This post originally appeared on tBL member Joshua Lyon’s blog Joshua Lyons Marketing Blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.
Of course, we’re only human beings, and we’re bound to make writing mistakes here and there. But when it comes to user experience (UX), your mistakes could be costing you an otherwise fantastic marketing initiative. This can be an issue on a website, in an app, on a social media platform, or wherever you’re publishing written content.
The thing I’ve noticed with a lot of UX designers is that so much attention goes into the app development, the UX design, the coding, the marketing, creating the user personas, and so on. However, the writing is often skimmed over as a means to an end. This can be fatal UX flaw for an app, which is why today, I’m going to share the most important writing mistakes you should make a point to avoid.
Don’t Use Lorem Ipsum in Your Copy
Sure, this is a tried-and-tested strategy to help you fill space that has seemingly been around since time began. A developer will often use this Latin text as placeholder text. It’s used until the actual text has been written. But it has such a strange feel to it these days that many believe it’s doing more harm than good. It alters your vision of your product and not in a good way. And on some occasions, the marketing team or company will forget to replace the filler text with actual text. Every now and then you’ll come across a website that literally has Latin in it. This is often simply because someone forgot to replace it.
Seriously, next time you’re filling space while working on a design, put some real content in the place of Lorem Ipsum, and you’re surely going to see the difference for yourself. It makes everything feel far more real, which will provide you with so much more insight into the quality of whatever it is you’re promoting.
Avoid Passive Wording in Your Writing
Compare these two sentences:
- You are reading this sentence.
- This sentence is being read to you.
Of course the first one, the active sentence, is far more effective at drawing you in and connecting with you than the passive sentence. Active language is more effective at pulling you in. Passive text tends to be more easily and quickly understood. This results in better readability. So, set the rule of avoiding passive language, and stick with active where possible.
Avoid Inflated Sentences
“When it comes to user design, you already know that, in many cases, less is more, and the same applies to your text and your sentences. Imagine if instead of just having ‘Incorrect password’ displayed when someone puts in a wrong sentence, they instead get something like ‘you have inserted the wrong or incorrect password. Please try again.’” Shares Nicole Diaz, an expert at Assignment Help and OXEssays.
The latter is so long-winded and makes your user interface look cluttered and messy. With all your wording and text, make sure you’re concise and to the point. This will help ensure your messages come across effectively and precisely.
Not Having a Personality
Sure, saying words like ‘incorrect password’ doesn’t really give you room to be super creative unless you’re able to think outside the box. And as a UX designer, that’s exactly what you should be doing. Or if you’ve hired a designer, that’s what they should be doing.
“So many apps and platforms have text throughout their app that lacks the personality that sets their product apart from everyone else, and do you really want your app to be classed under that umbrella? Probably not. You want your app to stand out and have a voice that people recognize, and this can only be created by the text you use,” explains Sarah Coombes, a UX writer at Revieweal and UKWritings.
When writing your text, try your best not to sound like a robot with what you write. You can even create a persona that your app can speak to. This will make it more likely for you to connect with the target audience you with to reach.
Look at these two sentences as an example:
- Your account is suspended.
- We’re sorry. We had to suspend your account.
Which one do you prefer? Which one will your users connect with more? Such a slight change in wording can make a significant difference.
Poor Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation
It’s fairly shocking that this point has to be included. However, I’ve seen so many apps and websites that clearly haven’t proofread their content, and have still made the decision to go live. As stated at the beginning of this blog post, people make mistakes. In fact, we found mistakes in this blog post. Hopefully they were all corrected during our editing process. Mistakes happen, but don’t let failing to proofread your content be one of them.
Can you really trust launching a website or app if the developers haven’t gone through its content to ensure the quality is good? If the quality of the content isn’t good, then will other aspects of your app or website be lacking as well? These are the types of questions your customers are going to ask themselves. It’s up to you to ensure they’re asking them for the right reasons.
Lauren Groff is a freelance writer at Essay Help and Big Assignments. Lauren is a huge fan of helping new UX designers find new opportunities for working, expanding their creativity, and helping them see the UX industry from a new perspective. Also, she is a contributor at Write My Essay.
