How to Write for First-Time Product Users (Avoid This Common Mistake)

The most common mistake in product writing is writing as though the reader already understands the tool they are looking at. In this short talk, Aujaswi Agarwal explains how she approached platform-facing content for people who had never seen the product before. The video is part of the Project Medhavy STEM and AI topic series from Humanitarians AI.

The common mistake

Anyone who works closely with a product picks up its feature set and internal logic without noticing. The mistake the video names is carrying that knowledge into the copy. The writing then assumes the reader already knows what the tool does, what its parts are called and how they fit together. A person meeting the product for the first time has none of that, so copy written this way leaves them behind from the first sentence.

Writing from a new user's perspective

Aujaswi had to write platform-facing content for people who had never seen the product. Her answer was to read and write it the way a genuinely new user would. She says this perspective shift changes almost every sentence. It is not a matter of polishing a few unclear lines, because nearly everything written from an insider's point of view carries some hidden assumption.

Three habits that change

The video boils the shift down to three habits, each stated as something to remove:

• No assumed vocabulary. Terms the reader has not been introduced to should not appear as if they were common knowledge.
• No skipped steps. Explanations should not jump over actions that feel obvious to the writer.
• No "obviously." The word signals that the writer expects the reader to already know the point.

She says these are the three things that change when you write this way.

The golden rule before you publish

The final piece of advice is a single test. Before you publish product copy, read it as someone who has never seen your product. According to the video, that one technique fixes most writing problems. It requires no special tool or process, only a deliberate change of reader before the copy goes out.

Key takeaways

• The most common mistake in product writing is writing as if the reader already understands the tool.
• The mistake comes from assuming the reader knows the product's feature set and internal logic.
• Writing from a genuinely new user's perspective changes almost every sentence.
• Remove assumed vocabulary from product copy.
• Do not skip steps in explanations.
• Avoid the word "obviously."
• Before publishing, read the copy as someone who has never seen your product, which fixes most of the problems.

Try it yourself

Take a short piece of product copy you have written, such as a help page or a set of instructions. Read it once as a person who has never seen the product. Mark every term that is not explained, every step that is skipped and every "obviously," and rewrite those spots before publishing. If you can, ask someone who has never used the product to read it too.