Establish the words that live in the product and if they mean what they should

This story is based on a magnificent talk by Torrey Podmajersky at Buttons 2023. I learned about terminology audits from her and want to share personal takes on how they work and if they work.

What is a “term”?

Not every word in your product is a “term.”

For example, I work for a streaming platform. When you create an account as a viewer, you get to select your username.

What terms can we distinguish here? They are:

A “term” is a word that is reserved to mean a particular thing within a defined context.

How can clear terminology help achieve business goals?

1. It helps users understand how to use the product. Better understanding automatically means fewer requests for support. Help people get to the point!
2. It helps acquire new users because it makes the product simpler. People prefer simple experiences to complicated ones if they are designed to achieve the same thing. According to Siegel+Gale, 64% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand because of simple experience.
3. Businesses can avoid potential legal issues by standardizing terms related to privacy, security, and other law-related things that no one reads but are really important. Especially now, in the era of AI. Have you heard of Air Canada getting in trouble because the AI-powered chatbot provided inaccurate fare info?

Ultimately, terminology audit serves the main goal of UX.

“The goal of what we do is to help a business do better!” — Jacob Nielsen

Where do I start if I want to do a terminology audit?

If you don’t have the terms of your product established yet in a neat spreadsheet, you can start by exploring the product as if you were its customer!