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In response to Christa Hutchings message of 7/1, I do not think of component
lists as a requirement but I do consider them an advantage to customers.
From a Marketing standpoint, reminding your customers what they are
receiving is typically more of a positive statement about how your company
is serving them rather than a negative statement about what might be missing
from the shipment. But, yes, the list also helps customers to confirm
whether or not they received everything they should - before they install or
assemble the product.
To make sure our customers know what they are getting, we include a list in
THREE places: a cover letter, the Getting Started user manual, and on the
CD-ROM disk. Our CD-ROM that has several value-added items in addition to
the software program, so we want to remind customers to take advantage of
these items as well. And, oh yes, we hype the manuals while we're at it
(hoping they'll get past the shrink wrap).
So, even though the only "assembly" required for our software product is to
plug in a hardware key and insert the CD-ROM, I think its worth including a
"component" list. From a Marketing standpoint, one way to do this is to
include a cover letter from an executive - so this could put the
responsibility back in Marketing's lap ;)
Nancy Burns
nburns -at- breault -dot- com
"Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing."
-----Original Message-----
From: Hutchings, Christa <cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM>
Date: Wednesday, July 01, 1998 7:37 AM
>My Marketing and Product Management groups here are having a bit of a
>discussion about component checklists in our documentation packages and
>I'm wondering how you folks handle these.
>
>Basically, Marketing thinks we should include a component checklist, but
>Product Management thinks it's not needed since each product package
>will have only 4-5 different components. There is also some feeling that
>including such a checklist implies that items are occasionally
>inadvertently left out of the packages (quality control issue).
>
>Most of our product packages will include only an installation card and
>warranty card (no manual), and Product Management is concerned about the
>cost of adding another piece of documentation to the package. The
>installation cards are already designed as 2-face with only installation
>information and there is no room left on them to add a component
>checklist, so including the checklist will require either another piece
>of documentation, or a complete redesign of the installation cards
>(forcing them to either a larger size, or 4-face).
>
>What do you folks think? Are component checklists always required, or
>are there times when they are not necessary? And does including such a
>checklist really suggest a quality control problem during the packaging
>phase?
>
>
