Who's talking, anyway?
When reading UX copy in Iterable, who's speaking? Is Iterable talking to the user? Or is the user talking to Iterable?
Or, is it some combination of the two?
Usually, Iterable talks to you.
In most cases, Iterable talks to you.
Because of this, when pronouns are necessary, the copy should use second-person pronouns like you and your.
Example 1: A menu
In this menu, the descriptive text telling the user, from Iterable's point of view, what they can do in each of these places in the app:
Example 2: An empty state
This empty state talks directly to the user, telling them what to do—check your filters and try again!
Example 3: A form field
This text what a form field is for:
Example 4: Something to fix
Here's an example where we probably have it wrong. The interface tells the user what it's showing, based on their selections—but it uses the word "viewing," which implies that the user is saying the sentence to themselves (from their own perspective). It should probably say "showing" instead:
Sometimes, you talk to Iterable.
When you interact with a control of some kind (a button, a drop-down menu, navigation links, etc.), you're the one doing the talking—you're telling Iterable what to do. Because of this, UX copy should use first-person pronouns like my.
Example 1: Drop-down menus and buttons
The drop-down menus and buttons in this interface are somewhat agnostic in terms of a point of view, but you can read each control's title as though you're saying it to the app imperatively:
Example 2: A navigation link
In this example, the Edit my account link uses a first person pronoun— you're telling Iterable what you want to do: "I want to edit my account."
Example 3: A content tab
In this example, the Created by me tab uses the first person. When you click it, you're telling Iterable to "show me the reports created by me":
Example 4: Something to fix
Here's a spot where we don't (currently) have it right: the button in this example says Edit your picture and name. But when you click it, you're talking to Iterable. You wouldn't say "Edit your picture" to Iterable, you'd say "Edit my picture." The button's label should be Edit my picture and name.
How should Iterable refer to itself?
In some cases, UX copy may need to refer to Iterable itself. This can happen in various circumstances:
- If you're making a recommendation: "We recommend..."
- If you're asking for a piece of information that will primarily inform how the app should do something—not you (for an example of this, see the screenshot below).
- TBD—there are almost certainly more examples here.
Don't refer to Iterable in the third-person ("Iterable recommends..."). This creates a sense that the UX copy is being written by a third-party—not the user, not Iterable, but someone else.
Example 1: Collecting a name
Here's an example from Predictive Goals. Instead of "What do you want to name this goal?" the UX copy reads "What should we call this goal?" Why?
The goal's name is something that will be used primarily as a way to distinguish it in Iterable. Phrasing the request this way is friendly, warm, and creates a sense of partnership:
Exceptions
Account-related information
For copy related to a user's account and its settings, it is reasonable to use first-person pronouns for copy that would otherwise use second-person pronouns. This make sense since account info is so closely identified with the current user.
For example: My account, My profile photo, etc.
Don't over-use pronouns
In many cases, you can avoid pronouns altogether—and still write a clear, warm, human sentence. Pronouns can become a bit of a writing crutch, so be sure to consider alternative sentence structures, etc. If you don't use them everywhere, they'll work better when you do.
Don't use pronouns in sortable lists
If an index table (or similar) for a particular resource has a Created by or Last updated by column (or similar), use specific names—and for the current user in particular. Don't use You or Me (as in "you are the owner" or "this is my file"). Doing so can make it unclear what to search for, and sorting pronouns against full names can be awkward.
First, second, and third-person pronouns
For more info about first, second, and third-person pronouns, read Grammarly's article. In summary, though:
First-person pronouns
I, me, mine, myself, we, us, our, ourselves
Second-person pronouns
You, your, yours, yourself, yourselves
Third-person pronouns
He, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, theirs, and themselves
Additional resources
Here are some third-party style guides recommend a similar approach to point of view: