<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/microcopy-ux-writing-weebly-13264dd1df85?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Yuval Keshtcher <img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*WIh1WZo1zirJAjYpB1IehQ.jpeg">“ The opportunities for UX writers are just going to increase” — <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a></p>
<p>A <strong>series of interviews with top UX writers of product teams from all over the world.</strong></p>
<p><em>Check out the last part of the series</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/talking-microcopy-writing-ux-interviews-fiverr-2f591353cbc2">Microcopy &amp; UX Writing: Fiverr</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/interview-with-a-ux-writer-yotpo-3cf21bc228e3">Microcopy &amp; UX Writing: Yotpo</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/microcopy-ux-writing-wix-991a22d0653f">Microcopy &amp; UX Writing: WIX</a></li>
</ul>
<p>This time I am hosting <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a>, a senior UX writer from the powerful drag and drop website builder tool — <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly.</a></p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*8zvIZsYFd4BSEnA4Kw9-Gw.png">“UX writing is a great career for anyone in the humanities” — <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a></p>
<h3><strong>In one single word what does microcopy mean to you?</strong></h3>
<p>Clarity. Microcopy is all about clearing away the cobwebs that confuse and confound users.</p>
<h3><strong>How did you get into UX writing?</strong></h3>
<p>My career has come full circle. I started out as a technical writer with a background in English and Linguistics. From there, I morphed into an online-help developer, an information architect, and then a UX designer before transitioning into UX writing.</p>
<p>I’m currently the senior UX writer for Weebly, a company that helps users create online stores and personal websites.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*T4FaPSAxpQQSh8_1snTCyw.png">“I get a panoramic view of projects across the product platform.” — <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a></p>
<h3><strong>Where do you find inspiration for the projects you are working on?</strong></h3>
<p>My wonderful, curious, determined users give me inspiration every day. And, they give me words. The language I hear as users work through prototypes in testing often becomes the language I use on the interface. The user’s own words can be much simpler and palatable than our internal terminology.</p>
<p>More inspiration comes from the brilliant designers, managers, and engineers who support what I do. An authentic and positive relationship with co-workers is the secret for success as a UX writer.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/524/1*An_B0ly8v5UQ234tFvNdfQ.png"></p>
<h3><strong>Tell me about a day in your life as a UX writer?</strong></h3>
<p><strong>Each day starts with a few minutes looking over my “Intentions” document</strong>, where I track both personal and professional goals. After that brief (very brief) moment of reflection, the day gets going quickly!</p>
<p>I’m the sole writer for multiple squads with embedded designers, so I get a panoramic view of projects across the product platform. I spend about 20% of my time carving out the ecosystem that helps me do my job more effectively: a product thesaurus, controlled vocabulary, my writing wiki, common patterns, and the product style guide. Throughout the day, I field ad hoc questions from Slack, mostly for microcopy, and I work via Jira for large design projects.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.weebly.com/"><strong>Weebly</strong></a><strong> invests heavily into user research</strong>, and I attend as many user testing sessions as possible. It keeps me grounded and reminds me of why I do the work I do.</p>
<h3><strong>What is your method for finding Weebly brand’s voice?</strong></h3>
<p>I work closely with our brand and marketing team as well as the customer service teams to make sure <strong>our voice is aligned at all stages of the customer journey.</strong></p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*xb3N97Nqx8wVKI3VHxDtWw.png">“Our voice is aligned at all stages of the customer journey.” —<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a></p>
<h3><strong>As a product writer, what is your super power?</strong></h3>
<p>My background as a UX designer! Hands-on experience creating UX deliverables showed me not just the importance of good copy but where I fit in the process of integrating copy with design.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*tsYE8YieeFRUX3LhGanrsQ.png">“UX writers articulate complicated concepts in simple terms.” — <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynstrausswilcox/">Kathryn Strauss</a></p>
