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Torrey Podmajersky Strategic Writing for UX Drive Engagement, Conversion, and Retention with Every Word 2nd Edition

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When you depend on users to perform specific actions—like buying tickets, playing a game, or riding public transit—well-placed words are most effective. But how do you choose the right words? And how do you know if they work? With this practical book, you’ll learn how to write strategically for UX, using tools to build foundational pieces for UI text and UX voice strategy. This second edition by Torrey Podmajersky reflects the significant advancements in the field of content design. It’s an essential resource, thoroughly updated to incorporate the latest in collaborative tools, UX methods and styles, and considerations for AI-generated UX content. • Understand the integration of UX content with the software development lifecycle • Learn content-first design to anchor UX text in meaningful dialogue • Apply UX text patterns effectively across varied brand voices • Enhance product usability and conversion with strategic UI text applications • Clearly articulate the business value of dedicated UX content efforts Strategic Writing for UX “I found Torrey’s book the one work that’s actually the most realistic.” John Maeda, VP of engineering for CoreAI, Microsoft “Strategic Writing for UX has long been the go-to text for understanding how to design and develop audience-centric content. This updated edition, which includes generative AI examples, is a much-needed upgrade to reflect the rapid and significant changes that have happened in content in recent years. It offers practical tools and solutions for creating UX content that can drive operational success for your organization. This will be the reference tool that you pull from your shelf again and again.” Alisa Bonsignore, author of Sustainable Content Torrey Podmajersky is a UX and content strategist who has created inclusive experiences for brands like Google and Xbox and now teaches, speaks, and consults globally through her agency, Catbird Content. ISBN: 978-1-098-17433-0 US $54.99 CAN $68.99 DESIGN

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Praise for Strategic Writing for UX, 2E “Strategic Writing for UX has long been the go-to text for understanding how to design and develop audience-centric content. This updated edition, which includes generative AI examples, is a much-needed upgrade to reflect the rapid and significant changes that have happened in content in recent years. It offers practical tools and solutions for creating UX content that can drive operational success for your organization. This will be the reference tool that you pull from your shelf again and again.” ALISA BONSIGNORE, AUTHOR, SUSTAINABLE CONTENT: HOW TO MEASURE AND MITIGATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF DIGITAL DATA “Words are the most critical component of how we communicate product and facilitate the best possible experience. The frameworks, processes, and concepts in this book will uplevel any business that hasn’t considered UX Writing.” MAYA JOSEPH-GOTEINER, CEO OF VELOCITY AVE. “Torrey’s essential guide to strategic content design now incorporates the latest game-changer—AI. Every field has its foundational texts, the go-to references that establish a shared language and framework for practitioners worldwide. But few disciplines have experienced a disruption as profound as content design, with the rise of genAI. It was time for someone to update the foundation, ensuring our fundamentals remain relevant and optimized for today’s rapidly evolving landscape—thank you, Torrey!” YAEL BEN-DAVID, AUTHOR OF THE BUSINESS OF UX WRITING “I found Torrey’s book the one work that’s actually the most realistic.” JOHN MAEDA, VP OF ENGINEERING FOR CoreAI, MICROSOFT

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2nd Edition Strategic Writing for UX Drive Engagement, Conversion, and Retention with Every Word Torrey Podmajersky Boston Farnham Sebastopol TokyoBeijing

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Strategic Writing for UX, 2nd Edition by Torrey Podmajersky Copyright © 2025 Torrey Podmajersky. All rights reserved. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 141 Stony Circle, Suite 195, Santa Rosa, CA 95401. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales pro- motional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (https:// oreilly.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com. Acquisitions Editor: Simina Calin Development Editor: Angela Rufino Production Editor: Kristen Brown Copyeditor: Liz Wheeler Proofreader: Piper Content Partners Indexer: BIM Creatives, LLC Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery Interior Designers: Ron Bilodeau and Monica Kamsvaag Illustrator: Kate Dullea June 2019: First Edition August 2025: Second Edition Revision History for the Second Edition: 2025-07-22 First Release See https://www.oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=0642572041311 for release details. The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Strategic Writing for UX and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distin- guish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. Although the publisher and author have used reasonable care in preparing this book, the information it contains is distributed “as is” and without warran- ties of any kind. This book is not intended as legal or financial advice, and not all of the recommendations may be suitable for your situation. Professional legal and financial advisors should be consulted, as needed. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any costs, expenses, or damages resulting from use of or reliance on the information contained in this book. 978-1-098-17433-0 [LSI]

