It seems no-one really knows how to place the relationship between content strategy and UX. Some say content is in fact part of UX, others anointed content as king long ago. It is widely accepted, however, that both are indispensable.
Either way, like the tide and the moon, content strategy is fundamentally tied to user experience. But understanding the relationship between the two elements first requires an understanding of them both as separate entities.
Content strategy, UX design and how they relate
‘Strategy’ can be a vague and off-putting word, so it’s worth revisiting the actual meaning in the context of content. In simple terms, content strategy is the planning, production and management of useful content. The process helps marshal the efforts of content creators and copywriters by defining what they produce, why they’re producing it and who they are producing it for. The initialism UX (user experience) denotes everything someone thinks or feels while interacting with every aspect of a product – be it a website, app, or user guide – paying close attention to usability and design.
Having a plan that bridges user needs and business goals is essential for content creators and the user experience design team. It will help align efforts towards the same goal, which should be to provide the right users with the right content through the best possible route. “A good user experience is a seamless one,” explains Gary Butterworth, projects director, Studio North. “To deliver a seamless user experience, content has to inform, reassure or guide a decision. Planning content that’s tailored for the target audience and specific touchpoints is the key to its success.”
“Content writers like rich, keyword-optimised paragraphs with good-quality information, whereas designers often argue that ‘less is more’ when it comes to the web"
So, while the writers have a clear understanding of the direction, UX designers need to be in tandem, as Evie Garnett, web designer at Eventa explains: “It’s important for the content strategist to primarily identify their aims and plan for a piece, so the UX designer can work around it and produce a fitting piece which will benefit the end user.”
How they conflict
Despite dovetailing end goals, there is often conflict between the two teams. In part, this is because both disciplines abide a separate set of rules – rules that might enhance one won’t necessarily enhance the other. “Content writers like rich, keyword-optimised paragraphs with good quality information,” says Evie, “whereas designers often argue that ‘less is more’ when it comes to the web.” Accordingly, content managers will appease Google’s SEO requirements to up rankings, while designers prize capturing and retaining users’ attention through shorter messages. This typically comes to the fore in the design phase as the writer hands over 400 words of keyword-optimised content to fit a page that can only afford 100, in the eyes of UX and design.
To an extent, these disputes should be encouraged – the conflict proves that both parties understand their role and are prioritising the right things. Besides, there’s a simple way around it without submitting to compromise, and that’s through the two humble bastions of organisational relationships: planning and communication. “Both teams must work together, meeting at regular intervals to create a clear plan and brainstorm ideas together,” Evie says. “When this is done, the outcome is far more efficient than simply compromising to avoid conflict, with UX design supporting content and displaying it in a practical and compelling way.”
What it means for content
In just one earthly minute, there are over 600 new websites created, 1.8 million likes on Facebook, 204 million emails sent, and 350,000 tweets posted. These baffling and strangely depressing figures bring home the importance of cutting through the noise. What’s more, the numbers suggest that, in some variation, surely everything must have been done before. So, no matter how good the content is, if the UX is bad, the results will be too – and vice versa.
“Content strategy and UX design are intrinsically linked, both should be helpful, relevant and engaging"
Few realise how versatile content can be – when both teams are reading from the same hymn sheet, time can be saved and results amplified. With intelligence garnered from UX design, content can be reshaped and moulded into something people will want to see. Jo Gifford, creator of the Killer Content Academy, explains the importance of UX in getting content noticed: “When communication channels are saturated, designing a cohesive experience with UX at the heart of the strategy allows content to be immersive and impactful, as opposed to simply a form of broadcasting.”
Another similarity between the two schools is a purist of consistency. Although content must lead the prospect or customer through the cycle and change gears in areas such as level of detail or depth, consistency is key for branding. Nick Wright, strategy director at Studio North, explains: “A solid brand positioning is built on consistency; therefore any content you create should stay within the boundaries of your brand DNA. The content topic, personality (tone of voice) and method of delivery must all be aligned to your brand positioning.”
Lessons to be learned
User experience is about providing clear and natural user flow, with seamless and aesthetically pleasing interfaces. Content writers can learn from the simplicity that’s en vogue among UX designers – by decluttering copy, marketers can hold onto SEO-friendly keywords while increasing readability. And this leads onto the two fundamentals of UX, content and marketing as a whole: customer centricity, and the fulfilment of the brand promise.
“Content strategy and UX design are intrinsically linked,” says Nick, “both should be helpful, relevant and engaging. The unifying objective for UX designers and content professionals is to create an on-brand experience that further enhances the perception of the brand in the mind of the reader.”
"User-centred design matched with a content-focused approach adds value for the visitor, builds trust, loyalty, and creates effective relationships"
UX is the most direct and literal example of putting the customer at the centre of all activity. User experience designers have no ulterior motive – they won’t direct users to the product page unless it makes sense to do so. The sound of the typewriter and authority of language can lead copywriters astray, causing them to forget about the most important thing – the target audience. To overcome this, the content team should work with UX to build personas with user flow in mind.
Charlie Marchant, head of digital PR and content marketing at Exposure Ninja, argues that the UX design team can also learn from content insights: “Using lorem ipsum gibberish content is usually the go-to for UX designers when creating a wireframe of a website. Instead, I’d recommend using content for elsewhere which is closer to the kind of content that will be used on the webpages – whether that’s the website’s old content, competitor content or some brief scribbled notes from a copywriter.
“Doing this will allow UX designers and content professionals to see exactly how much space headings, text boxes and other text details would take up on the page.”
Results and measurement
Measure UX should be tested and measured through different types of metrics. Although there are similarities between marketing and user experience metrics, other areas are very different. Where a marketer might track page views and the bounce rate of content efforts, user experience professionals will look at external and internal, in the form of ratios. For successful UX, customer support performance, form usage and navigation will be central.
“Content performance can be measured by the number of leads which it generates,” says Charlie. “Click-throughs can be tracked for links built through content outreach (guest posts, sponsored content, product reviews etc) to see the number of users who click through to the website. Traffic sources can also be checked in Google Analytics to see how many users come via specific websites or social media channels.”
By combining both, the results of how UX and content strategy are working will be self-evident; the most important step is defining which metrics to measure. If your website isn’t particularly content-heavy and you can’t attribute a value to a single site visit, don’t prioritise hits. Instead, find out how users are interacting with the site, measure comments, clicked items, or carts. Beyond the nitty-gritty figures, there are more long-term results that should be tracked such as loyalty and retention.
Jo says: “For brands elevating and evolving their content strategy, seeking to improve the user experience through design, storytelling and bespoke journeys will enhance brand loyalty and conversion rates from content, and demonstrate a better ROI for resource investment in content design. User-centred design matched with a content-focused approach adds value for the visitor, builds trust, loyalty, and creates effective relationships – which is where the sales success happens.”
