Writing a Treadmill User Manual, if your company’s products are more sophisticated than a roll of kitchen paper, chances are you need to create some kind of user manual to help your customers use them. A well-designed, easy-to-use manual can make the difference between a fantastic customer experience and a terrible one. What’s more, these documents aren’t just for new users: experienced customers can also refer to them to remind themselves how to use a feature they don’t usually use or to solve a specific problem. What is a user manual and why is it important. How a user manual affects the customer experience.
How a user manual can reduce the workload of your support team. Why visual content is key to a good user manual.
Best practices for creating a good user manual. How to create a user manual that satisfies customers and stands the test of time. Keep in mind that, although we focus primarily on creating product user manuals without a physical copy, such as in a program, most (and quite possibly all) of the advice you’ll find in this article can be extrapolated to the hardware domain.
What is a user manual?
In other words, they are the instructions that accompany a product to teach the customer how to use it properly (for example, in the case of physical items, how to assemble it). If you’ve ever had to assemble an IKEA piece of furniture, you’ve used a user manual. User manuals can contain many different types of information. In a video game, they tell you which buttons to press to land the enemy; in the case of software, they direct you on what you can do with your purchase and how to do it in a form, they guide you on how to fill it out correctly while in a lawnmower, they instruct you on how to start the engine.
You know it, your product is absolutely amazing, but to make sure your customer knows it too, you have to help them get the most out of it. This is where the user manual comes into play. So, whether it provides information on how to store a document, use a specific tool, or use a product safely, a good user manual is key to your relationship with customers. If you think creating a user manual is easy, and that it’s just a matter of explaining how to use the product, think again.
Why are user manuals important?
A user manual is more than just an instructional document. It’s part of the customer experience, which means it’s also marketing material. As a consumer, you’ve probably come across fantastic manuals, but you’ve also had horrible experiences.
With a good user manual, you show customers that you’re not only interested in them buying the product, but also in them having a great experience using it. When customers feel like you’re not just thinking about their money, they’ll keep coming back to you. And if you want them to share with the world how much you love your products and services.
Keep in mind that offering them a fabulous user manual is the way to ensure their post-sale experience. While each product is unique and the components vary, there are some best practices when creating user manuals that you should always follow to ensure the document’s effectiveness. Nothing is more frustrating than reading something you don’t know. Using language that makes your customer feel useless isn’t the best way to provide a great experience. Use simple, plain language whenever possible to help users understand even the most difficult concepts.
How does a user manual affect the customer experience?
Remember, you’re talking to users, not programmers. It may seem silly, but writing in plain language about a product or service you’re very familiar with is harder than you think. When you master things like terminology, acronyms, and other insider information, you’ll use them automatically. The problem is, customers probably don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t assume your client knows the product or the technical and industry-specific terms you probably use every day in the office.
It’s also not a matter of writing like a toddler; just remember that they may need extra information to understand you. Write your manual in a way that’s easy to follow. People often contact support teams when something isn’t working, but also if they don’t know how to do something. Having a good user manual helps your support team in the following ways A good user manual doesn’t have to be A user manual (also called product instructions, user guide, etc.) is the material you provide to your product’s users to help them use it correctly.
Conclusion
To achieve its goal, the user manual must be as simple as possible. This applies to both the content and the design of the document. A manual with large blocks of text and pages full of graphics and information can intimidate and discourage the user. Users who are overwhelmed by the instruction book are much more likely to call support for assistance rather than doing it themselves. They also have a poor customer experience. A picture is worth a thousand words: the best way to learn how to perform a task is not by explaining it, but by remembering or recalling it by seeing it.
Visual elements, such as images, annotated screens, charts, and videos, have the benefit of easily demonstrating how a product works. According to a recent TechSmith study, people absorb information more quickly if it is presented visually and perform tasks better when instructions include images or videos. Visuals also help separate long text into different sections and can even replace some of the written content that makes many manuals overwhelming or cumbersome. Screenshots, video tutorials, or screen recordings are some of the most popular ways to introduce graphical content into a user manual.