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v [ contents ] Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Chapter 1 Why: Meet the Goals of People and the Organization . . 1 Align the Goals of the People and the Organization . . . 2 Choose Content to Meet Each Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Identify Purposes, Opportunities, and Constraints . . . 11 Imagine and Test Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Summary: Words Make Experiences Work . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Chapter 2 Voice: They Recognize You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Four Example Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Creating a Voice Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Using the Voice Chart as a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Summary: Lift Every Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Chapter 3 Conversation for Content-First Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Collaborative Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Transforming the Conversation into an Experience . . . 53 Summary: Now You’re Having the Right Conversation . .56 Chapter 4 Apply UX Text Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Buttons and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Empty States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Text Input Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Transitional Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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vi  |   CONTENTS Confirmation Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Summary: Use Patterns as a Place to Start . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Chapter 5 Content Design for LLM-Based Experiences . . . . . . . . . 113 LitMop: An Example of Embedded AI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 What LLMs Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Define the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Define “Good” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Plan for Business and Ethical Requirements . . . . . . . . . 127 Design for Prompts and Completions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Plan for LLM Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Adapt and Align the Results of the LLM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Summary: LLMs Generate Text, but Also a Lot of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Resources About LLMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Chapter 6 Edit, Because They Didn’t Come Here to Read . . . . . . .155 Editing in Four Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156 Purposeful: Find Out the Job It Needs to Do . . . . . . . . . 157 Concise: Make It Short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Conversational: Make It Human . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Clear: Make It Understandable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Summary: Edit UX Text to Help People Move Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Chapter 7 Researching UX Content Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167 Measure UX Behaviors Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Investigate How People Think . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Apply UX Content Heuristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Summary: If You Like It, Put a Value on It . . . . . . . . . . .207

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CONTENTS   |  vii Chapter 8 Tools and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Write for the Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Manage Content Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Document Regulated Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Publish the Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Track the Content Work to Be Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Prioritize What Is Urgent and What Is Important . . . .224 Systematize Content Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Summary: The Tools Are a Means to an End . . . . . . . . .232 Chapter 9 A 30/60/90-Day Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 Days 0–30: What and Who . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 Days 31–60: Fires and Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240 Days 61–90: Built for Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245 Summary: To Fix the Words, Build Strong Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Chapter 10 Advocate for Content Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249 Ground the Content in Empathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249 Advocate for UX Content to the Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Summary: Use UX Content to Meet Your Goals . . . . .254 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255

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ix [ Preface ] EvEry day, wE makE thousands of decisions: buying tickets for events, playing a game, or riding public transit . Ideally, we are guided so seam- lessly through the process that we barely register that we’re making decisions at all . Those decisions are influenced by the language written to help you with that: the content design . Content design is the process of creating the words in user experiences (UX): the titles, buttons, labels, instructions, descriptions, notifications, warnings, and controls that people see . It’s also the setup information, first-run experience, and how-to content that gives people confidence to take the next step . When an organization depends on individual humans performing spe- cific behaviors like buying tickets for events, playing a game, or riding public transit, words are ubiquitous and need to be effective . Words can be seen on screens, signs, posters, and articles, as well as heard from devices and videos . The text can be minimal, but is very valuable . But what do those words do, how do we choose them, and how do we know when they work? This book provides strategies for using content design to help meet people’s goals while advancing our organizations toward converting, engaging, supporting, and reattracting those peo- ple . To meet these goals, we structure our voice throughout the content so that the brand is recognizable to its audience . We apply common UX text patterns to ease and democratize the task of writing, assess how effective the UX content is, and iterate based on our findings .

