During a recent online conversation, someone requested for a list of questions I would typically ask to a subject matter expert (SME) to prepare technical documentation for a topic. Of course, the parameters may vary, but there is still a list of questions that apply across all sizes or complexities of projects. In this post, I share with you the list of questions that I shared with them…
Tag: Feature-specific
How do I make information-communication effective?
Information communication is a cyclical process, much like the usual purchase decisions that you take. So, if we can wear the shoes of our users and understand their requirements, we can write better documents or even project the information-communication more effectively. In this blog post, I try to find those effective checkpoints using the purchase-decision analogy. We will take daily-life examples, such as using mobile applications to searching for “mobile phones” versus searching purposefully for “new Android phones under 10,000.” The analogy lends us some interesting insights that can help us communication information effectively. Let’s explore.
Trends in Technical Communication
In response to a reader’s question, I explore the impact of soft skills on the trends in technical communication. But, do the skills and trends have anything in common? Can the soft skills affect trends? If yes, how? Well, there are a lot of questions. And, I attempt to solve some of them in this post. Read the full post.
Technical Communicator: The New Branding Person
Last month, I got a chance to read from some of my old books. I am a marketing graduate. So, while I read some random pages from the marketing domain, I could see that the learning matched to technical communication as well. But, how could the lessons on branding teach anything about technical communication? In this post, I try to explore this question to help improve my understanding.
Tech Comm and the Glossary of Biz Economics
Premise
In the regular classes on Business Economics, during my graduation, I learned about certain concepts that still apply. Two of such concepts, Buyers and Users, are applicable in technical communication to a great extent.
Can those concepts lend any insights to us? Do we prepare our documentation considering the buyers or users? Or, do we concentrate on merely describing the features? The discussion follows in this post.
Observation
The easiest way to begin the conversation is to see what demarcate buyers and users.
It is strategic to choose which side you represent as a technical communicator. At large, all of us fall on the same side of the table – the sellers. We obviously don’t “sell” our content, but we do contribute (both actively and passively) to the sales cycle. Deep down, however, we aim to write from the point of view of the buyers and users. Note that I am using an “AND” between buyers and users.
I prepare and release technical documentation, just as any of you do. And, like you do, I too focus on what my company’s products deliver. But, the basic concepts of Business Economics help me demarcate the buyers and the users.
Definitions
The same demarcation that applies to Customers and Consumers, applies to buyers and users as well. Consider the following introductions to customers and consumers, based on what I have gleaned from the subject:
Customers. They may or may not use the product (and hence may not always qualify as end users), but they are the ones who buy. They implement a purchase decision. They influence the purchaser, and hence the purchase decision. They do not consume the products but can use the services and hence can impact your communications. The brand-level changes affect their perceptions.
Consumers. They use the product but are not necessarily the ones who buy. They either feel or create a need to purchase. Therefore, they are the ones who create and govern the purchase decisions, but under the influence of the buyers. They consume products and avail services. The feature-level changes affect them. They mostly know what they need.
Analysis
The points mentioned above are generic, but they communicate the scenario effectively. Let us now take an example to further outline the comparison of behaviors. Pick, for example, a health drink for children; Let me define it as “NutraChamp.” As customers (or buyers, in this case), you are affected by the brand philosophy (or value proposition) of the product.
But, the fact that the product is available in the flavor of your choice, which is a feature-level change, will affect you only if you are the consumer (or the user) of the product. The choice to go for a particular flavor, or even color of the packaging will belong to the consumer, but the decision to finally purchase it will still belong to the customer. And, in all probabilities, the purchase decision will not be governed by the color of the packaging and the flavor, but the information supplied with the product. This is where documentation plays its part in the sales cycle.
The information supplied – in this case, the supplements fact sheet – plays a strategic role when purchasing a product. For technical communicators like us, it is therefore important to understand the buying behaviors to communicate only what contributes to the learning curve of our customers as well as consumers and hence affects their purchase behaviors.
Conclusion
In similar situations, I focus on providing what my customers need. Additionally, my documentation becomes more “sellable” if I also include what they want. My learning, from the Business Economics class, has paid off! Need is extremely important, and hence, in our example, if the NutraChamp health drink contains a combination of health benefits, taste, and flavor, both the buyers as well as the users will be happy and satisfied with the purchase decision.
As a marketer, I might think differently, but as a technical communicator, I will try to communicate the health benefits, by providing the supplements fact sheet, and miscellaneous documentation, if needed.
I understand that as a technical communicator, I do not write in the marketing terminology. So, the purpose of this post is not to tell you to package and present wants as needs to buyers and users. But, based on our interaction so far, it is not difficult to assume that our documentation should contain feature-centric, benefit-oriented information.
I do not intend to tell you to make documents more “sellable”, but when the documents should address the needs as well as wants, the points mentioned above can come in handy.
The Wordsmith 