Nandini gupta usefulpopularhelp_tekom

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Making Help popular and useful

Nandini Gupta (nandinig@adobe.com)

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Some questions I asked to understand user behavior and needs

• Why is Help not popular with users? Why aren’t users able to find answers in Help?

• What is the percentage of users who find Help useful?

• Can I figure out the top five attributes that today’s app users consider essential in Help?

• Do users prefer video? Are graphics a must in Help?

• When and how do users access Help?

• What is the best way to serve the content created by the community? Should there be a distinct borderline between official and external content? Or should both types of content merge seamlessly?

• Are blog posts written with personal anecdotes more popular? Are they more useful?

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Some research methods I used

Collect data randomly

“Boring look-and-feel”

“Not helpful because has too many technical terms – It’s called help for a reason.”

“Can’t find what I am looking for – should be upgraded more often”

Collect data from ‘live’ reviews

“Can the doc be little informal.. Because en end user doesn't prefer reading such PDFs.”

“We must have just cool looking visuals to depict this... which may have some some bullets.”

Collect data through a survey Technical writers in my organization

Technical writers outside my organization

App users who are not technical writers

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Key takeaway from the survey

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• Help needs to be engaging but not at the cost of accuracy and efficiency.

• Create Help resources for two access scenarios: Laidback Learn and Quick Help.

• Treat Help as an app. Users want an ‘experience’. This could mean magical search, new front-ends, device independence, interactivity, and more.

• User preferences for writing style (formal/informal), medium (text/video/FAQ), and delivery format (in browser/in viewer/offline PDF) are divergent.

• The biggest pain point with Help is that users can’t find what they are looking for.

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

SEO is key. Follow “an hour a day” approach.

Help writer Help department

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• Write for the web - No “sea of text”. Flat structure, high scannability, keyword richness, dense linking

• Structure such that a search brings up a coherent, substantive page

• Optimize for search• Use terms that readers use• Include synonyms and common

misspellings

• Post updated Help frequently and amplify

• Use the app’s real estate to answer the most-asked question

• Provide strong search and navigation capabilities with templates/viewers

• Allow push-button publishing

• Provide analytics and datamining support

• Encourage and facilitate cross- functional collaboration and community building

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Serve content for both learning and troubleshooting.

Datamine ratings, comments, search logs, and support calls to understand when users are looking for Help.

Create a content piece with the mode in mind. The mode impacts the length of the piece and the format.

Learning: Articles, tutorials, webinars

Troubleshooting pieces: Short focused articles, FAQ, short videos

Some considerations for selecting the right format:

Text is easier to search and localize and faster to consume.

Videos work well:

When task sequence or user interface is inherently confusing

When a complex task involves more than one tool

Optimize videos for search by introducing with “caption-like” text.

Provide duration of videos to help users decide.

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Delight users with engaging strategies.

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Printing tips | Acrobat, Reader

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

More examples of engaging strategies

Illustrator Type tool gallery

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

New front-ends: Supplement core Help with FAQs

“Users don't want documentation, they want answers – And the FAQ form naturally is a perfect fit.”

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New front-ends: Lay out content differently to serve user needs.

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Allow users to collaborate.

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Enable commenting, rating, and moderation.

Allow users to create content and post on your site.

Work with cross-functional team members to plan and execute a content strategy.

• Content is user-responsive and improves throughout product lifecycle

• Three key phases – prerelease, release, and postrelease

• Content creation is collaborative – users, developers, Tech Support engineers also create content

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Content strategy: User-created content on niche topics

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Act on usage data and feedback.

• Create content based on user needs

• Meet the content needs of most users

• Leverage available feedback channels

• Top issues

• Survey

• Comments and ratings

• Page view, click map, and other traffic analyses

• Search reports

• User interaction

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100, 59%303 Views

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Dec ID

August Traffic Distribution - Captivate (All)

Aug PVs

Cumulative%

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Create, engage, enhance, and deliver continually.

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© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Suggested reading

• Mike Puterbaugh http://mashable.com/2011/08/12/product-documentation-marketing/

• Shaun's Blog: My Helpful Help Presentationhttp://blogs.gnome.org/shaunm/2011/08/06/my-helpful-help-presentation/

• Adobe Community Help

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

A few quotes to post on your soft board

“…single pain points in documentation can

leave a worse impression than in software.”

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“Documentation is more than a user guide. It’s

strategic.”

“Documentation should be granular, but also social and searchable. The best documentation contains both generalist and specialist material, designed to engage each intended audience.”

“In a community of creative experts, Help is not a document. It’s a conversation. Join in.”

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Contact us

Thank You!

Contact:Nandini Gupta

nandinig@adobe.comTwitter: nandinizg

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.