate necessary changes after user testing. Illustrating to the writer how the users’ thoughts deviated from the writer’s intent can help the writer better understand how and why to fix certain issues.

3 Ideas for Developing a Content User Testing Game Plan

First, if you can include the writer in your user testing session, that’s great, but if for some reason they can’t be involved, these 3 ideas can help you formulate a game plan with the writer before the testing happens.

Under each idea is a set of questions to guide your conversation with your content writer and develop a content user testing plan together.

#1: When talking with the writer, use the overall project objectives to determine together what true comprehension of the text might look like.

• What should the user be able to do after reading the text?
• What types of information should they be able to recall back to the designer?
• How might their understanding of one section help them with performing a certain task in the next section?
• What’s the overall message of the text?

#2: Understand the writer’s perspective and concerns about the text.

• How does the writer think their text fits with your visual design and overall user experience?
• What messages were they trying to convey?
• Why did they think certain wording would help the user perform certain tasks?
• Which sections of the text would the writer like you to pay attention to when you go into the testing? (they might have concerns about whether they conveyed the message in a way that best matched the audience’s needs)

#3: Remember to add a specific portion to your user testing script that specifically focuses on the content that you develop with the writer.

• How are users interpreting titles, headers, buttons, and navigation text?
• How are users interpreting question prompts?
• How are users interpreting directions?
• Which text do they skip over, skim, or have to read more than once?
• In videos, how does on-screen text inhibit or support their understanding of the video’s message?
• Does the tone match the message?

Ask Your Content Writer/s What They Need from You

Content writers rarely get the chance of knowing what their readers are thinking or what they need from the words. Your testing informs our writing and helps us address user’s text needs more easily for similar audiences in future projects. But you’ve got to be strategic about it to get those results. Ask your writers what they need from you to make that content test a success.

This is the last post in the How to Work with a Content Writer series. Check out the other posts in this series here.

What types of posts would you like to see next from the Labs Content team?

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