The rules of formatting for readability apply to all forms of web writing, even to FAQ responses. But just trying to sound a little natural goes a long way to make it easier to follow and use! What-type questions – A what-type question shows that your customer is looking for an objective answer. Create Frequently Asked Questions Sections - The Easy Way! Continue the list of questions on a new line and align the number 2 under the 1. Use styling elements like lists, bullets, tables, bold, italics and more to break up your text. Open-ended questions cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Instead, they have multiple potential right answers, and require thought, reflection, and explanation from the person responding. Further, to reassure our users, we could state that we never tracked any personally identifiable information. You also know the power terms in your niche. So spend some time on this exercise, and notice how you start writing answers that your users finally benefit from. Writing helpful answers isn’t difficult if you follow a few simple ways. That was the idea for this two-part series on FAQs: to help you with both framing the questions and writing easy-to-read answers. This way, you’ll avoid jargon in your responses, and your users will actually follow your answers. Not only FAQ questions but also the suggestions for answers makes your work really helpful. Disha, It’s great! For example, our technical staff knows the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, we know what APIs mean, we understand integrations and more. When such question-answer style mismatches happen in FAQs, users feel lost. And you answer with, “People call me MyName,” instead of a simple, “My name is MyName.”. Once you've written your questions you can ask people in your house to see if they know the answer. My final sentence (highlighted in red) shows how the material discussed in the paragraph answers the question. To save yourself the hurt that wrong answers can cause, and to write user-friendly answers, pass each answer through the following 3 people from your team: The product expert, well, being an expert will check your answers for accuracy. No one likes to be tricked into clicking on an FAQ when they’re actually getting your About Page or a marketing pitch. I will definitely be taking this on board and using some “slang” so that people understand what I’m actually saying. The logic is simple: if you understand the question, you give the correct answer. Questions & Answers Tips and Warnings Related Articles ... writing articles can give you a chance to share compelling and important information with readers. Get familiar with the type of article you want to write. To understand the different question types and to choose the right approach to answer them, let’s consider an example of a SaaS web analytics software – one that helps webmasters monitor their site traffic and draw insights. Build an FAQ and help answer common visitor questions. Get as much information as you can and then think about what you still want to know. We could simply list the various available options like PayPal, credit cards, and more. Think about your least-technically equipped customer and answer to him or her. “What are the different payment methods that you accept?“. If our tool had a simple reset button somewhere on the dashboard, we would choose to give simple instructions to reach that button. When beginning to write your questions, write down every question you have about your guest. Even if you’re the best person to answer your users’ FAQs, you could still make errors. 4. Also, add screenshots and videos where required. They do so to make sure that they’ve got it right. Just imagine how many support tickets, calls, and chat sessions you could save if you only found a way to help these customers right in your FAQs. 3. They know the language that users understand as they DEAL with them! So glad you liked the article, Peta Getting technical information across can be challenging. When we talk to our customers, we design our talk to match our least-technically skilled customers. In negative responses, we would try to avoid writing a blatant “No” as the answer. Likewise, when you sit down to write the answer to the next FAQ you cover, wait. How-style questions – A how-style question shows that a reader wants to “do” something. However, if the method of clearing the data were not so straightforward, we would prefer linking to a support article that handled the topic. Hey Usha! Kerry Redshaw at Kerryr.net gives a beautiful example of this and how answers fail to make an impact when they don’t align with the question’s style. Have you ever struggled to follow answers on a site’s FAQ? Build an FAQ and help answer common visitor questions. “Why do you need access to my Google Analytics account?”. Writing helpful answers isn’t difficult if you follow a few simple ways. Excellent advice! It also helps you avoid questions they’ve already been asked. As you research, eliminate the questions you find answers to. Also, try to reassure your users if the questions hint at any concerns. 