Since we launched the UX Writing Fundamentals course, we knew we wanted to expand into other areas. CX Writing seemed the perfect next step.
There’s so much to teach when it comes to how products and writing intersect — way too much to fit into one stream of learning. And we think CX writing is at the heart of that intersection.
We think it’s a crucial part of the product journey and something that everyone should learn as a skill. Not only for UX writers, but:
Let’s delve a little into what CX writing is, and why we think it’s so important that we developed a fully-featured course around it.
Glad you asked.
If UX writing is about writing for product experiences, then CX writing is writing for experiences that lead a person to a product.
Isn’t that just marketing? Well, marketing and advertising copy might be one part of the CX experience. But there are several areas where CX writing plays a part, and each of those areas has very specific needs and requirements:
As you can see from the graphic below, these aren’t just disparate experiences that happen to share the same logo. Instead, they’re all part of the same customer-communications ecosystem. They might be in a different context, sure. And they may have a different purpose along the customer’s experience. But they all serve a larger goal: CX Writing is about leading customers to the product.
Let’s take an example of how three pieces of CX writing might sit at separate places in the customer’s experience journey, but carry different contexts and purposes.
The purpose of an ad in print is often brand awareness. Yes, we might want them to visit a website, but generally we also want to make an impact. Who are we? What do we do? Depending on the publication, how can we change their life or make it easier?
If we’re sending an email, we often want people to take action right then and there. Our words change to become more active, we don’t “ask” people to do things – we tell them.
Maybe you’ve read that email and now you’re ready to sign up. You reach a landing page that asks for details. Much like the email, we’re now directing you to take action – but we need to nurture the user there. We need to make sure they’re not about to lose anything by signing up, and in fact, we’re about to offer them the chance to improve their life (depending on the product!)
That’s a short and very simple example, but it shows how CX writing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
But more important…
It shows how CX writing takes a customer on a journey that ultimately finds its way to the product itself.
As UX and CX writers, we don’t want customers to have a disjointed experience by reading an email that sounds completely different from the product they use every day. That’s exactly what CX writing is design to teach: how to create an experience that starts, perhaps, from glancing a piece of advertising. All the way through to using the product.
There can be quite a bit of overlap between UX and CX, which can make it difficult to define the boundaries between these subjects.
That can become even more amplified in smaller organizations or organizations without well-defined teams and areas of responsibility.
When in doubt, communication is key: work on getting buy-in and participation from various stakeholders in your organization, including marketing, executives, branding, UX, design, and other writers.
All ways of doing business are pivotal to creating a comprehensive and consistent customer experience across the areas where your company has a presence.
These areas are called channels. Common marketing channels include blogs, ads, social media, SEO, landing pages, and emails.
Channels will vary depending on your company, brand, industry, target customers, budget, and more.
As a writer, it’s likely you may someday have to create content for one or more of these channels, so it’s important to understand the basics of the most common channels you may encounter in the real world.
You might say that you’re only a UX writer, so you only need to worry about the product.
Or a copywriter, so you only focus on advertising. Maybe you’re an SEO writer and just want to focus on creating web content.
But you’re ultimately devaluing yourself by only focusing on one thing. We live in a holistic product world. All the marketing that is tied in to a particular product is just as important as the product itself, and vice versa.
Doesn’t it make sense to be on the same page as the other writers in your organization, to make sure th
