A common trouble with technical writing is the ability of the writer to connect to the end user.  Because many technical writers are already experts in the field, they might not be able to approach the information from a completely new perspective, leaving readers feeling lost or confused.

But there are many ways in which a technical writer can ensure the writing addresses the thinking ability of the reader. Here are just a few:

• Ask the right questions – Before writing, the technical writer should consider what the reader might already be asking about a particular process.  Keeping these questions in mind, the writer can then ensure the writing answers those queries.
• Focus on clarity – Watch for overly long words, which can impair the effectiveness of a document.  Instead, stick with simpler terms to convey ideas without forcing the reader to stop and wonder what you mean.
• Have the document reviewed by multiple parties – After a document has been produced, it can help to have multiple rounds of reviews by those with similar traits as the target audience, especially those with little to no knowledge of the procedure or process you’re attempting to document.  Use these reviews as a means of identifying and addressing issues that are uncovered.

Thinking like a reader begins with knowing what the reader needs and where the reader’s level of expertise is at the moment the document is read.  Being complex in technical writing is usually not the most effective route.

When in doubt, remember the reader, as it is the reader who will determine whether the document is used effectively or not used at all.

What are your thoughts on thinking like a reader or end user? Do you have additional ways that you address the needs of the reader? Share a comment with us.

According to some blogs, technical writers need to know how to use certain tools in order to be effective in these modern times.  But is this the truth?  Let’s look at the current suggestions:

Social Media

Here’s something that seems to be the least important, yet most often used tool today for all writers.  With social media, you can reach out and learn more about certain documentation topics, and you can reach out to SMEs, on occasion.  But outside of these special cases, it’s not clear why social media is something that needs to be a ‘must know’ for technical writing.

Collaboration Tools

Yes, technical writers should be collaborating on their documents, and frequently.  In doing so, information can be shared and work can be handled more efficiently on assigned projects.  In addition, these tools can be connected to management leaders, which can be beneficial.

HTML5

It seems to be that HTML5 is an up and comer in the technology world, and eventually it will become something that a technical writer may need to document or utilize.  For those who have the time to spare, it never hurts to learn a new technical skill.

Wikis

Yes, Wikis are great ways of compiling information about a certain subject so it’s easy to access.  Much like collaboration tools, the more you can share information in a centralized way, the more effective a technical writer can be.

Agile Development

And Agile Development is something that many project managers know how to utilize, though this does not mean that everyone needs to know it for technical writing.  Breaking down larger projects into smaller tasks is a good thing, but it may not apply to all documentation.

If you’re looking for work and want to expand your career horizons as a technical writer, it’s certainly worthwhile to be skilled in a number of areas and be adept with a variety of tools. But what do you think the best tools and skills are for a technical writer in 2012 and beyond? Is it just the skill or toolset that applies to the job you’re after? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

We all have goals in our lives, but what does technical writing have to do with goal setting?

Though the term ‘goal setting’ might not be used, the practice of setting goals can help clarify the ideas being presented in a document, and having a goal can make sure the writing stays on track.

SMART Goals Applied to Technical Writing

Using a common goal setting strategy – SMART – here is how technical writing can be made more effective:

Can technical writing be SMART?  Absolutely.

While you might already be an expert in technical writing, there is always someone else who is better informed (assuming you’re not the leading expert, of course) on the inner workings of what you’re documenting.  These people are called subject matter experts (SME) and they’re an invaluable resource when you’re looking to create the most accurate documentation possible.

Where to Find Subject Matter Experts

Much of the time, companies will already have access to SMEs on the technical matters they want to have compiled into a document. A technical writer might have access to this SME as a part of his or her assignment (the SME could be part of the team), or SMEs may have to be sought out.  Once the SME is identified, the technical writer will need to:

• Research the topic and the person – It can help to research the topic ahead of time to avoid wasting the SME’s time, and it also helps to know something about the SME to understand how best to make the approach.
• Get a clear list of topics to cover – You should prepare for your meeting with an SME much as you’d prepare for anthing else. Get a feel for what you don’t understand so you can prepare your questions in advance. If you’re not absolutely sure on something, you’ll want to bring it up with the SME for verification.
• Interview the SME – The technical writer will then interview the SME to see what information the SME can offer about the particular subject. While you should have a list of questions in advance, listen carefully if the SME decides to offer some wisdom that’s outside the realm of those questions. This can lead to additional questions you hadn’t even considered when you prepared for the interview.
• Compile the information and create the document – Once the information has been gathered, then the technical writing begins.

An SME can bring to the table a deeper understanding of details that you may not be able to uncover elsewhere on your own. An SME can also point you to other reliable resources for more information.  This can create a high quality technical document, one that accurately covers what a user might need to know.

