10 easy tips to create a foolproof user guide
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10 easy tips to create a foolproof user guide
Elaine Keep
15 May 2024
5 min read
Elaine Keep
15 May 2024
5 min read
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What is a user guide?
Topics to cover
10 helpful tips
Help customers to learn your product (or service) inside out. Here are our 10 tips for creating the best user guide.
Been looking to create a user guide for your business so users can get information on your product or service? These 10 tips will help you quickly create your own from scratch.
From how to structure your guide to the number one thing to never do, here are some documentation best practices for user guides.
From how to structure your guide to the number one thing to never do, here are some documentation best practices for user guides.
What is a user guide?
A user guide (also known as an instruction manual, maintenance manual, or technical documentation) is a document that helps customers understand a product or service. It provides a defined, logical structure to ensure sufficient information about your product or service is provided.
Topics to cover in your user guide
Your product or service is unique, but you’ll likely want to include the following information:
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Step-by-step to get started
- Features/technical specifications
- Troubleshooting and error messages
- FAQs
- Legal information
- Glossary
- Contact information
- Further reading
- Index
10 helpful tips for creating a user guide
How can you create a really effective user guide? Gather your colleagues for a session to pull information, and start with the basic layout of your document. Naturally, you'll need the perfect place to create a template that lives in your workspace and can be easily edited and accessed.
1. Write for your audience
What users do you have? Are they technical or new to the business? When you write for who your users are you ensure the correct language, complexity, and design of your user guide.
2. Focus on layout
Use eye-catching design elements and easy-to-follow layouts to make your guide visually appealing. Highlight key content with colour and images and include interactive elements like buttons and tabs to make it enticing to read on. Confluence add-ons - such as Content Formatting Macros for Confluence - make creating a smart user guide quick and easy.
3. Consider usability
While it’s key to break up text with headings, bullet points, and icons to make information digestible, also consider how it would look printed, on a mobile device, or tablet. Users will grab the information in many different ways, and your marketing teams might also want to slice and dice any content from your user guide too, so think broadly.
4. Cut the jargon
A great tip for any document in business is to avoid jargon and technical terms that might confuse your audience unless you are writing for a technical team. Even if you have something very detailed and complex, include a glossary of terms, explain acronyms, and keep the rest of your language simple.
5. Structure using logic
It’s really important to organise your user guide information in a logical order. Don’t forget that readers may be in a rush, time-poor, or facing an issue. An index and contents page should be used, and more basic concepts should always be shared before more advanced tips. For example, ‘quick start’ instructions should come before troubleshooting.
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6. Show don’t tell
Illustrations are fantastic ways to break up content. As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words. You could show where a button is, explain how specifically to do something, or use screengrabs or photos to demonstrate.
7. Sweep up with FAQs
Is there important information not included within your subheadings? Add it to a FAQ page or ‘Did you know?’ area. Depending on how much additional content you have to share, you can anticipate questions or provide tips and hints.
8. Test with a sample of users
Before it goes anywhere, your user guide should have a small beta test with a few members of your desired audience.
Ask them if they found it effective and clear, or try to get them to find the answer to some typical questions using the guide. You’ll want a mix of customers who are new to using your product and service and those who are confident and comfortable with your business.
Ask them if they found it effective and clear, or try to get them to find the answer to some typical questions using the guide. You’ll want a mix of customers who are new to using your product and service and those who are confident and comfortable with your business.
9. Keep it updated
Review and update your user guide regularly to reflect product updates, user feedback, and any changes in your product's look or feel. An outdated guide can be more confusing than helpful.
10. Start with a template
Select a template that aligns with your brand and is suitable for the type of information you're presenting.
- Ensure the template you pick is flexible enough to accommodate text, images, and diagrams all in one place.
- Consider how information can be accessed quickly. For example, a Livesearch macro search bar can help users quickly find what they're looking for.
- Consider the overall look and feel. Apps such as Content Formatting Macros for Confluence can help you structure and style Confluence pages to meet your team's needs.
Ready to get stuck in?
Content Formatting Macros make it easy to create an engaging user guide in Confluence.
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Written by
Elaine Keep
Content Writer
Elaine has established herself as a respected authority in the HR industry and uses her experience gained as the head of marketing in the employee rewards and recognition software sector to inform her reporting.
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