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x  |   PrEfaCE Who Should Read This Book This book is for anyone interested in creating, promoting, evaluating or understanding the strategic importance of content created for inter- active experiences . If you need to write UX content on top of your usual job, this book is designed to help you . You might be a marketing professional, tech- nical writer, UX designer, product owner, or software engineer . This book equips you with knowledge about what goals the UX content can accomplish, frameworks for writing it, and methods to research it . If you are or will be a content designer (see note about job titles on page xi), or if you’re a manager or leader who wants to support a content designer on your team, this book also gives you methods to demon- strate the value of content design and the impact it makes . In this book, you’ll find processes and tools to do the work of writing and the work of partnering with design, business, legal, engineering, product, and other stakeholders sanely, creatively, and scalably . How This Book Is Organized Chapter 1 explains why UX content matters and how it integrates with the software development life cycle . Chapter 2 provides a framework for the voice of the experience to align the UX content with the product principles . Chapter 3 describes a process of content-first design for UX text, rooted in conversation . Chapter 4 provides 11 patterns for UX text and demonstrates how they work in the voices of four different example experiences . Chapter 5 introduces UX text considerations about embedding large language models (LLMs) and their dynamic generated content inside experiences . Chapter 6 presents a four-phase process of editing UX text to be pur- poseful, concise, conversational, and clear . Chapter 7 outlines three methods to measure the effect and quality of UX content: direct measurement, UX research, and heuristic analysis . Chapter 8 recommends tools and processes for content design, includ- ing drafting text, managing content review, and tracking the work .

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PrEfaCE   |  xi Chapter 9 shares my 30/60/90-day plan to ramp up and be successful as the first UX content professional in a team . Chapter 10 concludes with advice about advocating for the content design work to be done . EXAMPLES IN THIS BOOK Examples throughout this book come from four fictional organizations and experiences . These are chosen to be diverse along several axes, including audience, purpose, and user context so that you can see how the same UX content advice applies in these different situations: • The Sturgeon Club app, for members of a social club • ’appee, a social game in which players compete by uploading images • TAPP, an app for people who use a regional transit system • LitMop, performance management software for employees to track their goals and responsibilities at work TERMINOLOGY AND TITLES For clarity, I’ve worked to consistently use a set of terms for the most important ideas in this book . Content designer is the generic title I use for the team member who has the responsibility for the UX content . Other titles used in the industry include UX content strategist, UX writer, content developer, content cre- ator, and copywriter, but there are many more . As with many content roles, there are nearly as many titles as there are organizations that employ us . UX content is the output of the content designer’s work that directly helps people to use the experience . UX text is the subset of UX content that are the words used by interfaces . Other industry names for UX text include microcopy, editorial, UI text, and strings . Experience is the app, software, or other designed interaction the orga- nization is building, for which the content designer is creating UX content . Organization is the civic body, public institution, private company, or other entity that makes or commissions the experience .

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xii  |   PrEfaCE Team is the group of humans a content designer collaborates with, including other UX pros, product managers, engineers, attorneys, and more . People are the humans who use the experiences . Specific terms for peo- ple depend on the experience: people who use The Sturgeon Club are members, people who use ’appee are players, and people who use TAPP are riders . In LitMop, the employees who use the experience are different from the customers who buy the experience . Why I Wrote This Book UX content has been my professional focus since 2010 . I started as a content designer for Xbox, creating experiences for the millions of people playing on the Xbox 360 console, Xbox Live, and Xbox One . Then, I worked on how people sign in to and manage their Microsoft identity and account, and was the first content designer for Microsoft Family and Microsoft Education . I was the first content designer and content strategist for the OfferUp .com marketplace, which helps mil- lions of people buy and sell in their communities . I was the first UX content strategist for four teams at Google, working on ad measure- ment, ad strategy, cloud management, and customer support enable- ment experiences . This book was conceived when I realized that we can’t have a commu- nity or discipline of content design until we hold some basic ideas in common . Across the tech industry, we need to share expectations for what UX content can do, best practices for making the content do what it can, and methods to measure its effect . I wrote this book to share my frameworks, tools, and methods for creating effective UX content, and to share my encouragement and enthusiasm for using UX content to help people and organizations meet their goals . Before the first edition of this book was published, we content design- ers didn’t have a common set of frameworks, tools, or methods that addresses the unique challenges of UX content . The organizations and managers who want to hire us might know they have a “word problem,” but they have a hard time figuring out who to hire, how to support us, and what impact to expect . At the same time, our tendency to do many “jobs” within our roles makes it difficult to isolate the content design portion of our work . This book will help to make it easier to identify and articulate the value of content design within our organizations .