By making an effort to avoid wasting the SME’s time, you can strengthen your relationship with the SME for future projects. Building a respectful relationship with SMEs will make your life as a technical writer much easier and more enjoyable.

Related topics:
Managing SMEs Part 1: A Primer for Success
Managing SMEs Part 2: Selling the Concept to Management

Because technical writing is a specialized field of communication, it’s clear that there are better ways to present information than you might with other types of written communication.  Documenting processes and actions requires a very clear approach to writing, one that allows the reader to fully utilize the piece of writing for a particular result.

 How to Present Your Writing

Using templates in technical writing is one way to make sure you’re creating a clear case for your chosen (or given) subject matter, but there are other ways to arrange your information so it can be used effectively.

• Introduce the facts, then explain them – Start off by introducing what you’re going to talk about in your technical document.  Once you have introduced the facts, explain the steps that are necessary to take action.  At the end, summarize what you’ve said.
• Break it up – Many times, technical writers and medical writers use headlines and shorter paragraphs to make documents easier to read.  Headers help show the reader where certain pieces of information are and shorter paragraphs keep the reader interested, ensuring that only the most important words are used.
• Keep it objective – While this should not come as a surprise, the technical document should only contain facts, not opinions or speculation.

You want people to use your documentation, and that means presenting your case in a way that helps the reader.

Related topics:

Making Technical Documents More Interesting
7 Technical Writing Mistakes to Avoid in 2012
Simplifying Documentation: Can Technical Writers Make Things Easier?

While the Internet has always been a place where you can learn about anything, open courseware seems to be more readily available than ever.  Whether you’re interested in learning more about technical writing or you want to just find out how to use technical writing in your business, the more you know, the more you can fully utilize this type of writing.

Technical Writing Course from NJIT

The New Jersey Institute of Technology is currently offering a large section of classes, part of its course on technical writing, including:

• Lecture 01: General Introduction
• Lecture 02: Teaching Philosophy
• Lecture 03: Ability to Critique
• Lecture 04: Communication: Part 1 – Transmission
• Lecture 05: Communication: Part 2 – Radio Model
• Lecture 06: Communication: Part 3 – Problem Solving

These lectures are available on NJIT’s website, where you can view the videos of the lectures to learn more about each of the 39 lessons.  Taught by Jim Lipuma, the course is designed to:

And it’s free.  So, why not just try it out to see what you can learn about NJIT’s take on the world of technical writing?  At least you can sit in your home, in your pajamas.  Plus, you can take the course any time of the day or night.

Related topic:
Free Medical Technical Writing Courseware – From MIT

While the technical document is necessary, that doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting.  Of course, writing for a certain audience, you already have a reader who is interested in using the document – or who HAS to use the document in their work.  As a technical writer, you can be interesting, even if you’re tasked with presenting facts.

How to Captivate Technical Readers

When a technical document is written and presented, it will not include slang and it will not include loose facts, but it can still be interesting to the audience.  Here’s how:

• The information is accurate – Once you present an incorrect fact, the document becomes a meaningless piece of paper, losing its credibility.
• The briefest explanation is used – Even if the audience is highly interested in a document, the fewer words used, the more effective it will be…and the more a reader will continue to read. Cutting out the excess and getting to the point can sometimes be the hardest part of writing.
• The presentation is orderly – Utilizing headings, subheadings, and other formatting standards will allow the document to be easy to read, even if the reader decides to skip ahead.
• There’s a clear goal – The reader needs to know the writing is going somewhere, which will encourage him or her to make it to the last page.

Though technical writing, to most, sounds like it must be boring from the get-go, it doesn’t have to be if you consider what the audience really wants and use some creativity in getting your point across.

What are your suggestions for making technical documents more interesting? Including relevant graphics/charts/tables to convey information at a glance can certainly help. Please leave a comment – we’d love to hear your side of the story!

Editor’s Note: This was the feature article in this month’s TechCom Manager newsletter, reprinted here with permission. Click the previous link to subscribe to the newsletter.

by Steve Capri

Whether you work on a technical-writing team responsible for your company’s e-marketing activities or not, chances are this ever-changing channel will eventually cross your path—if it hasn’t already. And although you might not be someone who designs marketing strategies, you may already be designing and developing marketing content, including email campaigns.

It’s not uncommon for technical writing and marketing teams to co-develop printed or web-based marketing collateral. Likewise, e-marketing deliverables deployed through email blasts bring even more dimension to the mix. Like all other marketing materials, email blasts require excellent writing and design skills. But more importantly, they require a thorough knowledge of how to collect and manage recipients, track statistics, and plan for ongoing campaigns. So as this channel continues to mature, it’s incumbent of technical writers and marketing folks alike to at least gain a basic knowledge about the DOs and DON’Ts of e-marketing practices and procedures.

