User experience often influences the overall experience customers get from a brand. This is precisely why so many businesses focus on continuously improving their websites to deliver better UX to their customers.
One of the ways to improve your website UX is by writing in plain language rather than trying to impress users with complex words and grammatical clauses. Without further ado, here’s how to write plain language for a better user experience.
#1 Understand What Plain Language Is
First of all, you need to understand what plain language is. At its core, plain language is the kind of language that is direct and understandable to a wide audience, even if the members of this audience don’t have a high level of education. This is precisely why plain language has become so popular in all kinds of writing – it can be appealing to more people.
When using plain language, you can still be smart about it. For instance, you can use different psychological principles to direct the user’s behavior while still writing in plain language. Ernest Hemingway was famous for using simple language while being one of the most well-known and acclaimed writers in the history of the English language.
#2 Write in a Conversational Manner
The most basic rule that you should follow when writing in plain language is to use a conversational style. It’s not only a way to connect with your audience but also a way to simplify your phrasing because most people don’t use complex words when talking to each other in their daily lives.
Avoid styles that can sound too academic, technical, or formal. However, don’t be too casual. The users are not your actual friends, so you can’t use rude words, slang, or some kind of jargon that could make your language too plain. You need to find that balance that will make your texts truly “plain”.
#3 Be Concise and Keep Words Short
Being concise is another practice you should adopt to be able to write good UX texts using plain language. If you aren’t used to being concise, you can hire an editor from the custom writing reviews site Best Writers Online who will proofread your texts and edit them to make them shorter and simpler.
Additionally, try to use words that are shorter. There are many words that have synonyms that you can use instead of using the longer option. Longer words are generally less commonly used, so opting for their shorter counterparts will help you make your language simpler and more accessible.
#4 Avoid Potential Distractions
Distractions are by far one of the worst things for a good user experience. Not only should you avoid visual distractions on your website but you should also avoid potential distractions in your texts. Otherwise, you could end up with a text that won’t keep your audience’s attention and will instead be quite boring for your website users.
If there are words that aren’t critical for communicating the message you are trying to communicate through your text, then you shouldn’t be using these words in the first place. Try to edit your text thoroughly and eliminate any words or phrases that are simply cluttering up your text.
#5 Prioritize the End User
User experience is always concerned with the end user, so you need to prioritize them above all else. What would your user think or do? How would they react to your text? Why would they be reading your text in the first place? In what way will your text be helpful, useful, and valuable to them?
Answering these questions will help you improve your UX texts because the answers will guide you in writing the texts. Even when using plain language, prioritizing the end user is always important. When you write for your specific audience, you make sure that every word you use works towards delivering a specific message and improving the UX.
#6 Make Navigation Intuitive
Speaking of end users, another thing you need to do is make your website navigation as intuitive as possible. In part, this is achieved through visual design, but your texts could also influence navigation. Plain language is the perfect kind of writing style that will help you improve your navigation and make it more intuitive for users.
If you are unsure about how you can do this yourself, you have the option to seek professional help or advice. You can hire an expert writer or editor from the writing service Trust My Paper who will help you write your texts in a way that will guide your end users and make their experience better through more intuitive navigation.
#7 Stick to a Logic Consistently
Being consistent may not seem like something particularly important, but it is actually quite fundamental to writing in plain language. Essentially, when you are being consistent in your writing, you are avoiding miscommunication as well as misguiding your audience in one way or another.
This is precisely why you need to be particularly consistent with the logic you follow when writing your UX texts. For instance, if you are listing something alphabetically in one place, then you should also list these items alphabetically in all the other places on your website.
#8 Choose Simple Words Over Complex Ones
As mentioned earlier, using shorter words will already help you simplify your language and make it plain. But you can also try to choose simple words over complex ones in other ways, especially when it comes to phrasing. Break up your sentences, avoid using idioms, and stick to understandable and straightforward language.
#9 Get Professional Help If Necessary
If all else fails and you simply don’t know how to write good UX texts, don’t be afraid to get professional help. You can hire experienced writers and editors from the writing services who will write your UX texts for you or proofread and edit the ones you already wrote. You can even outsource some of your UX writing to reduce your workload.
#10 Test and Improve Your Texts
Last but not least, don’t forget to test all your UX texts and improve them where necessary. Even when writing in plain language, you could still get a reaction from the users that you didn’t expect. Make sure that you test each text before you publish it on your website. You can also continuously test your texts to improve them regularly.
Final Thoughts
All in all, improving your UX definitely requires you to use plain language that will help you reach a wider audience and be understood by every customer. Utilize the tips in this article to help you master the craft of plain language and deliver a better user experience to your audience.
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