How to motivate users to use technical documentation: best practices and real-world examples

1. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Motivating Users – STC Summit 2014
Scott DeLoach – scott@clickstart.net ClickStart – www.clickstart.net
Challenge: users don't like to use documentation
 Too busy
 Think it takes them "off task"
 Don't want to read (or think it's too much content)
 Think it's boring
What users want
 Quick answers
 Examples
 Procedures
 Reasons
How they want it

2. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Seduce users with links
 Quick tip…
 How do I….
 Tell me more…
 Expert tips…
 Why we need this information…

3. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Quiz users
 Quizzes
 Contests
 Challenges

4. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Provide Options
Create multiple documents and/or help systems:
 “Just the facts”
 “All the details”
 “Get started fast”
 XYZ Technical reference
 “XYZ for beginners”
 “XYZ for experts”
Let users participate
 Discussion groups
 Annotations
 Wikis

5. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Let users vote
 Topic ratings
 Frequently-asked questions
 Recent questions
Give users a voice
 Chat
 Feedback
 Annotations

6. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Invite them back
 Bookmarks/Favorites
 Breadcrumbs
 RSS feeds

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Don’t just tell them, show them
 Tutorials
 Demonstrations

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Provide incentives
 MVP and certification programs
 Easter eggs
 Participation levels in discussion groups

9. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
Have some style
 Voice
 Tone
 Colors and design
 Recurring examples

10. STC Summit 2014 © 2014, ClickStart
About the presenter
Scott DeLoach is the Founder of ClickStart, where he provides training and consulting for MadCap Flare,
Adobe Captivate, embedded user assistance, CSS, and HTML5. He has been developing browser-based help
systems since 1997, and he has received four Best in Show awards for his work from STC.
Scott is a certified Flare and Captivate instructor, and he is the author of MadCap Flare V10 Developer's
Guide, CSS to the Point, HTML5 to the Point, and Word 2013 to the Point. For more information about Scott's
books see www.lulu.com/clickstart.
You can reach Scott at www.clickstart.net or by email at scott@clickstart.net.