UX Writing Challenge: Day 1

I'm taking the Daily UX Writing challenge to become a better UX Writer in 15 days.

Scenario: A traveler is in an airport waiting for the last leg of a flight home when their flight gets abruptly canceled due to bad weather. Challenge: Write a message from the airline app notifying them of the cancellation and what they need to do next. Headline: 45 characters Body: 175 characters max Button(s): 25 characters max

Discovery

What is this feature? What are we trying to achieve with this feature?

This feature is a mobile notification, email, or text message delivered to a traveler. I want to inform the traveler that the last leg of their flight is cancelled. I want to reassure the traveler and offer them a clear solution or next step.

What problem are we trying to address?

Inform the user, reassure the user, and offer a clear path forward.

What do we want to include in the message?

  • Which flight is cancelled?

  • Why is it cancelled?

  • What should the traveler do next?

What are the top 5 reasons flights are cancelled?

Bad weather, security, knock-on effect of other planes being delayed, mechanical issues with the airplane, lack of passengers, air traffic restrictions, and so on.

What do airlines typically do when a flight is cancelled?

By law airlines need to offer:

  • re-routing as close as possible to the original departure time

  • re-routing at a later date, or

  • a refund of the cost of the unused flight ticket.

Highlight the terminology and structure flows that other companies in the industry are using?

American airlines
Frustrated traveler on X
Ryanair email

Should I stay consistent to accommodate the user's mental model or can it be improved upon?

  • Passive tense is widely used in this situation: Your flight has been cancelled

  • The messages are often long but they don't need to be. It would give the reader a lot of anxiety to read through a long message while not knowing what to do. The sooner you can answer the what and why and get to next steps, the better.

Building the flow

  • What’s the required sequence of information on the screen? Why?

  • What does the headline do? Inform, assure, or offer next step

  • What does the body do? Inform, assure, or offer next step

  • What happens when the user clicks on the button?

  • If we use a text message to inform, where should we redirect the user to?

  • Is this flow of information accessible?

The words

BRDEPT: Brainstorm, Research, Draft, Edit, Proofread, Test.

Brainstorm: Quickly writing out every idea for the copy, good or bad

  • Your flight AE3345 from Manchester to Dublin has been cancelled due to bad weather. You can choose from the following flights which leave later today: <Options> Alternatively, you can choose to go at a later date or request a refund. <Button>

  • We're sorry, your flight AE3345 from Manchester to Dublin Dublin has been cancelled because of the ATC strikes. The earliest possible flights to Dublin are <options> If you don't like these options, you can:

    • leave at a later date OR

    • request a refund

Research: Looking at competitors and similar types of apps to find the common approach to a scenario

Example of a flight cancellation notice

Drafting: Quickly writing copy to get an overview of a flow

Flight cancellation and rebooking options

<Name>, we are sorry your flight from Manchester to Dublin has been cancelled due to poor weather.

See the flights available later today to Dublin. You can aslo fly at a later date (at no extra charge) or request a refund.

Accept alternative flight today Fly later Request a refund

Editing: Checking and correcting points of confusion, areas for improvement in the design, and issues with accessibility, localization/globalization, terminology, and brand voice/tone

<Name>, we are sorry. Your flight AE667 from Manchester to Dublin has been cancelled due to poor weather.

The quickest option to Dublin today is

Monday, January 27 MAN - DUB hh:mm - hh:mm

Accept flight today

You can also fly later (at no extra charge) or request a refund.

Fly later Request a refund

We are here to help! Call us at 0333 006 6921 or start a <Live Chat> to speak to us in your preferred language.

Proofreading: Checking and correcting use of contractions, grammar and spelling errors, casing errors, and punctuation errors

Mockup created in Canva

Testing

Test UX copy using any one of these methods:

  • A/B testing

  • Usability testing

  • High fidelity prototype testing with Figma

  • Scorecards using content heuristics

The method you choose will depend on the context, time, and constraints on your team.

Last updated

Was this helpful?