<h3>can you tell about a challenge you’ve faced recently and how did you overcame it?</h3>
<p>For a recent onboarding flow, I was struggling to get just the right tone. Too whimsical and our users might not take us seriously. To stiff and they might bail. So, I wrote five different versions of the onboarding language, ranging in tone from utilitarian and straightforward to happy — almost giddy — to have the user on board! First, I sent the versions out to internal folks including designers and product managers to get their feedback.</p>
<p>That narrowed it down to 2 choices. I had a good instinct for which to go with, but I wanted some data to back me up. <strong>I did a short comparison test with around 100 people on </strong><a href="http://usabilityhub.com"><strong>usabilityhub.com</strong></a>, and got great feedback. My instinct was right, and the final version ended up being warm and conversational, just the right tone for welcoming users to a new feature!</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fgiphy.com%2Fembed%2FtOFKFDbeh9V7y%2Ftwitter%2Fiframe&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FtOFKFDbeh9V7y%2Fgiphy.gif&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FtOFKFDbeh9V7y%2Fgiphy.gif&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=giphy" width="435" height="435" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/89924dea4863dbec68dd64d2f4e47c6e/href">https://medium.com/media/89924dea4863dbec68dd64d2f4e47c6e/href</a></iframe></p>
<h3><strong>Do you think that UX writing would allow more writers to enter the tech industry? How?</strong></h3>
<p>Absolutely! UX writing is a great career for anyone in the humanities, and the opportunities are just going to increase. <strong>The tech industry needs people who work from a place of empathy and who can articulate complicated concepts in simple terms.</strong></p>
<h3><strong>3 useful tips for people that want to get into the field of UX writing?</strong></h3>
<ol>
<li>Read good literature, not just technical articles. Good readers generally make good writers.</li>
<li>Try out other tech roles first, then transition into UX writing. If you’ve worked as a project manager, a developer, or a designer before becoming a writer, you’ll understand the lingo, the pacing of deliverables, and the collaboration required.</li>
<li>If you’re in the Bay Area, attend the Meetup group that I recently organized: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-UX-Writers-Meetup/">San Francisco UX Writers Meetup</a>. We have over 330 members, fantastic speakers, and hands-on activities that provide a good introduction to the world of UX writing. Also, I run a Twitter group <a href="https://twitter.com/UX_Writers">@ux_writers</a> that provides a platform for writers, content strategists, and designers.</li>
</ol>
<h3><strong>if you had a list of ‘best-kept secrets’ you’d recommend, which would you include and why?</strong></h3>
<p><a href="http://microcopybook.com"><strong><em>Microcopy: The Complete Guide</em></strong></a> by <a href="https://medium.com/u/8369367fc038">Kinneret Yifrah</a> is my go-to reference book not just for microcopy but for great principles around voice and usability.</p>
<h3><strong>Just for fun, give us your fave microcopy example?</strong></h3>
<p>I love this micocopy from one of our own Weebly ecommerce merchants, <a href="https://www.wigglesteps.com.au/store/c1/wigglestepsAustralia">Wigglesteps</a>! So clever. The socks are pretty awesome too!</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/992/0*oykpX1a8TzH0hGUt."></p>
<h3>That’s it for today!</h3>
<p>Don’t forget to join <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/microcopy/">Microcopy &amp; UX Writing</a>, the largest UX writing community in the world.</p>
<p>If this article was helpful to you, share so others could enjoy it too, <strong>And don’t forget to follow</strong> <a href="https://medium.com/u/9e16c0b9e56f"><strong>Yuval Keshtcher</strong></a> for more UX goodies.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%3Fas_embed%3Dtrue&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%2F&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fe.enpose.co%2F%3Fkey%3DdRXnS9Gplk%26w%3D700%26h%3D425%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fupscri.be%252Ff51076%252F%253Fenpose&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=upscri" width="800" height="400" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href">https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href</a></iframe><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=13264dd1df85" width="1" height="1" alt="stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSou"></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/microcopy-ux-writing-weebly-13264dd1df85">Microcopy &amp; UX Writing: Weebly</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


Microcopy & UX Writing: Weebly

Top Stories