Online help documents/guides are a great convenience for users to learn about an enterprise’s products/services because they can be easily accessed almost anywhere. Unlike printed user guides and manuals, online manuals can be accessed via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Optimized the traditional document inconvenient to carry, not easy to consult and other problems.
The reason why Birdie edited this article is to find that many domestic product parties do not take “user online help document” seriously, think this thing has no practical effect at most is a face-saving project. But as a manager, do you ever think about how many new tools are coming out every day? If your product is not just needed, how many people will spend a lot of time learning?
If you don’t shorten the learning time of your users, your resources will be compromised. Online help documents can simplify the learning time of users in the process of using the product and help users quickly get started with the product (only when the product is simple and easy to get started can users find its value more easily).
Forrester Research’s latest customer life Cycle survey found that buyers now use online user guides/documents on company websites as often as they communicate with product owners via phone/online customer service/email. You can see that online help documents are playing an increasing role in overall product operations.
Of course, online help documentation can only work if online user guides and manuals are written correctly and made effective and easy to use. So what should be considered when writing online user guides and documentation? Birdie gives you 7 tips to make your documents more personal.
Precautions for writing online help documents/guides
1. Write online help documents to consider mobile adaptation
It’s 2020, and I find it ridiculous to say that your help center is only about PC adaptation. ** The advantage of the online help center is that it can be easily accessed from almost anywhere with any device. ** If you don’t take into account the adaptation of mobile phones, the help center will be less useful. As the creator of online help documents, I need to give priority to the main models on the market to do a good adaptation (key)!!
2. Write online help documents to consider the color block layout of the page
A good color block layout will not make the picture jump out of the feeling, will give a person an immersive experience, online help document as a content aggregation, if your screen made colorful visual impact is very strong, it is difficult to let the user stay to watch the specific content inside.
It is recommended that the online help document color block Settings should be soft, and people feel which Japanese design is more appropriate. At ordinary times we can also feel obviously in life, the songs played by the fast food restaurant are the kind of heavy metal shaking hi, and the tavern is the kind of lyrical soft songs.
3. Consider page layout when writing online help documents
The importance of layout is self-evident for the help center. As a product side, we should quickly sort out the overall structure of the product for users, rather than listing all the product functions for a single explanation. I think a qualified online help document should include the following three parts:
Product update dynamics: Actively inform users of the latest product updates, so that users know about new features and also inform them that the product is constantly updated and iterated.
Systematic introduction of products: novice users can make a quick recognition of the product of a special topic, for old users will be the overall product of a function to make a clear introduction.
Key problem knowledge base: frequently asked questions mentioned by users (can be collected from customer service), tips on product use or difficulties in product operation.
4. Less text and more pictures and videos in online help documents
Most of the time, it’s easier to remember what you see than what you read. This is because the brain processes visual effects 60,000 times faster than word processing. You can do the same for product users. Sometimes, all you need is a picture to show the user how to solve a problem or use the product correctly.
With the rise of short videos, users’ reading habits have been greatly fluctuated. It would be the most effective way to replace long words with videos. If you are interested in Screen Flow, you can record Screen and sound. It is also very convenient to clip (this is a foreign product, you can search for cracked version).
5. Pay attention to links and guides between individual help articles
Each section of the help document does not exist in isolation. There is one or more associated features that are introduced to the user as a single product feature. Using content relevance not only helps users deepen their understanding of the product, but also makes individual articles less lengthy. (Long essays are very low reading quality)
If the content of a single article is too much, in addition to the title, order and disorder, text bold/color Settings, it is best to add the function of article guidance. Can help users quickly clarify the structure of the article will greatly improve the reading experience!
6. Provide accurate and effective search functions for online help documents
As we mentioned above, the online help document is an aggregation of content, and it is not enough to do a good job of classifying content. We need to add an accurate and effective search function. This solves the problem of human inertia on the one hand and improves the efficiency of users on the other.
In my opinion, structured content is for beginners because they don’t know what to look for. The search feature is favored by older users because they know what to look for, and search Settings help them find content faster. While improving user efficiency, it also maintains user goodwill.
Specific functions of the implementation of the proposed search function accurate, clear interface.
7. When writing online help documents, pay attention to users’ feedback and constantly optimize the content
The online help documents/guides need to be refined as the product is updated and iterated and user feedback is collected. If you find a help document that hasn’t been updated for a long time that means the product is probably on the decline. It is important to emphasize that the help document is not a vanity project, and building it well will bring great optimization and promotion to the product.
For the realization of specific functions, it is suggested to add functional plug-ins (useful or useless) with user feedback under each content. Or just put a feedback form out there for the user to use. Through the feedback data observation, we can also see the usage of online help documents and users’ attitudes towards the product.
Ok, the above is the bird summary of the construction of online help document need to pay attention to 7 items, feel useful if you can collect. At the end of the bird to tell you about the online help document common form of construction, if you want to build can see oh!
Form of online help document construction
Common online help document building, birdie summarized as the following 4 categories (welcome to add)
Wiki: wiki is a hypertext system that is open on the web and can be co-created by many people. Typical tools include Gitbook, Docsify…
Web page building: technology through Html language to build their own or find enterprises to build a website company.
CHM: THE CHM file format is a help file system based on the HTML file features introduced by Microsoft in 1998, and is now commonly used as an e-book format.
**SaaS tools: ** Professional help document builder tools, on-demand SaaS model, the typical tool is Baklib
Baklib is a handy online help document builder
I recommend Baklib, a super handy online help document builder. This is a domestic online help document making tool based on Web application, for enterprises to do online product instructions, FAQ, help center, knowledge base, staff training manual are very good, can be edited at any time update at any time release. Employees can have a clearer understanding of the product, and users can know the product more quickly and conveniently before and after sales.
The above screenshots of the online help document are from a real Baklib customer case: Baidu Aifanfan
For more customer stories, click on Baklib Customer Stories
Product advantage
A good enterprise online help document tool, to let the internal construction staff with simple, external access to the customer look comfortable (online help documents good-looking is the key). In terms of product advantages, I summarize the following four points.
- Operation: This tool does not need to build a document framework in operation (there is a corresponding presentation framework for each topic. Currently, there are 15 topics for the help document scene), and it can be published directly after writing the document, which is easy to learn and low cost.
- External display: Baklib provides a variety of external display themes, mobile adaptation, you can change the color at will, support page footer, independent domain name.
- Details: provides many useful plug-ins including global search, user feedback function, article guidance, help site access statistics, site navigation…
- Editor: Rich rich text +Markdown make editing easier (support video, picture, file upload)
This tool is the most suitable tool for both internal knowledge coordination and external product operation explanation.