Maru Fourie: UX writer with ABSA Bank Digital. 17 September 2018.
ABSA bank is one of top four biggest banks in South Africa. ABSA Digital develops all digital content for the bank, including the website and mobile application.
Maru’s background involved studies in psychology and previous work experience on project management for app development. Her initial interest was in UX research, which offered a good entry into the multi-faceted skillset of UX writing. The team at ABSA features a range of disciplines: UX designers, customer experience designers, UI designers, prototype engineers and service designers.
Issues experienced in the design team
The UX writer is involved with designing “user conversations” based on extensive user research. For example, a scenario is established by considering a possible conversation of a potential customer who contacts the call centre. The fact that it is called a “conversation” suggests that the writer should be involved at this stage. However, the content and design isn’t always developed or initiated at the same time, which results in the team painting themselves into corners and discovering that a specific element doesn’t work when it is too late to make changes. The writer is mostly involved too late in the process and is often expected to “make things work”. This is especially problematic in mobile with the limitations in screen space.
Role of the writer in the digital design company for a bank
There are many different types of apps in the banking business, retail, corporate, business and consumer. It is important to establish a common design language with a consistent voice and tone across all these platforms, which involves a combination of UX design and content strategy. In the South African context, the role is more of a generalist than a specialist position, as the writer needs to work on marketing copy, UX research as well as microcopy for all the different channels. Maru suggested the role of the UX writer at the company is still being figured out; there is currently quite a lot of co-authoring taking place. It’s a space where psychology and technology overlap. When building content strategy, one of the most important tasks is to know where the links are and how things fit together, to have a bird’s eye view of the context. These skills are learnt in service design, which doesn’t only focus on the end user, but also the organisation and the employees. For example, when working on content for an article, it is essential to know the context in which it appears, what preceded this specific contact point with the consumer and what is likely to follow.
Contextual research is particularly important when designing the transactional flow, as the user should only see content that is relevant to that specific stage in the journey. The usage of mobile is also influenced by the context of use.
Skills needed for the UX writer in this context
It’s a very functional type of writing, logical and psychological rather than conceptual or creative. It’s a natural evolution from technical writing, but is a lot more human. Writing for mobile requires the ability to understand complex information and
translate it into simple, succinct messages. It’s important to ask lots of questions and research what the user knows and the type of language and vocabulary used. The language and terminology of the developers should also be clarified, as there can be internal jargon that is not understood by consumers. For example, the design team referred to a component on the banking site as “account tiles” which wouldn’t be a term that is relevant or meaningful to the user. The writer should ideally oversee the strategic guide for vocabulary usage, which should be consistent across a range of different platforms. This terminology would even filter to the support centre staff, as they would need to know what words to use when interacting with customers. It is also valuable for the UX writer to have a basic understanding of the main software that is used to develop user journeys, wireframes and prototypes, such as Balsamiq, Invision and Axure. This allows the writer to refine content and make changes to microcopy as an integral part of the design process. Knowledge of SEO is also useful, although not with apps but mobile site content.
The challenges specific to writing for mobile
Considering the limitations in the screen space, the user is now accustomed to a multi-step interactive process that wouldn’t be effective with desktop interaction. It is also important to consider the accessibility of the user in terms of data usage, visual impairment and non-first language speakers. The context of usage should obviously also be taken into account as mobile implies usage in places with more distractions than desktop interaction. It can be assumed the user of a banking app is relatively tech savvy as users initially become comfortable with digital banking on a desktop, then migrate to using an app for banking transactions. Younger users are more comfortable with the interaction of an app as they grew up with the technology, however, they don’t always understand banking concepts or financial terminology. Users don’t care how banking products work so it’s important to help them achieve a task without giving unnecessary information
Conclusions from interviews with industry practitioners
The objective of this appendix is to provide a practical element to the theory relating to the writing of text for mobile media. Three interviews were conducted in Cape Town with a range of specialists working in different areas: banking, tech-education and app development. The interviews provided basic insights into some of the processes currently adopted in the development of content on mobile media. All interviewees concurred that mobile usage is increasing at a rapid rate and digital communication is now predominantly planned and designed with a “mobile-first” approach. It was a common sentiment that the psychology of the mobile user is unique to this medium, and requires extensive user research to develop an astute understanding of the user’s behaviour and expectations in a mobile context. The physical characteristics of the mobile phone also need to be considered, such as the limitations presented by the smaller screen and the practicality of input interaction options on a smaller keyboard.
Although each interviewee worked for a different type of organisation and performed different roles in their respective organisations, there was considerable agreement in the “ideal” processes for developing content on mobile. It was agreed that there isn’t yet sufficient understanding or acknowledgement of the writer in the field of mobile UX and UI in the South African context. It appears to be common practice that the writer is involved too late in the process and it would be preferable for the writer to contribute from the initial conceptualising and strategic planning stage.
The background of the writers in this field is notably varied, both academically and in terms of previous work experience. This fact is not surprising, considering the role of the mobile writer is constantly being redefined as it adapts to the rapid changes in technology and shifting industry needs. There is also currently no formal or
institutionalised training available to teach the niche skills associated with effective mobile writing. It was agreed that the field of UX and specialised mobile writing involves a range of different disciplines and in the South African industry it is not yet viable to specialise exclusively in this type of writing. The optimum UX writer will need to take on a range of cross-functional tasks, with a foundation in traditional writing skills, such as research, editing and structuring coherent narratives. One specific skill that emerged from all the interviews is the need for the UX writer or “content strategist” to have a “big-picture” view and understanding of the entire process, including the many different components associated with the user’s journey.