Content Strategy vs. UX Writing - NN/G

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July 12, 2024 2024-07-12
Though often conflated in job descriptions and on UX teams, content strategy and UX writing are not the same. You can think of these areas as complementary: they work together to improve the user experience. There’s a lot of work and focus that goes into content strategy and there’s a lot of work and focus that goes into UX writing.
This article outlines how the roles of content strategist and UX writer differ, to help you determine whether you need both.
Content strategy supports and enables UX writers and content designers by fostering alignment, communicating goals, clarifying roles, establishing standards, and managing workflows and tools.
Content strategy involves setting up an intentional plan, practice, and process to reach specific goals with content over time.
Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web
Content strategy focuses on the planning, delivery, and maintenance of content across all formats and channels. Though related, content strategy is fundamentally different from UX writing.
UX writing involves creating clear, concise, and contextually appropriate copy that guides people through an experience.
UX writing encompasses any written information, including:
The main goals of content strategy are to:
As you can see, content strategy has a wide set of goals. There are activities (such as writing actual content) that are outside its scope.
Content strategists use analytics tools, content-focused usability testing, and surveys to understand, measure, and communicate about internal and external content’s needs and effectiveness. UX researchers and UX writers are also often involved in these activities so they can leverage the findings in their own work. Content strategists also oversee the publication and the management of content across platforms, as well as the management of backend content.
Content strategists use methods such as:
An organization could have separate content-strategy efforts dedicated to specific content types. For example, one could have a content-marketing team dedicated to content strategy for marketing content. A different content-strategy team may work on product-related content.
The specific goals, workflows, and metrics for each of these subdisciplines of content strategy will be slightly different, depending on their specifics, but the types of activities involved will be the same.
Content-Marketing Metrics
Product-Content Metrics
Social media followers or reactions
Whether you’re developing a content strategy that supports the whole customer experience or focusing on a specific area like customer support or marketing, content strategy and UX writing are still different and need to work together.
While the phrase “UX writing” is more self-explanatory than “content strategy,” the relationship between UX writing and content strategy is unclear for many UX professionals. UX writers focus on creating copy that’s concise and guides users through an experience so they can achieve their goals.
The copy written by UX writers is uniquely tailored to answer questions. It can ease or prevent frustrations, challenges, and pain points that people encounter when interacting with a marketing message, product, or service.
UX writers rely on the processes, tools, and frameworks set by content strategists to do their work well and be efficient, consistent, and aligned with broader organizational goals and standards.
UX writers’ main activities are:
In consequence, the skills needed to be a successful UX writer may include:
UX writers focus on:
Content design is closely related to UX writing and involves structuring, formatting, and presenting content in a visually appealing, accessible, and easy-to-navigate way.
UX writers may also do content design or may work alongside UI or product designers to handle design and layout. Content designers usually have skills in both writing and design and are responsible for:
Content strategy and UX writing are closely related but distinct. In some organizations, content strategists may also perform some UX writing, while in others, the roles are separate.
Sets and adapts processes, workflows, and tools
Follows and influences changes in processes and tools
Supports and enables user and stakeholder research
Creates copy variations for testing and works with designers
Communicates content goals and metrics, tracks and reports progress
Creates and modifies copy to meet goals, iterates based on feedback
Understands and communicates capabilities of content-management systems
Leverages technical capabilities in writing and content design
Standards and Guidelines
Oversees and maintains style guides and content standards
Uses and adheres to standards in writing, contributes to updates