According to Social Media Today, about 70 percent of customers prefer to seek information on their own. It seems that dealing with customer support reps are too much, mostly because they need information immediately. Waiting for a response is no longer an option.
Solid user documentation can be the difference maker between you providing excellent customer experience and providing mediocre one.
User documentation is basically product or service manuals and instructions that you provide to the customers. These sources of knowledge make it much easier to understand how a product should be used. Also, it usually has answers to potential problems that may arise.
You will improve the lives of more than just your customers by having good user documentation. Less work for customer support employees is also something to consider.
But how does one create user documentation that is helpful, especially if your business has never had something like this? Well, there are some guidelines you can follow. The tips below ought to work as a good reference. Read them and create a strategy that will help with developing solid user documentation for your business.
Tip #1 – Look at Examples
Before you really start working on the documentation, why not take some time and look at what other businesses are doing with it? There are plenty of good examples of user documentation on the internet.
If the concept of user documentation is alien to you, it is always good to look at how it looks in reality in such cases. Otherwise, you might end up with something entirely different than what was necessary.
Tip #2 – Start With a Plan
A plan is a cornerstone of such projects. User documentation requires detailed planning because it is not a simple task to finish.
Ask yourself questions. Get yourself in the shoes of a customer and take a perspective from their point of view. Speak with your customer support team and see what they have to say about the problem.
Looking at the competition and seeing how they are dealing with the problem would also be useful. Finally, get some feedback from people you know. Ask them what they believe would be a good addition to the store.
Tip #3 – Use Plain Language
You do not want to overcomplicate things by using industry-related jargon. It is more than likely that most customers will not be familiar with certain words. Do not overcomplicate things.
The documentation is called “user” because when writing, you should always think about users first, and not the technicians.
Tip #4 – Add Visuals
Visual information is easier to process. Now there might not be a lot of opportunities to add infographics or even video guides, but you should still look to emphasize visuals as well as content variety.
Doing so will also help with search engine optimization, especially if you are trying to produce the best possible content.
Ultimately, there are a lot of studies that reveal how humans are visually-oriented. Roughly 90 percent of information transmitted to our brain consists of visuals. Keep this in mind when you are developing user documentation.
Tip #5 – Break Difficult Information Into Steps
Cluttered walls of text are not the best approach. If you have loads of information to work with, separating it into steps would simplify things for users because they will have an easier time processing the information.
Think of an instruction for assembling something. You usually see numbered pictures of each step necessary to assemble the product. Think of it that way. Simplifying as much as you can usually is the best approach.
Tip #6 – Follow a Hierarchy
There should be a sensible hierarchy that your documentation follows. The way you organize content pieces needs to make sense. You do not want to put advanced stuff in front. New users will find such a structure bizarre. They want to start with the basics and move their way up from there.
Tip #7 – Make Documentation Searchable
Enable the information so that people can find it on the website without any problems. These days, people are used to looking for answers on search engines like Google. Take a hint and make it easy for everyone who is trying to find the information on your website.
Tip #8 – Use Table of Contents
The table of contents is something you must have seen somewhere. It is included in larger documents. There is an option to use the Control + F function and look for stuff, but a table of contents at the beginning of the page will make it much easier to navigate.
Tip #9 – Continue Testing New Ideas
Adding and trying new things will help with moving forward. There is no correct formula for how user documentation should be, and it varies depending on what your website and business are like. Thus, you need to test new stuff and always look for ways to improve this aspect of your business.
