Similar to a quick-start guide, but offers an overview of how to use your product or service’s most basic or core features.
Once your users are ready to take things to a new level, use a quick-reference guide to introduce them to other functionality or features.
Did your software recently update? Use a quick-reference guide to walk your users through the changes.
Got a process you need to explain? Show it!
If your product doesn’t require a huge manual, a quick-reference guide may be all the documentation you need.
Essential elements to creating a great quick-reference or quick-start guide
The more of these blogs I write, the more I become aware of consistent themes. Creating the content your audience wants (and not necessarily what you want to tell them) is one of the most consistent.
As noted in this article about how to create more effective customer education content, there are a number of ways to figure out exactly what that is, including online forums, customer surveys, or even from your own technical support staff.
Regardless of how you get it, delivering content your customers want and need will go a long way in ensuring the success of your quick-reference materials.
The whole point of a quick-reference guide is to make information easily and readily accessible, so be sure it’s simple to understand.
Avoid huge blocks of text as much as possible Instead, use visual elements such as screenshots with markup, icons, or product photos — and just enough text to ensure your points are clear.
Keep it to one or two pages. Don’t try to cover everything from your full user manual. Think about it — a quick-reference guide that needs a table of contents probably isn’t all that quick.
Download Free Background TemplatesChoose the most important information to accomplish a particular task or that otherwise conveys what you want to show. Boil down complex concepts into their most basic form.
Know what to leave in and what to leave out. Remember, you can always create another quick-reference guide to cover other important topics.
If your quick-reference guide isn’t visually appealing and easy to follow, your users won’t find it useful.
You don’t have to create a total work of art to make a good quick reference guide. Sometimes a simple screenshot annotated with arrows, text, etc. can be enough to get someone the information they need.
I feel like I can’t emphasize this enough: Your quick-reference guide just won’t be as effective, engaging, and useful as it can be without good images, icons, screenshots, or other visual elements.
Images draw the eye and help provide anchor points to your content, helping your users quickly and easily identify important points of information.
In fact, our Value of Visuals research found that people learn better with images and text vs. text alone.
Infographic showing that 58% of people believe they remember information better when it's visual, that 67% of people complete tasks better when instructions are provided with visuals or video, and that employees absorb information 7% faster when communications are visual.
You can learn all about how valuable visual communication can be with this awesome infographic.
And, have you ever heard the terms a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, it turns out the best way to show something is to actually SHOW it.
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