So whether you’re new to or experienced with e-marketing, following are some guidelines to consider.

• Capture email addresses correctly
• Ask subscribers for preferences
• Send first email message as soon as possible
• Leverage the information you have
• Deliver the message
• Make subject lines enticing and test them
• Conduct the Tuesday / Thursday test
• Create clear copy that stands out
• Identify need and relevance
• Leverage other channels and major events
• Respect mainstream email domains
• Design creative standards for each domain
• Analyze results by domain
• Be aware of your message
• Know what ISPs may be blocking your emails
• Engage your team about campaign offers
• Know about phishing, pharming, and RATS
• Know your Open Clicks Conversion (OCC) score
• Keep things legal
• Stay connected

Following is a discussion of each of these activities.

Capture Email Addresses Correctly

My manager once told me to stop banging my head against the wall. Tell subscribers exactly why they should sign up for your email and what messages they should expect. If you asked your front-line people why customers should provide their email, you would be surprised how many different answers you get.

• Identify 10 good reasons why people should subscribe to your newsletter, post them on your web site, list them for your front-line staff, and share them with all your coworkers.
• Since email addresses are the most important element of the sign-up process, encourage your employees and coworkers to collect them from people who want to provide them.
• Try to get a double opt-in from the consumer. It helps your overall marketing efforts, plus makes consumers more accustomed to receiving emails from you.
• Get subscribers to add you to their address book or safe-sender list at the point of capture.

Ask Subscribers for Preferences

It is important that subscribers know why they are signing up for your emails. Consider the following:

• If you have specific offers, ask people what they like to use, and ask them for their demographic information. This information helps you define your customer segment and target.
• Preferences form the basis of personalization. Some sites take this a step further by asking customers to create wish lists. As a result, they are able to deliver the right content at the right time.
• Catch unsubscribers on their way out. If someone unsubscribes from your email, do two things:
  1. Ask them why, and
  2. Give them the option to reduce the mailing frequency on this page vs. the sign-up page.

Send First Email Message as Soon as Possible

After someone signs up for email, immediately perform the following:

• Send an email response quickly to confirm the subscription.
• Try to include a copy of either the current email or a “Welcome Email.”
• Make sure the message you deliver is similar to what you will continue sending the subscriber.
• Ask the customer to add you to his/her address book so that he/she continues to receive your emails in the inbox rather than in the junk or bulk-mail folders.

Leverage the Information You Have

Customize the first email based on preferences, the second one on click-through, and change everything upon conversion. Recency matters the most – react and approach quickly and tactfully.

Deliver the Message

Perform the following:

• Make sure you are white-listed and continue to track the deliverability of your messages.
• Set up two test accounts per domain.
• Make sure you don’t click on one of them.

The rationale behind this is if you click on your messages within a particular domain, you are training the domain to recognize who you are and that you like to receive emails from a particular source. Having a clean account will immediately tell you whether or not your mail is being delivered correctly – inbox, bulk mail, or at all.

Make Subject lines Enticing and Test Them

If your subject line is appealing, you will encourage more people to open the email. Also, keep testing subject lines to see what works best.

Conduct the Tuesday / Thursday Test

Various companies have done an excellent job testing their offers to a sample group before rolling them out to the entire population. Typically, they send multiple versions of offers on Tuesday before deciding what final offer to send on Thursday. This discipline of testing and sending is now an ongoing part of their regimen.

Rule of thumb: Before sending any email, make sure you test it before you decide what offer might work best for your customers.

Create Clear Copy that Stands Out

Make sure your copy is clear, images stand out, and the user knows what to do.

• The call-to-action should have an end date.
• Follow the three-second rule. Ask various people to quickly glance at the email. Use their feedback to make your email more effective.

  Remember: The offer should be the focus of the email. If the customer doesn’t get it, is it really worth it? Also, don’t forget to try and motivate the next visit. Entice the user to open your next email.

• Personalize, customize, and always keep relevant.

Identify Need and Relevance

Test the landing page to ensure it is working effectively. Think about how you want to “sell” the person entering this page. If someone walked into your store and you knew what they wanted, you would direct them to exactly what they need. Do the same thing with email. Make the offer clear and effective on the landing page, too. Your conversions should soar.

Leverage Other Channels and Major Events

Use one channel (e.g., web site, social-media site, etc.) to promote another. You will be surprised how quickly cross referencing can drive traffic. Leveraging major events – holidays, tax season, etc.– can also drive effective traffic.

Respect Mainstream Email Domains

Many lists consist of email addresses from such mainstream services as AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail! Pay careful attention to each of these domains. In addition, track and monitor other primary domains for your company.

Design Creative Standards for Each Domain

Design creative standards for the top five domains in your email list.

• Always keep your logo on the left-hand side so it does not get lost in preview windows.
• Keep in mind that some domains turn off images as a default. Therefore, be sure you design your emails to be self-sufficient in text alone.

