RE: [External] Re: I'm Just Curious. What Do You Think?

["Hanson, Paul R" <paul-hanson -at- uiowa -dot- edu>]

Happy Thursday!

My main focus for the past 2614 days (when I'm at work) is to manage and assemble our department's Disaster Recovery documentation. My customer is my fellow IT co-worker who needs to be able to find their system recovery instructions among all the other SME system recovery instructions. However, prior to working here, at previous companies and situations, I sat where Debora sits now. I was often the one who wrote and knew where the information being sought by the customer was located. That's why, in theory, I agree with Debora and her plan to reach out to the customer with what seems like a personalized email that provides the information that the customer was seeking but could not find. 

What I've been reading in this thread - quite interesting! - is to recall / paraphrase / butcher an idea I have heard expressed on "Shark Tank", which, as an English major, is pretty much my only "business" education. So here it is: the question to consider is [loosely paraphrased] how can you take this service and scale it so that you can go from being able to handle a handful of these requests as they trickle in to being able to handle these requests when the dam breaks and you are looking at your Inbox that has 10x that number of requests?" This could be as simple as creating a template with a standard opening paragraph, empty space to paste in the appropriate info, and a standard closing paragraph with your signature. I am all about snippets and content reuse in my work - as much as I'm able to do that, I do - so that's my reaction to your post. 

My other project is Knowledge Management and that kind of 'how do you scale' question comes up any time there's a discussion about taking 200+ articles in a Help Desk OneNote to our "centralized" Knowledge Base so instead of copying and pasting from the OneNote, the Help Desk can send a link to the "centralized" Knowledge Base - the end goal that "everyone" uses the "centralized" Knowledge Base to find the answer. What is in the Knowledge Management process that allows it to be scaled when the trickle of article submissions turns into widespread acceptance and "everyone" wants their content in the "centralized" Knowledge Base? 

That brings up another thought about all of this. While it is not my strength in doing so, I would encourage you to track your time in some way. How often and the amount of time - even if it's in 15 minute increments - you are spending doing this personalized customer support is a great metric. In that situation, there would be a project that was created in our Time Entry system for entering my time. After tracking my time against that project number, I would be able to generate stats to be used at my next Performance Review: "I spent XX [minutes / hours] helping our customer." The customer is why we do the work we do so a customer-focused disposition is how I do my daily work.

Thanks for starting this discussion!

Paul Hanson
Senior Technical Writer | Technical Support & Implementation
Iowa Health Care Information Systems



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+paul-hanson=uiowa -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com <techwr-l-bounces+paul-hanson=uiowa -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> On Behalf Of debora ames
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2023 12:46 AM
To: Laurie Marshall <lauriejmarshall -at- att -dot- net>; TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com) <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: [External] Re: I'm Just Curious. What Do You Think?

Hi, Laurie. The problem is the manager doesn't want users to be referred to the full helpset, because the plan is to eventually get all of the help onto a digital platform where the help will be shown on top of the UI in the form of flows, brief articles, tooltips, beacons...which can be done immediately; and "additional info" (conceptual, background, related, cross-referenced) one can reach via links inside the articles.  So, even though some may see that Help link, others may not because even though it's been suggested to move it to the top of the UI, it hasn't been done.

Based on what I see in survey results for users who want more help, I had suggested that, until the details they are looking for are added to the platform, I would take it upon myself to send them a short email with Here's your answer, along with a screenshot of where it is, via that Help link at the bottom of the UI. Then, if they reach out for more info, I can say Click that Help link, then this topic. That answer is step 6. And by the way, we'll soon have that help set you see integrated directly into the UI in some form. Until then, if you need anything else, this is where the full helpset is. A few minutes, at the most. I did it at my last job when approached by Client/Professional Services, 'cause there was no CS department, just me. And it worked. Soon those questions stopped, 'cause word spread that the documentation was worth looking it.

I'm not Customer Service where I am. I'm the writer who wrote the help, so I know where all the details are. So, I merely suggested doing this as a favor, to help some customers out until we get everything onto the platform. Although it has come down from the top that everyone, no matter what their role is, should make more effort to "go beyond the norm to reach out to our customers", the decision maker would rather ignore my suggestion, don't tell them about that Help link, and just have everybody wait until all info gets on the platform. So, of course, those customers who voiced their need are going to desert our signature app and go to a competitor's.

So, I just wondered what other tech writers (who possibly face situations of their own), thought.
________________________________
From: Laurie Marshall <lauriejmarshall -at- att -dot- net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 5:32 PM
To: debora ames <deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com>
Subject: Re: I'm Just Curious. What Do You Think?

Hi Debra,

Is it possible to include an instruction within your procedure that tells users to click the help link if they need more info? Perhaps a screenshot pointing out the (very small) help link at the bottom of the UI? This might prompt some users to be self sufficient and check the help for more info. If they don't find what they're looking for, then they could take the next step and initiate an email. It's not a perfect solution, but perhaps a middle point?

I'm not sure I fully understand your situation - so this suggestion might not be applicable.

