Creators Code: How to Avoid Death by Words

A Checklist for Creators: 10 Ways to Improve IX, the UX of Information

Transcript

1. Creators Code: How to Avoid Death by Words A Checklist for Creators: 10 Ways to Improve IX, the UX of Information ©2013 Sridhar Machani http://google.com/+SridharMachani
2. Impressions are made everywhere and everytime: Everyone judges your product by what they see, hear, and read about your product, aka information. Buying decisions are made at almost every such impression, aka user experience (UX). Test: Have you ever bought a product or subscribed to a service that had spelling mistakes, confusing text, ugly looks, or reputation of bad- mouthing users? Why care about IX (Information Experience)?
3. • Common traps: Write, edit, and prepare content • Suicide: Inside the product (in-app) • Poison: Outside the product • Infections: Interacting with users • Conspiracy: Support • Trial: Documentation • Prison: Blog • Hanged: Social How to avoid death by words?
4. 1. Common traps: Write • Be human, write for the humans, not for devices • Write for your audience (Normal users? Admins? Developers?) • Keep it informal, active, direct, and simple • Separate content by concepts, procedures, and references (where possible) • Use screen-shots/images, flow-charts, and videos if words are not enough • Don’t steal content (there’s no undo online)
5. 2. Common traps: Edit • Remove words that are: ◦ Unwanted ◦ Ambiguous ◦ Hurtful, sarcastic, or controversial • Check for consistent usage of words and style (use either UI or user interface throughout)
6. 3. Common traps: Prepare • Spell check everything (UI elements, web pages, error messages, emails) • Proof read for right meaning and context (‘trial’ and ‘trail’ are both correct spellings, but which one do you mean?) • Use readable font size and styles (purple text on black background is unreadable) • Repeat the cycle; get more eyes to review
7. 4. Suicide: Inside the product (in-app) • First-use experience ◦ Guide users how to use core functions with warm, welcoming words ◦ Show how to get back to home page/screen and how to get help • Retain known names and shortcuts for common tasks in the UI • Take permissions and inform users about delicate tasks (saving personal data or sending data to third-party apps) • Notifications ◦ Don’t disturb users when they’re sad/angry (I wish we knew how :-)) ◦ Interrupt only if you must ◦ Show meaningful messages • Remove clutter and distractions
8. 5. Poison: Outside the product • Website: ◦ Ensure users can easily navigate, sign-in and sign-out, find help, and contact you ◦ Tell them who you are • App stores: ◦ Tell users what works, what doesn’t ◦ Tell them what is free, what’s not • Newsletters/Brochures: Tell stories, try not to sell on every page • Ads: ◦ Show or talk about your core functions, not every feature ◦ Don’t clutter
9. 6. Infections: Interacting with users • Be nice: ◦ Talk to them like you would talk to close family and friends ◦ Show empathy and the benefit of doubt - you don’t know what battles they’re fighting • Be fair: ◦ Keep promises - nobody forgets what’s due to them ◦ Don’t argue - you’ll be a loser even if you win ◦ If they’ve made mistakes, give them a chance to exit or come good • Be transparent: ◦ If you’ve made a mistake, admit it ◦ Don’t mislead them, especially in matters of money and privacy
10. 7. Conspiracy: Support • Problems: ◦ Diagnose the issue before starting to fix a problem ◦ Sometimes users think it’s a problem, but it may not be, or it may lie somewhere else ◦ Set expectations - price, terms, what is/is not covered, ETA ◦ Watch out for users who complain, and more so for those who don’t complain at all • Forms (in-app): ◦ Gather information that you really need to fix an issue ◦ Avoid collecting or storing sensitive data
11. 7. Conspiracy: Support (Continued) • Emails/IM: ◦ Read users’ emails/messages before responding ◦ Collate requests and instructions, instead of sending an email/message for each item • Forum: ◦ Monitor, moderate, and respond in reasonable times • Phone: ◦ It’s better to use phone calls for escalations or critical functions ◦ Unless you can sustain quality phone support, stick to emails/forums ◦ On a call, be patient, soft, and courteous, and hear the users out
12. 8. Trial: Documentation • A rough draft is better than nothing • Organize and visually separate topics based on concepts, procedures (install, upgrade, configure, customize), and references • Publish PDF, HTML guides (some of us still like to print and read) • Videos are great for users with high Internet bandwidth - for others, publish audio and transcript versions of the videos • Involve writers early in the game - from planning and design • Involve support teams to identify areas of focus that need extensive documentation (more screenshots and examples) • Send beta docs to some users for early reviews and bug fixes • It’s a constant cycle - draft, review, fix/update, publish
13. 9. Prison: Blog • Write about topics that help and entertain users • Great place to talk about your product updates, timelines, plans, and teams • Write about industry topics and win brownie points • Keep it official, not such a good idea to talk about your family problems • Be prepared for all kinds of user comments - it’s up to you to moderate it, just let the users know about it
14. 10. Hanged: Social • Use social media platforms to build relationships and engage with users • It’s about your company’s brand - what it stands for • Post and respond regularly • Be careful what you write/share - it can’t be taken back • Analyze and identify trends - no news is generally NOT good news out there
15. • Less support calls/requests -> more savings • High user recommendations and ratings -> growth in users and revenue • Users' trust and confidence -> easier to upsell and market other products What does it all mean for your business? Good information experience can bridge a lot of gaps
16. Need Help? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me! • Ongoing Retainer: Let me keep a tab on all your content on a weekly or monthly basis • Full-day Workshop: Organize a group learning session for your team for one or more days • One-time Report: Get a detailed PDF report of all your content on the web and in mobile apps sridhar.machani@gmail.com http://SridharMachani.com/newsletter