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Actually, a high return rate for a product, in large part, DOES indicate
that consumers do choose products based on the documentation, all other
things being equal - like actual quality of the rest of the product is the
same. If people don't think the docs are very good, research has shown, they
assume the rest of the product is also cheap.
A private survey I know of shows that people do decide on quality and
fitness of product based on documentation. When the docs improved - and not
the rest of the product - the perception for those studied showed that
consumers felt the product was of higher quality and more fit for the reason
they bought it that it was before the docs were improved.
We have a client for whom we re-worked the docs. Their product return rate
was cut about in half - from about 8% to about 5% (3% was product defect, so
we actually reduced the not-defective product return rate by more than
half). Users are VERY happy with the product and support calls have dropped,
reducing that cost as well.
Docs matter. The myths don't help us. Docs are PART of the product.
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-71429 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-71429 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of DaLy
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 12:50 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Re: How Many Trees? (WAS: URGENT: Immediate ethical issue
snip...
As Eric stated - a company has to prove a loss in
income to sue for copyright infringement. People do
not usually choose a product based on its
documentation (or lack of it), so loss of income is
not easily proven. Neither of these companies would
sue the other for copyright infringement.
I think that as technology keeps growing, the
copyright infringement line will get narrower and
narrower until it finally disappears.
---
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