[Sigia-l] Question about FAQs

[David R. Austen]

Hello, Samantha:

What a great series of questions. I can address some of this.

I need to say that I am profoundly frustrated with FAQs and
disappointed with almost every FAQ I see. There are so many problems
with them. For one, I expect that most graphic and text designers
would tell you that to be readable, FAQs need to look more like good
Web page layout, and much less like some list produced on a
typewriter. Often, a hideous catchall.

My strategy (in the face of an insistent client) would be:

1. Suggest numerous FAQs, arranged like the overall architecture of
the site and located throughout the site. Even only one or two FAQs on
a page would be just fine. Long, long lists are preposterous. I'm
betting that some managers think, "The more the merrier."

2. Insist on honesty, transparency. These must be true FAQs, submitted
by real customers, and not just nice ideas about questions that people
might ask. That should whittle down the list. Ask that call center
personnel log questions for a year, as part of the process, for
example. What are other actual sources? Would each employee submit a
question or two each week that they have answered? Managers need to
think seriously about the costs of producing this and maintaining it.

3. Indicate that such questions must drive the (information) redesign
of the entire site, so that frequently needed information is available
in the best possible format. (Let's just assume for the moment that
good page design with different fonts, sizes, colors, type treatment
and page location is a better format.)

4. The format should change to, "Questions asked this month / year" -
and not a list of every question that was ever asked. Over time, the
answers most people need should be easy to find in Web pages, and also
via search. ("Best bets," for example.)

4. Remind the client that if they go down this road they are
eventually going to be providing much company information in two
different formats. There are financial and legal reasons to avoid
having to monitor, edit and change both versions in a completely
reliable way over the years.

5. Ask the FAQ Defenders if they have ever come across a book that
consists of long strings of questions and answers. Perhaps there is
one like this in the corporate library. If they have such a book, ask
if it works better for them than a normal text or trade book. Ask the
same question about periodicals they use. Why should their customers
get anything less than the carefully crafted structure found in the
WSJ, for example?


Sincerely,


David Austen


Monday, October 27, 2003, 1:40:05 PM, you wrote:

SB> Hi,

SB> I'm working on a project to improve the FAQs we use on our site
SB> and would really appreciate some alternate perspectives.

SB> 1) Do you distinguish between FAQs and content presented in a Q&A
SB> format on your site? If so, how? Also, why?

SB> --We currently are putting everything info an FAQ format and I'm
SB> finding that is breaking down our original model, which attempted
SB> to limit FAQs so as to place pertinent information at our users'
SB> fingertips. Our business partners, however, *love* presenting
SB> content in a Q&A format and are quite resistant to changing the
SB> content to a paragraph based style.

SB> 2) Do you use FAQs primarily to facilitate information retrieval,
SB> for marketing, or for general communication? In other words--are
SB> they structured to meet a specific need, or more general?

SB> 3) How do you keep your FAQs from becoming miscellaneous
SB> catch-alls?

SB> Thanks very much for any feedback you can give; feel free to reply
SB> either to the list or to me--I'll compile and share with the list
SB> as a whole at the end.

SB> Samantha Bailey Wachovia Corporation

SB> ===== Samantha Bailey samantha at baileysorts.com |
SB> http://baileysorts.com

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-- 
Best wishes,

David