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PrEfaCE   |  xiii I love making experiences that help people . For me, that includes mak- ing experiences that help people become content designers . I want more colleagues, more content designers who are developing even bet- ter methods to create great experiences . And of course, I want to help organizations improve the experience for their customers . That’s why I founded Catbird Content (named after the gray catbird on the cover of this book!) to offer content design, UX strategy, and training services to organizations that want to attract and retain customers through pos- itive user experiences . Together, armed with common language and an understanding of core principles and best practices, we can make our digital world a better place for all . How to Contact Us Please address comments and questions concerning this book to the publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc . 141 Stony Circle, Suite 195 Santa Rosa, CA 95401 800-889-8969 (in the United States or Canada) 707-827-7019 (international or local) 707-829-0104 (fax) support@oreilly.com https://oreilly .com/about/contact .html We have a web page for this book, where we list errata and any addi- tional information . You can access this page at https://oreil .ly/strategic WritingUX_2e . Acknowledgments Thank you to my teams at Xbox, Windows, Microsoft Education, OfferUp, Google, and my Catbird Content clients . Everything I know about content design, I learned while working with you wonderful peo- ple . Thanks especially to those who pushed me to create better text, to find better solutions, to delight our customers and exceed the expecta- tions of the business . I love working on challenging problems with you .

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xiv  |   PrEfaCE Thank you, Michelle Larez Mooney, for teaching me how to write UX . You were on my first interview loop to become a content designer, and you taught me the craft . You showed me by example how to partner effectively with engineering, product, and localization teams . Even more, you demonstrated how to engage so deeply and so effectively that the value of the work was undeniable . Thank you, Elly Searle, for having the idea and drive to make the first content design course . You talked me into it and then went out and made it real by talking to Larry Asher at the School of Visual Concepts . I’ve learned so much from you about articulating what I can offer and asking for what I need . It has been a joy to teach with you and to benefit from your insights, enthusiasm, and dedication . Thank you, Winslow Q . Hermson III, for your coaching, mentorship, and friendship . My career in UX would be neither possible nor joyful without your reflection, advice, and encouragement . Thank you, Nathan Crowder, Jeremy Zimmerman, Dawn Vogel, Sarah Grant, and the rest of our Type ’n’ Gripe . I am a writer because we wrote together every week for so many years . I wouldn’t have pitched this book or finished it—twice!—without that practice . Thank you also to my early readers and technical reviewers who helped to make this book more readable and more helpful, including Lane Goldstone, Michael Garvais, Alisa Bonsignore, Joseph True, Jennifer Bush, Toria Emery, Maya Joseph-Goteiner, Laura Klein, and Yael Ben David . Extra-special thanks to the people who provided early review and feedback on the new LLM-related content: Tom Resing, Mike Jang, and Peter Newcomb . Thank you, Angela Rufino, Jess Haberman, Amanda Quinn, Simina Calin, and the rest of the astonishing team at O’Reilly for believing in this book, suggesting paths forward, and supporting the entire process . And finally, thank you, Dietrich Podmajersky, my amazing partner . Your confidence that what I do matters more than housework, your support while I overcommit my time and energy, your patience for my inability to figure out when it’s time to go to bed and more all add up to make the thousands of ways you made this book possible, both times . I love you .

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1 [ 1 ] Why: Meet the Goals of People and the Organization If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design. —RALF SPETH, FORMER CEO OF JAGUAR LAND ROVER “wE nEEd to hirE someone to fix the words!” I have heard this phrase from multiple people on software development and design teams I’ve worked with . In each case, the person can point to the places in the experiences we’re making where the words are “broken .” These people have recognized that fixing the words would help advance their organi- zation or the goals of the people who use the experiences they make in some important way . In each case I’ve seen, there is enough “fixing” to keep a person busy for years, but fixing the words will never be enough . Consider this met- aphor: an experience with broken words is a house with broken walls . Fix the words as you would repair the walls . If there’s only one broken wall, and it was built robustly, and the hole doesn’t affect the electrical, plumbing, or architectural support the building needs, we can fix it cheaply . When an experience is built with consistent terminology, voice, information architecture, and ways to find, maintain, internationalize, and update its content, all we would need to do is fix the words . But when those things haven’t been considered, and the breaks go through electrical, plumbing, or supporting timbers, then words can’t fix the hole by themselves .

