6 Designing content

What this clause covers

Clause 6 is the most concrete part of the public contents and the most useful for a product team. It separates help at first use from help embedded in the interface and help delivered through another form. First use has a general subclause, a features tour and overlays. Embedded help has coach marks, guided help and embedded help. Other forms run from a standalone help application through infographics, chatbots, email support and social channels to the role of artificial intelligence. The range is a warning against treating user assistance as one artifact. A coach mark, a chatbot and a video answer different questions and carry different risks. The clause asks a team to choose deliberately, and the choice then drives the writing, the testing and the evidence.

The headings in this clause

• 6.1 UA for initial use of an application
• 6.1.1 General
• 6.1.2 Features tour
• 6.1.3 Overlays
• 6.2 UA embedded into the user interface
• 6.2.1 Coach marks
• 6.2.2 Guided help
• 6.2.3 Embedded help
• 6.3 UA in other forms
• 6.3.1 General
• 6.3.2 Standalone help application
• 6.3.3 Infographics
• 6.3.4 Chatbots
• 6.3.5 Email support
• 6.3.6 UA based on interaction with social networks
• 6.3.7 Role of artificial intelligence (AI) in providing UA for mobile apps

What to put in place before publication

1. Draw a journey map for each app and mark the moments where help is needed, from first launch to a repeated expert task.
2. Choose the help form for each moment and record why the other forms were rejected.
3. Write a first run script that a person can leave at any point, and test the exit as carefully as the tour.
4. Set limits for overlays and coach marks: how many, how often, how they are dismissed and whether they return.
5. For a chatbot or AI help, write the boundary, the fallback to a person, the disclosure and the review of generated answers.
6. For every channel outside the app, record how the answer gets back into the product backlog.

Evidence to keep

Where teams usually fall short

• Every release replays the same tour, and experienced users cannot stop it.
• Overlays cover the control they are explaining.
• A chatbot is launched with no fallback and no record of unanswered questions.

What happens next

At FDIS, compare the subclause list and the treatment of AI. This is the clause most likely to move between a DIS and a published edition, because the technology and the channels are moving quickly.