Re: "Technical documentation is the new sales"

[Phil <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com>]

When it comes to software he's got a very valid point. I've never paid for any software till I've read the documentation. 8 times out of 10 its the documentation that puts me off. Count anything by Adobe in this category, whose products I've been determined to buy on several occasions and then backed out after struggling through poorly structured tutorials (in fact, it's largely the indexes to the tutorials rather than the tutorials themselves). Another culprit here is DevonThink. OmniOutliner got binned because of a patronising tone that seemed to think I was some kind of imbecile (no doubt I am, but they shouldn't be pointing it out to me if they want to take my money).

Rare exceptions are all Techsmith products (SnagIt, Camtasia), QuarkXpress, 1Password,  Scrivener. Crystal clear documentation that convinced me to hit the 'buy' button.


On 18 Mar 2011, at 01:22, Steve Schwarzman wrote:

> I think he might be overstating his case. What his examples show, I think,
> is that documentation can make or break a sale for people looking to see the
> details of whether a product will work for them - but many purchase
> decisions are not based on this level of detailed information.
> 
> Steve Schwarzman
> 
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