Question
- What makes for good support documentation?
- What should I include in my support documentation?
Solution
Creating effective support documentation is pivotal to ensure that new users find success with your app. The quicker they understand how to get set up and efficiently find answers to their questions, the more likely you are to retain them as customers. It is not only important to provide basic details about your application’s functionality but also to do it in a way that is easy to understand for the end-user. Our app documentation requirements are outlined here.
Having the following things in your documentation allow users to better self-serve their onboarding and support inquiries, not only providing them with a better experience but also minimizing the time you spend individually answering user questions:
- Structure: Break up your documentation and use formatting to improve its readability.
Some points on structure:
- Use sub-headings and/or drop-downs to appropriately split up the content.
- Make sure it is chronological according to when the creator is likely to need the info in their journey.
- Don’t have large slabs of text. Try to break it up with bullet points and images.
- Use media: Supplement the text in your documentation with high quality media (Images, GIFs and Videos) to drastically improve the user experience. It allows you to quickly and clearly convey concepts that may be very convoluted through text.
- FAQs: To better support your live channels, include a FAQ section so that there are easily accessible answers for those common questions creators have. This can function as an evergreen support channel for your app and minimize the amount of live support you need to provide.
You can apply our easy-to-follow structured guidelines to get started on your documentation. Some additional best practices to consider when writing:
- Avoid technical jargon: Apps are installed by course creators who may not have in-depth technical knowledge. The language you use in your documentation should be easy to follow for someone who may not be as technically inclined as yourself.
- Get to the point: The user has generally installed your app already so there is no need to sell them with lengthy descriptions of the app and its value. Efficiently convey how the customer can use your app to gain value!
- Update based on feedback: Your support documentation is a living document that should be updated regularly with changes you make to your app and user feedback. If you find that you are getting a lot of support inquiries on a topic it’s probably time to make an update.