Writers in Tech

Erika Hall is the author of Just Enough Research and Conversational Design—probably two of my favorite books on these topics.

Both of her books are available at A Book Apart:

https://abookapart.com/products/just-enough-research

Recently, I spoke with her about the gap that exists today between research and conversational design.

I learned a TON from this talk and anyone that’s creating any type of digital experience will certainly benefit from it too.

We covered a lot of ground, including:

-How a philosophy major like Erika became a design leader

-Meeting Mule Design co-founder Mike Monteiro, author of Ruined by Design (my 2019 fave book!)

-Changing with the industry as a designer

-Making a case for research and convincing stakeholders to commit to a research process

-Defining goals before starting your research

-Asking the right questions as a researcher

-How research can be like planning a vacation

Enjoy this episode!

How can a localized content increase your conversions by 700%?

Listen to the next episode!

I had a pleasure to talk to Mette Thomsen Danish Language Specialist at GetYourGuide.

Listen to it if you want to learn about:

-How to add context to your localization process

-Content team hierarchy in a unicorn (B$) company

-Best practices for localization

-Creating a content style guide for your localization team

-What tools you should be using

-Marketing guidelines vs product content style guides

-Scaling a localization team

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Typeform has some pretty slick copy—from their transactional emails, homepage, and the product itself.

Their lead copywriter, Steve Howe, writes fascinating pieces for their blog about UX writing at Typeform, and I was eager to learn about his processes—particularly, best practices for writing forms.

This episode is not only a great lesson in conversational UX writing, but also a great resource for anyone that creates online forms.

So don’t miss it!

Topics include:

Writing copy for landing pages

Static vs dynamic copy

AI and copywriting

How to put the right amount of information in a form

How to build a content team

Chatbots

Enjoy!

I remember when I first heard about UX writing best practices in a talk at Google’s I/O 2017 conference—it was a huge “aha” moment for me.

As a product designer, microcopy was just a small part of that larger design world. Just something for a small Facebook group where I invited friends and we posted different ideas about microcopy.

But that one day, everything changed. I decided to explore and talk to all of the practitioners out there so I could know more about this exploding new topic. And it was quite a journey.

Not long after listening to that talk, in a moment of complete serendipity, I met Allison Freedenfeld. I was eavesdropping on a nearby table that was in a long conversation about UX Writing and I decided to take action.

That day I met Allison for the first time and we’ve been friends ever since. So I’m very glad to start the second season of Writers in Tech with her in a talk where we cover:

The differences between content strategy and UX Writing

Doing research as a UX writer and building the story of the product

Testing copy with the highlighter test

Which design tools you should learn

And much more

The largest airline company in South America has a unique approach when it comes to UX writing. They’re user-centered and everything about their digital experience is content-driven.

In our latest episode, Carolina Rayo, a senior UX writer from LATAM, shares valuable wisdom and insights about:

Putting your ego aside and staying humble

Testing stories before designing anything

How to absorb content like a sponge and learn as you go

How not to be an a**hole to your users

Enjoy this one!

If way back in 1999, you told my father that he could replace his old Subaru at the click of a button without even test driving it, he would have never believed it!

Now, twenty years later, even though he probably wouldn’t buy a car online, he wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that several companies are successfully selling them online.

CarNext.com is one of those companies. And there’s no doubt about it that their slick user experience contributes greatly to their high conversion rate with selling used cars.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with Don Seidenberg, the first UX writer at CarNext.com.

We talked about the process of writing copy that sells cars online.

Don’t miss it

This week on Writers in Tech I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Vicki Siolos, the lead UX writer of the mother of all crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter.

You’ll learn about:

-Using Google Translate for a nifty brainstorming trick

-Giving your users what they’re asking for

-Tricks that will help you to educate about UX writing in your organization

-What books you should read (seriously, I need to read Nicely Said already)

-Why you should zone out and just write

It was great learning about Vicki’s brilliant processes and I’m sure you’re going to love it as much as I did!

Greta van der Merwe’s UX writing career has skyrocketed, going from an ad agency to senior UX writer a unicorn company recently acquired by Uber.

I first met Greta when she was among the original members of our Facebook group, participating in discussions and sharing her talents with others. In fact, after she participated in the first class of our UX writing course (we’re about to open the fourth), we were so impressed that we took Greta on as a student mentor in future classes.

She has a great post about how no one in her organization seems to understand how UX writing should work.

It’s been a true honor watching her career progress and I was delighted to speak with her recently about the following topics:

How she went from copywriter to Senior UX writer in such a short period of time

How to collaborate with designers as a senior UX writer

The processes and tools she uses

How she stays up to date with the UX Writing industry

Overcoming the challenges of collaboration, tools, and localization

Words of wisdom from one of the best UX writers I know.

Mario was one of the first UX writers in our Microcopy & UX Writing Facebook group. Today, he’s a senior UX writer for King, one of the largest gaming companies in the world.

I had a blast talking to him as he shared the necessary skills to be a UX writer for a gaming company.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

-Why UX writers are like Gandalf

-How Mario observes users during his commute

-How to leverage communication using words

-Card sorting and testing for UX writers

You take the carton from the refrigerator door and give it a shake. “Empty,” you think to yourself. No problem. “Hey Google,” you exclaim, activating your Google Home device. “Ask Colruyt to add milk to the list.”

But instead of confirming the addition, your home device informs you that “Milk has already been added to your grocery list. Would you like to add an additional carton?” You know the culprit—your heavy milk-drinking girlfriend Sharon. You’re so impressed by this digital gesture that you almost forget about Sharon putting the empty carton back in the fridge for the 100th time.

Today, most of us understand that this isn’t some distant sci-fi fantasy. In fact, for customers of one of Belgium’s largest supermarket chains, Colruyt, it’s already a reality.

Recently, I spoke with Yves Van Kerkhove of the Colruyt Group. Yves was a student in our first UX writing course and has been working on a game-changing project—a voice interface app for Colruyt’s supermarket shoppers.

Yves relied upon his 15 years of copywriting experience plus massive amounts of testing to bring it to fruition. The result is a full-fledged voice interface assistant for online shopping.

This episode is for you if you are curious about:

The future of writers in tech

Working in a product team without a UI designer

Writing a voice interface app

Testing for voice interfaces

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.