CUSTOMERS.COM® RESEARCH FROM THE PATRICIA SEYBOLD GROUP
Use Your Words
Although Pictorial Instructions Avoid Localization Issues, Some of Us Don't Respond Well to Diagrams
By Ronni T. Marshak, Sr. VP and Sr. Consultant, August 19, 2010
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NETTING IT OUT
People learn and comprehend things in different ways. It's important to be
sure that the information you are communicating to customers is getting through
to them in the ways that are easiest for them to understand. Here are some
simple things to keep in mind as you create communications to share with
customers.
• What is the purpose of the information are you communicating?
• How complex is the information?
• What language and or skill set does the customer base need in order to understand
what you are telling them?
• Have you tested out how understandable your communications are for different
types of people?
BUILDING A CART
A few days ago, I bought a new utility cart (not assembled) from Staples
to house my new laptop and printer. Reading through the instruction
manual that
came with the product, I found the following caution: "Always have two
people assemble this unit." So I invited a friend over to help me put
it together (thanks, Brian). I was actually delighted to see that caution
because I was very concerned about my ability to build the cart because the
instructions included almost no text—it was 90 percent diagrams.
And I know that I have a hard time correctly reading construction diagrams.
So, on Saturday, Brian looked over the pieces of the cart, the documentation,
and told me to make myself comfortable in the other room (actual comment, "Stop
hovering!") and that he would call me if he needed me.
Not more than five minutes later, I heard him mutter (loudly), "Where
are the words?" He actually said this about four times during the building
process.
Like me, Brian isn't a natural diagram reader. He just wanted a verbal
description of what he was supposed to do. It took him over an hour
to assemble the cart—something
he claimed he would have been able to do in about 20 minutes had he written
instructions.
I told Patty Seybold about my experience the next day, and she completely identified.
She and her husband had spent five hours putting together (and taking apart
and re-putting together) bunk beds because the instructions were all in diagrams.
She, too, wanted the words!
I was reminded of all the times I've told crying children to "Use your
word." Brian and I shared a giggle over that, and then watched TV for
a while.
PEOPLE LEARN DIFFERENTLY
Okay, this was a cute story. But it has some serious implications for organizations
that provide instructions to customers for products both simple (a cart)
and complex (installing a new network infrastructure). Not everyone learns
and comprehends things in the same way.
Utility Cart Instructions
© 2010
Staples
Illustration 1. Here is a page out of the instruction manual for the Utility
Cart with Open Storage. The diagram may SHOW how the CAM fastening system
works, but it doesn't TELL me how it works.
Verbal versus Visual Comprehension
Think about GPS systems or Mapquest.com. Both offer graphical interfaces
(the maps) as well as verbal directions: Michelle on my GPS tells
me to "take
exit left," and Mapquest tells me, in writing, to take exit 32 on the
left after 3 miles. I am one of the people who rarely looks at the map; I
always prefer the verbal instructions. Yet my friend Steve ALWAYS uses the
map, turning off the GPS voice ("annoying and smug") and printing
out only the map section from Mapquest. We take in input differently, and,
with something as immediate as following directions while driving, we need
to understand what to do very quickly.
This
report continues...
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