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2  |   STraTEGIC WrITING fOr UX, 2E We will need a strategic approach to fix or create the underlying expe- rience . We’ll need to apply some engineering—in this case, content design—to make walls that will strengthen the whole building . In Chapter 1, I introduce a framework for thinking about that strategic approach: • What UX content is, and how it’s different from other kinds of business content • A framework connecting common types of content to the goals of organizations and people using experiences • A picture of how content designers work within the organization Align the Goals of the People and the Organization The strategic purpose of content design is to meet two sets of goals: the goals of the organization responsible for the experience, and the goals of the people using the experience . Let’s consider the goals of our first fictional example organization: the TAPP Transit System . The TAPP Transit System is a regional transit system in a typical city anywhere in the world . TAPP, like any transit system, is under constant pressure to reduce costs and demonstrate its effectiveness . It also needs to bring in money through fares and taxes to maintain the vehicle fleet and pay its personnel . TAPP cares about getting people to ride a bus for the first time, but that’s not enough . TAPP needs to build a relationship with the region’s population so that they choose to ride again, and choose to support the transit system through their political choices . The transit system needs to establish a virtuous cycle of engaging and reengaging its riders . The cycle starts when the organization attracts people to it (Figure 1-1) . Then, it needs to convert those people into riders . But because this is an app, and not just a single purchase, we need to onboard people into the experience, to set them up for success in it . Then, people can be engaged in the experience .

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1. Why: MEET ThE GOalS Of PEOPlE aNd ThE OrGaNIzaTION   |  3 FIGURE 1-1 The organization’s view of the experience virtuous cycle. Starting at the top, the organization attracts people to the experience, converts them, onboards them, and then engages them with the experience. To complete the virtuous cycle, the organization must transform engaged people into fans who attract others to the experience and who are reattracted themselves. The virtuous part of the cycle comes next . In most cases, the organiza- tion will reap tremendous benefits if it can transform people using the experience into fans . When someone is a fan of the experience, they not only prefer to use it themselves, but they recommend it to other people, helping the organization attract new people . This transformation can happen because the experience is excellent, it’s useful to them, and, like any good brand, it reflects back to the person what they want to believe about themselves . The transformation can even happen when the experience breaks . Whatever the cause of the break (natural disaster, bad bus driver, etc .), the organization can either lose the person or support them . By sup- porting the people in the experience, it can retain and engage those people further . When an organization plans for potential breaks and fixes them ahead of time, it can not only continue to engage the person, but also use the break as a moment to transform a person who is merely engaged into a fan . The local people TAPP wants to attract just want to get to work, to school, to the doctor, to the grocery store . Riding the bus might be their best option, but they need to be aware of it and trust it . They are likely unaware of the transit system’s organizational goals . They prob- ably aren’t considering the variety of needs other riders might have, or

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4  |   STraTEGIC WrITING fOr UX, 2E the larger goals the transit system might have . They’re probably wor- ried about all the ways their ride could go wrong: not having the right amount of money, missing a transfer, full bus, and more . We need to understand the cycle from the point of view of the people who will use the experience, to meet them where they are (Figure 1-2) . Their first task is to investigate and verify what they know about the system . They aren’t expecting to be attracted into the system, and they aren’t thinking about becoming part of the transit system’s virtuous cycle . They just want to know their options . FIGURE 1-2 In the virtuous cycle, the organization and the person using the experience have different perspectives. While the organization attracts, converts, onboards, engages, supports, and transforms, the person investigates, verifies, commits to, sets up, uses, fixes, prefers, and champions the experience. By realizing this difference in perspective and focus, the organization can more effectively address what the person is there for. Where TAPP is trying to attract the person, the person is investigat- ing and verifying that they’ll get where they want to go . Where TAPP is concerned with converting, the person is deciding or committing to the experience . Where TAPP wants to onboard and engage the person, the person expects to get on the bus, pay, ride, and arrive at their destination .