Daily UX writing challenge. Day #14

As a technical writer, I sometimes do UX writing for the products I work on. I decided to look into UX writing as another service I could offer, so took the daily UX challenge at https://www.dailyuxwriting.com.

Here's the day 14 (of 15) challenge.

Scenario

A user is shopping using a price comparison app that boasts “real-time” pricing on items. As they are checking the price of an item, something goes wrong. The problem is unknown.

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Challenge

Write a message that informs the user that they cannot access the app right now. You cannot specify "why" the app doesn't work, you also want them to continue using the app.

Headline: 30 characters max
Body: 120 characters max

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My answer

Text:

Headline:

We can't price-match this item right now


Body:

But you can get real-time best prices on similar portable hard drives ...


For this challenge, I chose to make it a search about portable hard drives. For the main search, I focused the message on not being able to do the price-match on that particular item right now. I hoped it might convey the idea that the product is out of stock or somehow unavailable rather than the app is broken. To keep the user engaged with the app, I suggested two alternative products that the user can try (and hopefully, will work in the app!).

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Looking for a UX writer?

Do you need a UX writer for your project? I'd love to hear from you. I've worked in software teams for most of my career as a technical writer and have helped improve UX content as part of my role. I'm also trained as a content designer and have worked as a copywriter too. So you can hire me for long copy, short copy, microcopy, whatever you need.

I'm always interested in new content writing opportunities. Remote working preferred.

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