UX WRITING & LOCALIZATION: A SUCCESSFUL TEAM
I’ve been localizing websites, web/mobile apps for two years now. And my feeling is that a set of background information is lacking almost every time I need to translate even a single word.
In mid-2019 as the first books on UX Writing started to be published also in Italy I felt the urgent need to buy a few to get to know more about this new kind of writing techniques knowledge for user interfaces. I wanted to know the methodology behind it and how to write effective (micro)copy doing justice to my job as a localization specialist.
Most parts of the day localization experts work on the UI copy of digital products and customers expect it to shine bright in a new language. To do so, different aspects must be considered, such as your business goals, the several cultural conventions of your target and the appropriate keyword research to deliver an SEO optimized product.
This article explores the close connection between localization and UX writing.
- Website and app localization is UX (re)writing?
- How localization impacts UI content
- Why localization can benefit your User Experience
- How localization can become effective UX writing
WEBSITE AND APP LOCALIZATION IS UX (RE)WRITING?
In a broader sense, yes. At the end of the day, localization professionals rewrite your UI copy.
As odd as it may sound, localization is usually thought to happen and actually executed at the end of the product development cycle as if it were a separate entity from the rest of the design process — which includes both graphics and copy.
But UI copy is a key part of the layout of your product. It’s one of the touchpoints you establish with your audience, your conversation with them. And it should possibly sound both human and local. You simply can’t overlook it or leave it to some machine translation.
HOW LOCALIZATION IMPACTS UI CONTENT
UI writers design content that can be either informative and/or interactive, depending on which interface element refers to.
On the one hand
- headers, subheaders and body copy deliver the key informative message of the page.
On the other,
- CTA buttons, notifications, menu copy and error messages enable the user interaction on the digital interface as well.
Moreover, the localization process affects images too, so it is not just about the verbal copy.
Words support imagery and thus, verbal and non-verbal elements need to be coherent to each other and, most importantly, to the target user’s eyes.
Ultimately UI content:
- makes users appreciate their navigation, reassuring them.
- connects them to your brand because your tone and voice are resounding.
- allows them to carry out their preferred actions (and your business goals!) making them feel satisfied.
Quite a lot on the plate, isn’t it? It looks that UI design without copy is a beauty with no soul.
What for one would I suggest?
A best practice could be to involve localization specialists from day one at an earlier stage of the product life cycle.
WHY LOCALIZATION CAN BENEFIT YOUR USER EXPERIENCE
Here are three different levels where a localization team could enhance your product final conversion rate:
1. Internationalization: a stage which precedes localization. If your product was designed and developed with localization in mind, you’d better have a localization team advise you. Different languages equal different markets and different markets equal different UX.
Let’s take as an example the visual layout of the same button designed for different markets:
EN Button> Ok (2 characters) IT Button> Accetto (7 characters)
Since the internationalization phase usually takes place with an English target in mind, if you involve Italian localizers already at this stage they could tell you how much space a longer text in a foreign language would take up.
2. Google’s new algorithm: if you are a website owner, you’ll probably know that in the next Page Experience update happening in May 2021 UX will be one of the core web vitals for the ranking factors of websites.
That means that if users find what they are looking for on your website page because it is well written (aka well-localized) and spend time on it, Google will rank you higher and higher.
3. Usability: localization specialists could raise questions that your prospect users could ask too: take your time to address them.
You could mutually benefit from the discussion and discover unmet needs.
And as a plus, you’ll see how much translators are dedicated grasping the concept behind your product and are willing to deliver it in the most effective way possible.
UX writing is all about accuracy and precision. It is about interaction or conversion. And
localization specialists actually rewrite your UX copy to this end.
HOW LOCALIZATION CAN BECOME EFFECTIVE UX WRITING
Keep in mind that localization experts translate your (micro)copy either to “sell” your software, app or website or to enable your target to interact with it.
In light of this, to reach your business goals in the best way possible we need to know the context through a detailed brief as if we were actual members of your team.
An apt brief should include two main parts, the company’s linguistic and the graphical part.
- Linguistic and cultural part, that includes design and branding document, such as:
- Your company’s mission, vision and values: the reason behind your product, your why and what you believe in.
- Your brand essence: the personality and the tone of voice.
- Your personas: what are their needs and problems? Are there different target groups? And what about their hopes and goals? What actions do you want your users to take?
- In which media will the copy appear? If a website, what kind of?
- Your company’s reference materials or other presentations for marketing purposes.
- What benefits you want to provide.
- Your style guide
- Use of the plain language usually equals a better UX: a simpler way of writing that keeps the copy short and sweet and easy to understand.
- For example:
- Don’t: Email us about all your queries and requests.
- Better: We’d love to hear from you.
- Your customer’s language: how your customer expresses their feedback and how they perceive your product (if any survey has been conducted)
- Your main and secondary CTAs buttons
- Headers
- A shared glossary with key terms and specialized terms for single concepts: a lifesaver for maintaining the consistency and clarity throughout the product UI.
- The permitted language, the one we should avoid and the reason why.
- For example, explain to us how you would like us to describe any feature and how we shouldn’t:
- ‘This app helps you manage your balanced diet’: does it replace a nutritionist?
- or maybe
- ‘This app lets you keep track of your healthy diet’: just allows me to enter data?
- Character limitation: let us convey the best meaning with the fewest words possible even if this may entail detaching from your source text.
For example:
Source text: Are you sure you want to save?
Target text: Salvare?
- Specific verbs sound better than the generic ones. If any, tell us which are the most meaningful for your product.
For example:
Don’t: Manage your profile settings
Better: Edit your profile settings
- How we should deal with legalese or technical jargon to make it sound warmer or more clear and accessible, for example in the Cookie Policy by offering the final user a feeling of complete control.
- Active voice: digital products which sound more human-like stir an emotional connection with the users and motivate them to act.
Humans do not use the passive voice that much. So, even though the passive voice may lend your product a more sophisticated air, in the end, will not smoothen the user’s navigation. Hence, poor experience.
For example, take a look at the following sentences:
Don’t: The Submit button should be tapped once you are ready to proceed.
Better: Tap the Submit button once you are ready to continue.
Have you sensed the difference?
Another hassle often localization experts grapple with is out-of-context lists of strings of the UI copy, which are not clustered based on their section or functionality. This leads us spending time second-guessing what the current string is about and what allows it to do.
And what precedes and what follows are often brain-teasers.
But a big help could be the provision of everything related to the user journey you have in mind for your ideal customer.
2. Graphical part
- Imagery, graphs, screenshots refer to: words and images speak to and support each other. Their dialogue must come across as meaningful to the final user.
- Why some graphical choices have been made and what they are conveying.
For example, in a healthcare mobile app, the rounding edges can convey a reassuring feeling.
- Mock-ups: what you want to achieve with your interactive elements so that we can be more aware when localizing them.
- On- and offline published materials
FINAL THOUGHTS
Localization is a research-intensive activity. And, truth be told, it should be brief-based as well. I would say that the brief is even more needed when it is about UX copy to be rewritten.
The translation process of a source text can’t happen in a vacuum, without proper background information. The re-writing of UI copy in a user-centric way must be on-brand and on-strategy. There lies the ROI when it comes to the localization.
I believe that if we all are on the same page and all stakeholders collaborate in the communication of meaningful insights, we could deliver a much better-localized product and eventually we could serve as the added value you are longing for.
