We had an empty state in our product that said something like this:
“You’ve got no claims. They’ll start appearing once data is available.”
Simple. Clear. Or so we thought. But our Clinical Transformation team — the people closest to our users — flagged something unexpected.
Can you guess what was wrong?
It seemed to carry a subtle Southern or British tone, with just a hint of distance — maybe even a touch of unfriendly. For our diverse US-based user base, that phrasing didn’t quite land.
It wasn’t offensive. It wasn’t wrong. It just didn’t feel right.
And that’s the thing about UX writing — the details matter. Words aren’t just words. They shape how a product speaks, how it feels, and how welcome someone feels using it.
UX Writing Is a Design System in Disguise
A good interface quietly directs you. It tells you what’s ahead. It helps you when you’re stuck. It shows you where to go next. In that sense, UX writing is the invisible companion of every product. It’s easy to think of copy as a layer you can add at the end. But actually, it’s structural.
Good UX writing shapes how intuitive your product feels. Bad UX writing erodes trust. It leaves people unsure, stuck, or worse — abandoned. And when you’re designing for diverse populations, the margin for getting it wrong shrinks fast.
The Old Way: Check for Grammar and Tone
Not long ago, most of our copy reviews were simple.
We’d check:
Is the grammar right?
Does the intent come through?
Is the tone broadly friendly?
That got us far — but not far enough.
When we missed subtle cultural cues or local sensitivities, it wasn’t because we didn’t care.
We just didn’t have the right process — or the right tools — to surface those layers of nuance.
The Shift: AI Can Help Us Catch More
This is where AI has quietly changed the game.
By writing smarter prompts, we can now review copy against deeper, more thoughtful criteria:
Cultural resonance: Does this phrasing feel natural to our core user groups?
Accent and localization: Could this sentence carry unintended tones or regional biases?
Social sensitivity: Is there any phrasing that could subtly exclude or distance?
AI can’t replace our judgment. But it can help us ask better questions. It can be the first-pass reviewer that nudges us to look deeper, think broader, and write more inclusively.
Try This: Be Your Own UX Writer with Smarter Prompts
Not every team has a dedicated UX writer. And even if you do, designers often write the first draft.
Here’s something we’ve started doing: We write prompts like this for ChatGPT to self-check our work.
You are reviewing UX copy for a [💬 describe the screen type — e.g., empty state, error message, onboarding step] in a [🩺 briefly describe the product — e.g., healthcare application used by clinical care managers and health plan administrators].
### Product Context:
- The product is used by [👥 describe your primary user groups — e.g., clinical teams, case managers, health plan administrators].
- The users are [🌍 describe diversity — e.g., spread across different US regions, culturally diverse, varying levels of tech-savviness].
- The product tone should be [🎯 describe intended tone — e.g., neutral, supportive, professional, conversational, playful].
- Important emotional considerations: [❤️ describe how you want the user to feel — e.g., reassured, empowered, informed, cared for].
### Target Personas:
- [👤 Persona 1 — e.g., Clinical managers in hospitals and health systems]
- [👤 Persona 2 — e.g., Case workers in government health agencies]
- [👤 Persona 3 — e.g., Health plan administrators]
### Copy to Review:
“[📝 paste the actual copy here]”
### Review for:
- ✅ Clarity and simplicity
- ✅ Tone and friendliness across diverse user groups
- ✅ Any unintended cultural, regional, or accent biases
- ✅ Emotional resonance — how users might feel when reading this
- ✅ Appropriateness for [🏢 describe industry or context — e.g., professional healthcare setting]
- ✅ Inclusivity and social sensitivity
### Provide:
- 🔄 Specific suggestions to make the copy feel more [💡 desired quality — e.g., neutral, supportive, welcoming, action-oriented].
- ✍️ Alternative phrasings that would resonate with [🌎 describe your user base — e.g., a wide range of US-based users].
- 🧐 A brief reasoning for each suggestion.It’s not perfect.
But it sparks the right conversations — and surfaces things you may have otherwise missed.
UX Writing Is How Products Feel Like Good Companions
Products that guide us well feel almost like a helpful friend.
They tell us:
What’s happening now
What’s about to happen
What we can do next
UX writing is what makes a product self-directing.
It’s what makes it feel intuitive.
It’s what makes it feel… human.
And as AI reshapes how we design, write, and build — these small moments of clarity will only matter more.
Good UX writing isn’t just about choosing the right words.
It’s about understanding people — their language, their context, their emotions.
And now, with the right tools and the right prompts, we can all get a little better at it.