It's happened to most of us. It's frustrating, time consuming, and creates a very poor impression. I'm referring to poorly written instructions. These instructions could be about anything such as assembling furniture, operating equipment, or learning software. How many times have we been confused and frustrated by product assembly instructions or user manuals in our daily lives?
One of your goals as a technical writer is to create documents that help the end user accomplish a task. And one technique you should use to improve the usability of your documents is to provide user feedback.
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As a technical writer, you must strive to provide feedback to the user at crucial steps in the procedure. By letting the user know what to expect at different steps or stages of a procedure you are making life easier for him or her.
Let's look at an example. The following are five steps on how to navigate through a computer-based training program:
Follow these steps to view the different parts of this training program:
1. Click the Navigation button on the screen
2. To view video tutorials click the Videos button
3. Select the Case Studies button to download case studies
4. Click the Installation History button to see a list of 2007 installations
5. Click the Final Test button to take the final test
Now, let's rewrite these instructions with user feedback:
This training program consists of:
- Four video tutorials
- Six case studies
- A list of 2007 product installations
- A final test
Follow these steps to view the different parts of the training program:
1. Click the Navigation button on the top left part of your screen. This will bring up a Navigation bar on the bottom half of your screen.
2. To view video tutorials click the Videos button the Navigation bar. You will need Adobe Flash Player® to view these tutorials. If you don't have Adobe Flash Player® you can download it by clicking here.
3. Select the Case Studies button from the Navigation bar to download case studies. When you click this button, the Case Studies download will begin and will take approximately seven minutes to complete. The Case Studies will be downloaded to your desktop.
4. Click the Installation History button on the Navigation bar to see a list of 2007 installations.
5. Click the Final Test button on the Navigation bar to take the final test. The Final Test consists of 10 multiple choice questions and is based on the content in this training program. You will need a score of 80% or higher to pass the Final Test.
By providing feedback to the user you let the users know what to expect and are therefore preparing him or her. You are setting the level of expectation.
An easy exercise to become good at writing user feedback is to take a product's manual and rewrite the instructions with user feedback. Compare the original with what you write and evaluate the difference.
Providing user feedback is an often overlooked aspect of technical writing. But it is very important. You can use it to impress prospective clients or when you are looking for technical writing jobs. Let them know you are a strong advocate of providing user feedback. It benefits the end user which is the ultimate goal of every technical writer and every quality driven business.
Technical Writing - The Importance of User Feedback
If you can write a simple sentence in English and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. You can easily make it a second income stream in your spare time.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary for technical writers is ,380. Freelance technical writers can make from to per hour.
The field of technical writing is like a golden city. It's filled with wealth, rewards and opportunities. After learning technical writing you can branch out into business writing, marketing writing and communications writing. All of these can become additional income streams.
But to succeed you must learn how to market yourself to clients. You have to prove to them that you are an invaluable asset. That's where ProTech - Your Fast Track to Becoming a Successful Technical Writer can help. It's a technical writing course that does two equally important things:
1. It teaches you the skills to become a technical writer in the shortest time frame. You'll learn to create manuals, procedures, tutorials, processes, proposals, spec sheets and other documents that businesses need.
2. It shows you how to market yourself to clients so you can start your income stream as soon as possible.
In fact, you'll get a complete marketing toolkit which has templates and technical writing job sites to get started immediately!
You can download two sample lessons by clicking the link below.
This could be your chance to create a prosperous future.
Click the link below to download your two sample lessons.
[https://www.techwritingcourse.com]
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