Over the past decade, user experience has gained a lot of popularity in the tech space, and we’re excited that it’s finally gaining traction in the financial services industry as well. When we think about UX, however, most people think about design and research. What’s still in the cocoon is this relatively newer but just as important focus — UX writing. And believe it or not, when it comes to dealing with people’s money, what and how we talk about something gets scrutinized in detail!
UX content is something we see all the time on websites and mobile apps but which we seldom even notice. Think about the instructional text and buttons you’ve seen in apps or on websites you use often — it could be as big as a paragraph explaining why a bank may require identity verification, or as small as a button that says “Make Payment.”
Research shows that people only read about 20-28% of all web content. They do so by scanning the page in an F-shaped reading pattern (for left-to-right languages), with the text on the top left of the page getting the most attention. As you can probably guess, the further down and right the text goes, the less attention it gets.
UX writers break down complicated concepts into conversational terms so users don’t get frustrated when using a digital product. By conducting competitor analysis and information architecture research, UX writers can also effectively cut down on redundant text, hence reducing the time needed to complete a task. With effective content, users can complete tasks more successfully and in less time, which directly and positively influences their satisfaction with the product, and in turn, your brand.
When errors do occur, good UX content can also empathize with users and help them fix those problems quickly. For example, compare “Error 4506. Please try again.” with “That password doesn’t look right. Did you have the caps lock on?” Which one sounds friendlier? Which one makes you less frustrated?
Last but not least, UX writing is inclusive. When you write with consideration to users who, for example, rely on screen readers, have impaired vision, or don’t speak English as their first language, you’re extending your services to reach broader audiences and serve even more customers.
It’s the UX writer’s job to help users get to where they need to be by using just the right amount of text. No pressure! But just as there are story arcs for novels and formulas for advertisement copy, we UX writers have tips, tricks, and strategies to make our content the most useful it can be.
These words, appearing as tooltips, buttons, field labels, instruction texts, error messages, or pop-ups, all work together to help users complete tasks with minimal friction.
As digital banking becomes the new norm, traditional institutions must keep up with the shift to offer seamless online experiences. Without a UX writer (or team) involved in the content development process, you may wind up with financial jargon that is unclear, clunky onboarding that causes customer churn, and even misleading messaging that results in lawsuits or brand damage. In a recent case, a personal finance company is accused of tricking users