Laurie

On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 01:47:00 PM EDT, debora ames <deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:


Hi, Nina. This is not really using up resources to implement a solution. This is merely me, reviewing survey results, seeing a customer's particular problem, and reaching out to them ('cause we also pull their email addresses), and saying This is your answer-and all I show them is that answer (10 minutes).  If they came back and asked Where are the instructions this step is in?, I'd say It's step 6 on pg. 22 of "Set Up Billing Alerts" (2 minutes).

On my prior job, although there was a Customer Service department, Professional Services shot me these types of questions all the time for customers who wanted an immediate answer. It resulted in more customers reading the documentation, Engineering starting to use it to write test case; and Client Services told me they closed a few big deals based OK, now we want to see the documentation.

Regarding everything you wrote, where I am now, we are doing all of that. But because our new VP, Product Management also wants us, as individuals, to take more initiative by going "outside the box" to connect to our customers, this takes no time at all on my part to help them out- because I know where everything is stated (until it gets on the platform). It's just a small favor that takes minutes, helps them out, and prevents them from quitting the app. Since it works, I would think the other side would say Sure, doesn't hurt ('cause I'm volunteering to do this), instead of leaving these (potentially long-term) customers hanging (or gone) until we get all of the information on the platform six or more months from now.
________________________________

From: Nina Barzgaran <e -dot- dickinson -at- gmx -dot- net<mailto:e -dot- dickinson -at- gmx -dot- net>>
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2023 4:24 AM
To: debora ames <deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com<mailto:deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com>>
Cc: TechWhirl <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>>
Subject: Aw: I'm Just Curious. What Do You Think?

Sounds not too easy to solve in two clicks... :) I think basically it's about cost vs benefit - for the company, your team especially, rather all concerned, including the developers. So, here a few questions that might make it easier to clear the dust of the battle..

  *  If you start implementing the email solution and not go that soon for the platform, how many customers would be affected?
  *  Have you seen numbers actually decreasing because of that helpset not being right there, a few clicks away...?
  *  How much time does it take to implement that email solution?
  *  How much longer would it take to get the platform up and running, if you do the emails first?

How many people would be involved and possibly be kept from other imoprtant tasks - that is - would those tasks 'suffer' and be finished later?

Again: What's the least cost with the highest possible (long-term) effect.

I think, losing a few non-paying-customers now when you can retain so many more prospects and existing subscribers might be worth the risk.

Just my two cents worth.

Best of luck
Nina

Gesendet: Samstag, 20. Mai 2023 um 06:05 Uhr
Von: "debora ames" <deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com<mailto:deboraames -at- hotmail -dot- com>>
An: "TechWhirl" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com<mailto:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>>
Betreff: I'm Just Curious. What Do You Think?
Hello, my peers. There's a debate within the Doc team. We have a digital-adoption platform on which floats a signature application with some high-level flows and tooltips; and access to brief articles in the Help center. The flows are rather You can do this here instead of a more focused This is how you do it. Half of our surveyed customers can easily intuit what to do; the other half seeks more info (What does this mean?, I assumed I could do this...; More training, please, Need more instructions).

Before obtaining the platform, I was tasked to create a full help set (in Madcap's Flare). So, I created detailed instructions and clearly marked-and captioned screenshots (as directed by the product managers) of the entire application. And I'm a conversational writer, so it's really easy to understand (plus I user-test, then write). However, this helpset info hasn't yet been moved to the platform in the form of videos, knowledge bases, HTML pages, PDFs, micro content...all the forms it can be added to the platform. It'll be about 4-6 months to get that done, when given the OK to start.

BTW, this helpset can be accessed via a Help link (about 8pt. Arial) at the bottom edge of the UI. (if you squinch, you may see it). But, this is the difference of opinions:

* One opinion is: For those customers who want those answers, don't just tell them Click the link. Make it simple, and send them a quick email stating This is what you're looking for..., shows a screenshot of step 6.
(or steps 6-8!) of ABC procedure, and also includes those clearly marked-and-captioned screenshots. IF they contact you and want to know more, say Click that Help link at the bottom of your screen, then "ABC"
topic in the TOC you'll immediately see. Then say, Eventually, we'll have all that information added to the platform. But, in the meantime, you can find any other info you need, if you want, in that helpset.
* The other is: Why bother with that when we're gonna eventually get everything onto the platform? Don't you know we're aiming for "Out with the old and in with the NEW?!" Tired of hearing about it. Get with the program!

Since our customer base are legal/medical/governmental/regulatory/regular
folks online-faxing documents that need to be signed and returned in a timely manner-and the very real company goal is to retain and increase this base for ROI-proven reasons (so you don't want them to get frustrated and cancel out of the initial free, or paid, subscription), what do you think? (I'm of opinion #1, 'cause on a prior job at a company that developed contract-management software for commercial real-estate enterprises, Client/Professional Services would come to me with those same questions from particular customers who would call in 'cause they couldn't find or figure something out. I would send that exact email to the rep, who would forward it immediately to the customer. Greatly! appreciated by
all.)
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