Solutions

August 17, 2023

What is the difference between an efficient and inefficient help center? How to create an effective help center?

The Help Center is a rich knowledge base that can help potential customers in your business. This can not only improve user experience, but also create a more professional brand image for enterprise and help users through use process. The purpose of help center is to address difficulties that users encounter while using it, while at same time providing guidance to users. Some products group help and feedback together, reducing overall input, resulting in less information for feedback. When product itself has a certain complexity, a help center is needed to help users familiarize themselves with features and guide users through. This coverage ranges from operating system to application software and web pages. Some web pages with clear functions and simple operation do not require a help center, and all operations are carried out in accordance with general usage habits.

1. The difference between effective and invalid help centers

1.1 Effective Help Center

An effective help center is one that actually helps users solve their problems. An effective help center should:

1.1.1 Extensive knowledge

An effective help center should have a detailed introduction and explanation of all functions and operations of product, and users can solve various problems by accessing help center.

1.1.2 The operation is simple and clear

An effective help center should be simple and clear so that it is easy for users to understand and navigate. Users can find information they need simply by searching or browsing.

1.1.3 Rich and detailed content

An effective help center should provide rich content and detailed explanations to meet needs of different users. The help center should not only provide simple instructions and operation manuals, but also provide relevant basic knowledge, specifications, etc.

1.1.4 Timely feedback

An effective help center should provide a feedback mechanism to users in order to resolve their issues and concerns in a timely manner. However, Help Center must update content in a timely manner to keep it in sync with product features.

1.1.5 User friendly design

An effective help center should be user-friendly and user-friendly. The layout, color, and font of help center should match user's visual habits so that users can quickly find information they need.

1.2 Invalid Help Center

A broken help center is a center that doesn't help users solve their problems effectively. Inefficient help centers usually have several problems:

1.2.1 Narrow knowledge

Invalid help centers provide incomplete content and do not meet user needs. Users need to solve problem in other ways.

1.2.2 Advanced operations

Inefficient help centers are complex and take a long time for users to find information they need. Users may lose patience during use and choose other ways to solve problem.

1.2.3 Summary

Inefficient help centers are brief and don't provide enough information to solve user problems.

1.2.4 Feedback is not timely

An ineffective help center does not provide a mechanism for user feedback, and users cannot get help to solve problems in a timely manner.

1.2.5 Unfriendly design

An inefficient help center design is awkward, doesn't match user's visual habits, is difficult to use, and makes it difficult for users to find information they need.

What is the difference between an efficient and inefficient help center? How to create an effective help center?
2. How to create an effective help center

2.1 Structure of Help Center

When designing a help center, you need to consider its structure. The structure of help center should be clear and easy for users to find and browse. The structure of a help center usually includes following sections:

2.1.1 Overview

The help center overview should briefly introduce main features and functionality of product and help users understand main point of product.

2.1.2 FAQ

The Frequently Asked Questions section should list problems that users often encounter and their solutions so that users can easily find and solve problems.

2.1.3 Operation manual

A section of instruction manual should detail various methods of operating product, including text descriptions and demonstration images, to make it easier for users to understand and master.

2.1.4 Specifications

The technical specification should contain specific technical specification of product and acquaint user with technical details and principles of product.

2.1.5 Writing a reference document update

The update record section of help document should record update history and updated content of help document so that users can understand status of update of help document.

2.2 Help Center Contents

Help center content should be rich and detailed and cover various aspects of product, including product introduction, operation manual, technical specification, etc. The help center should provide different levels of content for different user needs, so that users can quickly find what they need them information.

2.3 Help Center Search Function

To make it easier for users to search and browse, Help Center should provide a search function so that users can quickly find information they need by keywords. The search function should be simple and clear, and search results should exactly match user's needs.

2.4 Help Center Feedback Mechanism

In order to address user issues and questions in a timely manner, help center should provide a feedback mechanism so that users can ask customer service or technical support staff questions at any time. The feedback mechanism should be designed in a way that is easy to understand and allows users to submit questions and feedback in simple steps.

2.5 Help Center Design

In order for users to more readily use Help Center, design of Help Center should match user's visual habits and be easy to use. Help center layout should be simple and clearand colors and fonts match design of product so that users can quickly find information they need.

2.6 Help Center Updates

In order to keep Help Center efficient, Help Center needs to be updated in a timely manner. The Help Center update should be synchronized with product update to reflect latest product features and capabilities in a timely manner.

3. Resume

An effective help center can help users solve problems and increase their satisfaction and loyalty. To design an effective help center, you need to consider help center structure, content, search functionality, feedback mechanisms, design, and updates. Only when these aspects are fully considered and put into practice can a truly effective help center be created.