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How do you make a case
study of a strategy?
…the story of how we got here and what we’re doing now.
Tell you how it was executed,
of course!
Yahoo
Fantasy Sports
Answers
Flickr
Tumblr
Aviate
Search
Finance
and many more…
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) - NASDAQ
Founded January 1994
by two Stanford grad students
Jerry Yang and David Filoincorporated March 1, 1995
Yahoo CEO and President
Marissa Mayerappointed on July 16, 2012
My Yahoo
organization
writes customer
help content for all
Yahoo products
…everywhere
We assist millions of unique Help visitors every
month
Me
20 years | Xerox ◆ Mentor Graphics ◆ Oracle ◆ Yahoo
Marketing | Customer Support | Training
Moda Center
Home of the Trailblazers
Mt St Helens
Willamette River
Portland, OR
USABILITY.GOV
“…focuses on the planning, creation, delivery, and governance of
content. Content not only includes the words on the page but also the
images and multimedia that are used.”http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/content-strategy.html
WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY? KRISTINA HALVORSON
“…plans for the creation, publication and
governance of useful, usable content.”http://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy
JEFFREY MACINTYRE
“…addresses the specific purpose, form, and development of the content assets
that we have at hand, or those that circumstances (and our analysis) require us to
produce. The analysis of content and assessment of its value lies at the core of our
labors.”http://alistapart.com/article/contenttiousstrategy
Your content strategy is
everything you do
and don’t do related to
your content.
Remember, no strategy is a
strategy too.
Investment
Platform
Translations
Writing style and voice
Process and governance
What you share publicly
Hiring practices
What might be in your strategy?
Everywhere?
Every user
▪ Customer
▪ Support agent
▪ Partner
Every device
▪ Mobile
▪ Tablet
▪ Desktop/laptop
▪ In-product
▪ Every language
▪ Every locale(language + country)
Everywhere!
Content PrinciplesKnow your audience
Must be able to follow the scent
Easy to scan titles
Easy to scan articles
Support SEO in every way
Use brand voice
Use translation best practices
Make strategic use of videos and images
Write for multiple UIs(user interfaces)
Know your audience
JAKOB NIELSEN
“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 12, 2011http://www.useit.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/
“If your grandmother and
your 10 year old niece
can read and understand
your content, you’re
doing it right!”
Personas“ Users often leave Web pagesin 10-20 seconds, but pageswith a clear value proposition
can hold people's attention for much longer…”
While customers will search onour site; most searching occurs before
they reach us.
Must be able to follow the scent
“Informavores will keep clicking as long as they sense (to mix metaphors)
that they’re “getting warmer” -- the scent must keep getting stronger and
stronger, or people give up.”
JAKOB NIELSEN
“Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 30, 2003http://www.useit.com/articles/information-scent/
Locale SEO URL
en_US https://help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.html
en_AU https://au.help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.html
de_DE https://de.hilfe.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Fehlende-Apps-in-Aviate-sln24249.html
vn_VI https://vn.trogiup.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Thiếu-ứng-dụng-trong-Aviate-sln24249.html
Support in
SEO in
every way
LARSEN “Creating the right brand voice”larsen.com/insights/creating-the-right-brand-voice
“Brand voice is the purposeful,
consistent expression of
a brand through words and
prose styles that engage and
motivate...
The personality of your brand is
determined, in large measure, by
the words you use and the
sentences you write.”
Brand voiceWhat’s yourbrand voice?
Use translation best practices
One idea per sentence
Simplicity over creativity
Reuse and consistency
Spend the time and get it
right the first time
Own your translation memory
SOURCES
just-one-liners.com http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/translations
SignsFail https://www.etsy.com/shop/SignFail
Seafood
brought in by
customers
will not be
entertained.
LADIES
ARE REQUESTED
NOT TO HAVE
CHILDREN IN
THE BAR
Writing for multiple UIs
Plain vanilla HTML
CSS classes supported by each UI
Variables for local values
Challenges2009
Global products
Distributed platformand contributors
Multiple repositories
$$$ TranslationsLabor
Writing skills
UI inconsistencies
Emergence of mobile
A new platform was needed
• 1 Global repository for self-serve and agents
• Use 14 languages (1 dialect or form per language)
• Reduce from 70+ down to 38 locales(language + country, en_US)
This forced a new authoring strategy
Stop the bleeding ($$$)2010
Did we need content everywhere?
How many independent repositories are needed?
A new language and translation strategy
14 languages in 38 locales
en_US
es_ES fr_FR
en_CA
en_GB
es_MX
es_CO
fr_BE
MASTER (1)
PARENTS (14)
CHILDREN (24)
: :
en_AU es_US * Use variables for
local values
fr_CA
Replicate from
Parent to Child
Translate from
Master
to Parent
en_US
Benefits realized, so far
Centralized oversight
Systems used to their fullest
Fewer experts necessary:systems and content
Buying software once
Content consistencyacross the world
Same reporting platform
Prod Groups work withone team
Easy as flowers growing after a
volcanic eruption
Come see me afterward tolearn more
The move to one system
Support the language and translation
2010
2012-
Who writes it?
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring strategy
Original Vision
KCS (Knowledge Centered Support)
• Anyone can add or modify content
• When errors are discovered, fix them
• Through coaching, grow skills
• The most skilled publish content
Support the language and translation
2010
2012-
Who writes it?
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring strategy
Unforeseen issues
Coaching program challenges
Content updates were frequent;
hence more costly than planned
Sponsorship change
– labor investment reduced
Failed authoring strategy!
Was it the strategy or the execution?
The strategy didn’t support the realities
of the environment
✱ System is complex even for
full-time users;
* too much for part-time
users to be successful
✱ No DAM (digital asset mgmt) –
more manual management
✱ Writing wasn’t a core
competency of the agents
✱ More coming:
✱ Multi-lingual
✱ Our voice / style
✱ SEO
✱ More coming:
✱ 3 more UIs (5 total)
+ Partner portals
The content Writer is the hub
Writer
Product launch timelines
Prod
Engineer
Product
Mgr
Prod
Supp
Mgrs
Rich
Media
Legal
and
Privacy
Marketing
and PR
Translate
/ Localize
Agents
Help Site
Admin
Search
Manager
Writer
Super Writer!
Writer
Project Manager
Communicator
Information Designer
SEO Specialist
Data Analyst
Skills
Applying the Content Principles – in detail
When to translate
Engaging Legal and Privacy departments
Utilizing the rich media experts
Dealing with local content
Writing standards and processes
2012
2013-
Advantage of customer support agents
2012
2013-
Recommend or Draft
Emerging Issues
Urgent translations
Linguistic feedback
Using data forcontent improvement
2013
Top used articles
Least used articles
Articles not updated
Search tuning data
On-boarding
Writer workshops
Peer-to-peer reviews
Improving our content and growing team skills
2014
Hiring the right people2014
Marketing, PR, and/or Communication background
Must have existing writing skills
Ability to manage multiple projects/activities
Ability to deal with ambiguity
Passion for helping people
HTML / technology skills are a bonus
More benefits realized
Translation costs decreased
Greater collaboration with Marketing and others
Same message from self-service and assisted support
“New” bugs are getting self-service content, fast
Full visibility on all content expenses
Challenges we still face
Site design vs. content design
Content discoverability
Goal conflict between writing for self-support and agent support
Better customer success data