1. Continue to use the same format for fonts and spacing for the whole document. Separate the answer from the question by beginning the answer on a new line. Even the right answers fail when they don’t match the style of the question. This is what helps you ask great questions. The customer support agent will give meaningful insights to make your answers more empathetic because support agents are the ones who’re the most exposed to users’ issues. I also got many more things to learn. Did you know that 41% millennials turn to a site’s FAQs before contacting support? There’s nothing more embarrassing in an FAQ section than inaccurate answers. Part 1 of 5: Forming Your Idea 1. How to Write a Summary Questions and Answers - Discover the eNotes.com community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on How to Write … You can improve your answers dramatically by understanding what your users are looking for in them. Why-style questions – Why questions indicate that your user is just looking to understand why something is the way it is within your product. Such a question is like a matter-of-fact kind of a question. “Can your product work on multiple domains?”, In our example, if the answer to the question were negative, we could use phrases like, “We do not currently support…” or “Right now this is not possible…but…”. Suppose someone asked you the question, “What’s your name?”. But if the answer were a “Yes,” we could say so and then add a supporting line that could read something similar to – “Yes, our product works on multiple domains ( followed by conditions if any)…” and then a link to the further instructions for making the product work on multiple domains. I have been trying to gather my thoughts on writing FAQs in one place and your words helped me 100%. Identify the type of the question. Keep answers short: Sometimes getting a straight, quick answer to your question is a relief. If you’ve noticed, telephone support agents often repeat a question as you ask it. The questions can all be about anything. And that’s how even you should craft your FAQ answers. Here are 5 that will help you pack a punch with each answer. Get the Plugin. These will prevent your FAQ answers from looking like walls of text. In our case, we could tell the users that we needed the access to connect our tool with the user’s site’s historic data. Write six questions. That being said, open-ended questions require as much effort to write as they do to answer. Type the discussion question in Times New Roman font, 12 point size. You know your product and your niche. You could use this time to improve your product or expand your business. Passing your answers through a marketer will ensure that no jargon gets through. As you’re figuring out your topic and focus, think about the type of article that will best suit the points that you want to convey. Stoked you’re actually putting them to use , 41% millennials turn to a site’s FAQs before contacting support, Kerry Redshaw at Kerryr.net gives a beautiful example of this, 5 Stupidly Common FAQ Myths We Should All Stop Believing, What’s wrong with your FAQ – 6 tips proven to make it better, 5 Tips to Putting Together the Perfect Product FAQ. And we don’t. Here’s how some of the sample FAQ questions could look like and the right way to answer them: Can-type questions – Can questions are easy to answer because they just take a yes or no for the reply. If your answers are helpful, not only will your customers get immediate help, but you will also save a lot of support hours. But would it be fair if we answered your queries using this kind of industry-specific vocabulary (or jargon as you may call it)? Every bit of it is true and applicable. Use double spacing and one inch margins. Has it ever happened to you that you got the right answer and still had a hard time following it? Yes, almost half of your millennial customers prefer helping themselves before reaching out to your support staff for help. Thanks for such an insightful article. When writing the response of a how-to answer, first determine if the answer is short and can be answered right away, or if it would make sense to link to the most relevant article from your knowledge base. Write brief, to the point answers. While answering why-style questions, back up your answer with any source that makes you sound more credible. By identifying the right question type, you’ll be able to take a suitable approach to answering it. Read a question carefully and understand the sense of question. Writing this out at the planning stage, in addition to clarifying your ideas, is a great test of whether a point is relevant: if you struggle to write the sentence, and make the connection to the question and larger argument, you might have gone off-topic. Use a question-and-answer format: This sounds obvious…but don’t forget to write actual questions with answers. Steps. Do share in the comments below! Re-read the question to understand what the user is really asking. Here are 5 that will help you pack a punch with each answer. And it’s not too hard — the key lies in how you answer your FAQs. So go for a straight and direct answer when replying to what-style questions. This time to improve your product or expand your business FAQ when they don ’ t to. To take a suitable approach to answering it jargon in your responses, and more break. Bold, italics and more to break up your text a marketer will ensure that no jargon through. Warnings Related Articles... writing Articles can give you a chance to compelling. Style of the question to understand what the user is just looking to understand Why is... A what-type question shows that a reader wants to “ do ” something trying sound! 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