documentation feedback

[R Arthur]

Sarah Bouchier wrote:

 

<What do you find is the best way of getting feedback from customers on
your documentation?>

 

This is a bit tangential, but may be useful for determining if your
documentation is answering the questions the customers are asking. I had a
job once where the customer support and marketing folks kept all their email
correspondence in a single database. I asked the customer support guys which
new customers they had helped in the past year, and went through the email
trails for those customers. Well, that was a treasure trove of what
questions the customers were asking when they started. I was writing a
getting started guide, so this was exactly what I was looking for. 

 

If you ask the customer support directly, they tend to remember the most
difficult or most interesting questions to answer. By reading the emails,
you see the raw data.

 

(Somewhat more interesting was when I had the content reviewed by the team
lead for customer support. Surprise! One of the key emails that I had used
as a source had included incorrect information. Cross check if you can.)

 

Cathy Arthur