Cut Your Costs and Keep Your Customers Happy
By Sandra K. Williams ©1997
Every business has them — those customers that call you constantly after buying your product. They forget how to use it, or it doesn’t work the way they expect it to, or they want to know if they can do such-and-such with it. After the fifth phone call and three unbillable hours, you realize this sale is costing you more money than you made. Why don’t they just read the manual? you fume to yourself.
Perhaps they did.
Have you ever tried to read the directions in your manual as if you had never seen your product before? The instructions in your manual should be crystal clear to you. After all, you probably know your product inside and out. Someone outside your business, however, might not understand that “push” means “hold down for five seconds.”
You, of course, know the section explaining how to shut off the buzzer is on page 12. But is your user manual laid out in a logical sequence for your customers? If your customer can’t find a solution quickly and easily, you’re going to get a phone call. If your customer has spent the last 15 minutes scouring your manual while your product chirps interminably, that phone call may be less than friendly. Even if your customer found the right page, will he be able to figure out that “memory is cleared each time the panel is armed” means to “turn off the memory light, arm your alarm system, then disarm it”?
Having an easy-to-understand manual, one that’s written for the people who actually have to use the product, might be the advantage you need when your product faces strong competition.
And just think of how much more time you’ll have for sales when you’re not providing constant technical support to your confused customers.