Analyze Results by Domain

To identify the most popular domains, analyze your email list by domain name. Also, measure delivery/open rates by that domain. In doing so, you will learn how each of these domains is performing for you. Measure and contrast your results across domains to watch for unusual trends. Also, try to spread your campaigns out into smaller segments so you can test, measure, and adjust campaign effectiveness.

Be Aware of Your Message

Various domains routinely scan your text and generate links that compete with your email. To offset this, place text in your images.

Know Which ISPs May be Blocking Your Emails

Following are two sites you can use to help identify which ISPs are potentially blocking your emails.

• www.DNSSTUFF.com
• www.Spamhaus.org

Like many others, they provide some useful information on what you should be doing and what you should be aware of.

Engage Your Team About Campaign Offers

Add your front-line team to your email campaigns so they are educated about offers. Your staff speaks to the customers all the time. Therefore, they should be your primary source of selling.

Know about Phishing, Pharming, and RATS

• Realize the dangers of fraud.
• Educate your teams and your customers.
• Develop a pre-emptive response plan to a fraud attack. You will value the time you save in case you get phished.
• Become familiar with sophisticated spyware such as RATS, short for R(emote) A(ccess) T(rojan) S(oftware).

Know your Open Clicks Conversion (OCC) Score

As catalogers, you have heard about RFM (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary value). So why not also have a score for O(pens), C(licks), and C(onversions)? Use this information to model and segment more effectively. Check your inactive file for those who have signed up for email but have not opened them at all or for the past “x” months, etc. Then, try to work on converting those customers.

Many catalogers are beginning to leverage these results to maximize the effectiveness of their catalog campaigns. Don’t stop mailing catalogs to those who respond to your emails. Many people order online with the catalog on their lap. Test your email marketing ceiling. Track post click-conversion rates.

Keep Things Legal

Be aware of things like SPAM and unsubscribes. If people do unsubscribe, find out why. Ideally, every email message you send should include the following:

• Unsubscribe link
• Subscribe link
• Preference link
• Return physical address
• Reply to email address
• Alternate ordering methods (fax, 800 number)
• Links to departments on site
• Privacy policy link
• Send-to-a-friend link
• Tell-us-what-you-think link

Check your privacy policy every three months and make sure you are in compliance. Check your unsubscribe process yourself to ensure it works correctly. Always solicit feedback in your emails. The information you collect over time is invaluable and will save you from hiring expensive consultants to tell you what your customers have been telling you all along. Use customer service emails as an up-sell opportunity.

Stay Connected

Talk to other marketers to share and explore ideas.

In Summary

Remember to:

1. Make email messages stand out.
2. Make sure the recipient wants them.
3. Test them.
4. Make sure they are delivered.

If you keep your customers engaged, they will make your campaigns more effective and drive your multi-channel success.

More from Steve Capri
Making the Transition from Technical Writer to Manager

Being an expert is a good thing.  Being a technical writer is a good thing.  But do the two have to go hand in hand?

While it’s certainly a good idea for medical writers to be experts in their field, especially when it comes to preparing documents for medical professional use, what about the everyday technical writer?  And if you’re trying to hire a technical writer, do you need someone who’s an expert or do you just need a high quality writer?

Technical Writing and Expertise

The technical writing document has one goal: to inform.  In order to create a document that’s informative, the document needs to be backed up by research.  Many technical writers are able to complete the research on their own, without having expertise in that area.  They might:

• Spend time researching PRIOR to writing
• Interview subject-matter experts (SMEs) for advice and support

By going to sources that are reliable, the technical writer can have the information they need to write like an expert.

Do You Need an Expert?

When you’re highly concerned about a technical writing project, it’s best to seek out a technical writer who has training in that subject OR a technical writer who has written similar documents (or better still, both).  If they’ve been writing for a certain field for a while, they’re more likely to have the background to show expertise.

Not everyone’s an expert, but a technical writer needs at least some of the knowledge of one.

Related topic:
Technical Writers as Subject Matter Experts

It’s a new year and the prospects for the economy look like their may be better days ahead. Along with the new year comes a new budget, and many companies are looking to beef up their staff by hiring technical writers, instructional designers, copywriters and other professionals to help meet this year’s goals.

But finding just the right employee (or contractor, for that matter) isn’t always so easy. So what are the risks if you don’t get it right?

The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Employee, by Meredith McGhan outlines some of the costs of making a bad hiring decision. Some costs you may have considered – others, maybe not.

As she points out, using an outside recruiter who can assess your needs and efficiently fill your position with a perfect match could actually end up saving you money in the end.

Read:The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Employee

Related topics:
The ROI on Using an Outside Recruiter
How to Pick the Right Recruiter