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Customer documentation

Customer documentation takes a number of forms. Depending on your specific requirements, customer documentation can include:

• User guides and manuals
• Online manuals and documentation
• Quick reference guides
• Installation and administration guides
• Operations manuals
• Reference manuals
• Sales and marketing guides
• Job aids and reference cards
• Wall charts and posters
• Online help systems
• Imbedded documentation within software interfaces
• Tutorials, courseware and training manuals

Customer documentation adds value to your products and services by enabling users and increasing user satisfaction, by reducing training and support overheads, and by providing your sales force with tangible marketing collateral.

Enhancement of your customer documentation offers the following advantages:

• Greater satisfaction of customer expectations with regards to documentation
• Reduced support costs, since information is easier to access
• Lower overheads when maintaining and updating the documentation
• Documentation that can be used as sales or training collateral

Many companies use their documentation as sales collateral. S alespeople can demonstrate detailed functionality by referring to documentation, or by providing copies of documentation to prospective customers. And documentation can be very effective at trade shows and conferences, letting you demonstrate your capabilities and quickly establish credibility.