Part Two: Digital Copywriting – Understanding UX and CRO

Hello there!

This post follows on from the last post about what makes a good Digital Copywriter.

In that post I touched on the importance of understanding User Experience (UX) if you aspire to be a good professional Digital Copywriter.

This post goes into greater depth about User Experience as well as the larger (and related) subject of Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) that UX forms a part of.

The third post in this series will look into the importance of understanding psychology and sociology.

Whether your Client/employer even knows it or not – you will basically always be hired as a Digital Copywriter to improve the UX and, subsequently, the CRO, of either a website, or a piece of software/an app/marketing materials/training materials/etc.

Therefore, if you truly understand both UX and CRO you will rapidly develop as an effective professional Digital Copywriter and make a significant difference to organisations with your work.

If you truly grasp this context you will be operating in, you will ultimately have all the know how required to consistently create killer converting copy! You will ‘get it’ and once you have it, you can quickly professionally develop in every way.

Apart from specific Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) copywriting, your Digital Copywriting will fall under the large umbrella of CRO.

UX

UX has become extremely important to modern business. Ten years ago, barely any business people would have heard of it. UX has experienced a huge increase in importance and popularity. This is due to the requirement for basically every business to have an online presence.

As a result, there are a lot of options at the fingertips of ‘users’ and one bad experience and they have the opportunity to quickly click away to a rival site. Modern web surfers are impatient. They know they have the power. They know they have options. Mess them around… make things hard for them and they’re gone… and chances are… they won’t be back.

Statistics show that the more a user enjoys a site/app, the more likely they are to buy/sign-up/whatever.

UX thus focuses on designing website/app structures and layouts that cause the user the minimum amount of pain and the maximum amount of pleasure during their experience.

Copywriting plays a fundamental role in the success of UX. No matter how well the site is laid out and structured… no matter how easy it is to navigate… if the copy is then confusing and painful for the user… then the user will experience significant pain – and that is exactly what UX Design is employed to prevent.

Therefore, to develop into a high-quality Copywriter, it is important to understand the context and workflows your words will be fitting into. Copy is the icing on the cake – but if the icing is rotten – no-one is going to bite the cake!

Getting copy right is ultimately the most essential contribution to business and marketing success. That is literally how important your role would be should you become a Copywriter.

So, to become a good Copywriter – come to understand the context of UX your words will fit into. Look into user centred design. You will improve as a writer – and also as a colleague and team mate. Chances are you will be required to conduct your own user research or at least read through existing research – so it is well worth your time to understand User Research methods and the various types of User Testing available.

CRO

To be a good Digital Copywriter with strong contextual awareness of where your words fit in an overall project, it is also necessary to understand the principles of Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO).

Copywriting contributes to both UX and CRO and is essential to the success of both.

If you are a Freelance Copywriter, or you work for a Creative Agency for example, chances are you will at some points be writing sales or marketing copy. The general aim of such copy is to increase sales by increasing conversions.

Conversions are basically when potential customers and visitors to your Client’s site are convinced to do what your Client wants them to do. A conversion maybe a sale, it maybe to sign up to a newsletter, it might be to partake in a survey etc.

Therefore, Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is basically implementing ideas and strategies designed to increase the amount of conversions.

UX is an aspect of CRO – if we improve the UX then conversions are likely to increase. If a user finds a site easy to navigate, then they will likely stick around and follow the lead of the Designers… likewise if their experience is pain-free and enjoyable.

Copywriting also falls under the umbrella of CRO. Essentially, it is indisputable that the purpose of Copywriting is to support an organisation’s endeavour to influence and convince their users to take some form of action.

There are no exceptions to this rule, regardless of the nature of the organisation. Even if the organisation is non-profit and the website is just conveying information – conversion for them is the amount of people who stay on site long enough to properly read all the information. Every website is purposeful and every organisation who creates one has some aim and measure of what is successful for them.

Therefore, it is easy to see why I am saying that Copywriting is a form of CRO. All Content Design/Creation is.

It really helps when developing as a Copywriter to be aware of the CRO/UX your writing will be contributing to. If you are, you can then ensure that your words harmonise with them and hopefully elevate them and maximise their impact. Copywriting can be the deciding factor in the success of the other aspects of CRO/UX being employed. Again, that is how vital Copywriting is to business success!

As a Copywriter you may be involved in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and you will probably hear of more work by title specifically focused on SEO. However, other than those SEO focused projects, all the other Digital Copywriting you do will fall under the umbrella of CRO.

SEO is utilised to drive users to a particular website, CRO is to ‘convert’ them once they get there.

Basically, if you are working as a Digital Copywriter, you will be working on CRO or SEO projects in one way or another.

Thus, it is hopefully clear as to why it is important for you as a Copywriter (or budding one) to understand CRO as much as possible. In aspiring to do so, you are bound to then study UX. As UX has the closest tie with Copywriting under the CRO umbrella, you will benefit greatly in your career by truly understanding UX.

With knowledge of UX and CRO, and in the application of their principles in your Copywriting, you will be well on your way to becoming an excellent copywriter capable of having a great impact on business success!

I hope you found this ‘zoomed-in’ post useful! If you have any questions or would like any further information, please get in touch ;-)

Until next time!

Steven Cook

www.contentdesignsolutions.co.uk