Technical documentation that leads to customer satisfaction

Whether your technical documentation needs include stand-alone paper based documentation,

interactive electronic documentation, integrated documentation, and/or web based documentation

they provide an essential backbone for the business-as-usual operations of any organisation.

Documentation is an important knowledge repository but also a critical link in the chain of

knowledge transfer. Capturing the essence of best practice and expert approaches allows for

efficient and effective business operation and also leads to satisfied customers.

A recent personal experience with satellite navigation (SatNav) system demonstrated how important

online technical documentation and support can be to the end user. When I first discovered that my

SatNav was not detecting a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal it filled me with trepidation

because I was in a country I didn’t know and needed to get to another city from my current location.

Of course the last resort would have been a map but since I had invested in the SatNav I was

determined to use it.

Linking to the online technical support page was my next port of call to establish what could possibly

be malfunctioning on the device. I dutifully followed the recommend steps to reset the device and

update the software but was still unsuccessful. Communication from the company then indicated

that there was a generalised problem with the software that required fixing before the signal would

be detected again.

After patiently waiting for the fix, it finally arrived only to discover that I could not download it from

the specified web page. This was extremely frustrating and made me lose faith in the brand. It was

only after browsing several user forums and frequently-asked-questions areas that I discovered that

my browser needed to be set to compatibility mode to resolve the download issue and allow me to

access the fix.

The technical documentation describing the solution to my problem had therefore overlooked one

very critical aspect and made several users rather angry. Technical documentation linked to the

company’s website design should have considered this flaw in the process and the technical authors

should have considered this eventuality in their troubleshooting guide. Future updates to this guide

should also have mentioned this point but I have yet to see any evidence of it.

Comprehensive technical documentation provides readers with the right information they need at

the right time for the right application and when this system breaks down the impact to a business

can be severe and lead to several dissatisfied customers who are less likely to purchase your product

again.