How to ensure your product documentation is high-quality?
by George Lewis
by George Lewis
In this article
Measuring quality
Achieving quality
Producing quality
About the author
Product documentation can be a great marketing asset for promoting both your product and your organisation.
Customers rely on product information to inform their purchasing decisions, so product documentation can be used to support marketing initiatives.
But poor-quality product documentation, like a poor-quality product, can have a negative effect. Poorly written content or inaccurate information can frustrate and drive away customers.
So how do you ensure that your product documentation is of sufficiently high quality that you can benefit from it?
Measuring quality in product documentation is the same as for the rest of the product. Quality is determined by the conformance to the requirements. But what are the requirements for product documentation?
The purpose of product documentation is to communicate relevant information about the product to the people who need that information, when they need that information.
For example, a developer requires API reference when integrating with a product, or a first time user requires instructions about setting up the product when taking it out of the box for the first time.
To help this objective, the content needs to be:
As with all production processes, the quality of the product information should be built into the process. This is best done by detailing the requirements for the product information during product development, as is done with the other aspects of the product.
With the requirements in place for the product information, the process of producing the content becomes a routine part of the product development process.
By having well thought out requirements and processes for your product information, you can have the confidence that the content is of the high quality that your customers demand. This means your product documentation is an asset that can be used to improve SEO, assist marketing strategy, give customers a better experience, and ultimately attract more customers.
George works as 3di’s Service Delivery Director. Passionate about helping each individual team member reach their full potential. Outside of work George can be found cycling, reading books on business and psychology, as well as taking the odd trip to Spain or Germany.