When searching for freelance writing roles, you will notice that many recruiters are looking for UX writers. There is demand for this type of position so it’s useful to investigate it further.

What Does a UX Writer Do?

There’s a good definition of UX writers in Invisionapp, which gained a prominent position in searches, so it’s worth referring to it: UX writers craft the right words to convey what a design does, imagining different types of scenarios in which a user interacts with a design.

UX stands for ‘user experience’, a process that designers follow to ensure a product delivers a good experience to its users.

A definition of a UX writer can be, for example: a writer that receives a design and who writes copy for it in collaboration with the design teams, creating end-to-end user experiences.

The product that requires copy can be a design, a video, a survey, a web form and so on.

Examples of UX writing include:

• calls to action (CTAs) such as prompting users to complete a purchase or making an enquiry in order to increase sales
• useful text boxes to provide clarification and additional information when something is not intuitive
• prompts for users when they interact with chatbots such as “what would you like to know?”.

Ultimately any content in UX aims to map the whole customer journey to aid the interaction between the user and digital products, ensuring it runs smoothly. In other words, UX writers provide the ‘instruction manual’ that customers can refer to when dealing with a new product.

A UX writer is expected to know the best practices in UX and to have excellent research skills.

A UX writer can be tasked to completely narrate the web experience of a user in all their interactions. The role also involves creating and adhering to specific style guidelines, create content strategies and have a good understanding of data, particularly with regards to product metrics to track performance, as well as testing.

UX writers work in collaboration with other teams, particularly with designers, but also with stakeholders in other departments of an organisation to ensure the content is aligned with the overall corporate strategy.

Requirements to Become a UX Writer

UX writers can come from different types of educational backgrounds. The general requirement for UX writers is to possess a degree in computer design or engineering, but a copywriting background, a journalism degree or a psychology degree can also be good starting points, alongside completing UX courses and becoming familiar with user-centred design.

It is worth noting that the market is highly competitive and entry-level roles require between one and three years’ experience.

In 2020 LinkedIn placed UX design skills among the top five most in-demand technical skills that companies need the most alongside blockchain, cloud computing, analytical reasoning and artificial intelligence.

LinkedIn also published a list of 15 jobs in demand in 2021 that included UX writers, mentioning that the way a website or an app functions is essential for its success and the demand for specialists who know how people interact with technology has been growing steadily.

How Much Money Do UX Writers Make?

The company Glassdoor compiled a list of salaries for UX writers in the US. The list includes major corporations such as Facebook, Dell Techologies and DocuSign, with salaries ranging from $50,000 to more than $100,000 per year.

A 2019 survey among 208 UX writers in the United States and worldwide found that the average salary was $126,000. The participants had varying degrees of experience, with the least experienced (less than one year experience) representing 4% of the total; 21% having between one and three years’ experience; 44% having between three and nine years’ experience and 31% having more than 10 years’ experience.

UX writers in the United States (119 participants) with between one and nine experience were averaging annual salaries of $100,000, but those with more than 10 years’ experience attracted annual salaries of almost $200,000.

Entries for other countries included Germany with average salaries of €57,000, the Netherlands at €€62,000 and Sweden at €69,000.

The survey did not include other information such as bonuses or stock options.

Ziprecruiter surveyed UX writers salaries in 2021 and found that top earners can command annual salaries exceeding $150,000 ($157,500). Average salaries reached almost $120,000 ($119,531).

Like any job that attracts a higher than average salary, UX writing jobs require candidates to have a unique mix of soft skills such as communicating with other teams and hard skills such as knowing design tools and content strategy.

Related article: which of these fast-growing jobs are good for digital nomads?