Re: Encouraging users to read online help

[aschiff -at- factset -dot- com]

I've found this entire thread fascinating.  I agree with the posters who
opined that the majority of users are generally loath to use online help.
In my experience, the typical user behaves as follows:

(a) First preference: Ask the guy (or gal) in the next cubicle how to do
it.
(b) Second preference: Call the help-desk.
(c) Distant third: Grudgingly (and with gnashed teeth) click the HELP
button.
(d) Fourth: Track down the manual, dust it off, & crack it open.

Some users never get past (b). They are completely resistant to the concept
of self-service help for whatever reason (time constraints, language
barrier, whatever. Maybe they're just narrow-minded pinheads.) I don't
waste a whole lot of time worrying about these users; they're entitled to
their opinions, and that's why we have a Help Desk.

Which brings me to my second point: Our help system's number one audience,
by an enormous margin, is our own Help Desk. So, even if users call us
before they click HELP -- and lots of them will, dang it! -- at least the
Help Desk has access to all the answers in one complete system. And users
have access to it, too, so the Help Desk can refer a caller to a specific
page -- no need to FedEx/fax/e-mail manuals like we used to do in the past.

By the way, I agree with the poster (I believe it was Christine Anameier)
who recommended against shoving documentation down the users' throats. It's
important that users who call the Help Desk do NOT get the impression that
a Customer Support Rep is trying to get them off the phone in the shortest
time possible and shunt them into some labyrinthine and unforgiving Help
system. I favor the tactic of "answer the user's question but also
enthusiastically recommend online resources."

Abby Schiff
FactSet Research Systems
203.863.1593


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