Technical communicators play a key role in keeping an organization’s customers happy. As a primary touch point between the company and the customer, the content you produce and deliver can make customers feel comfortable and satisfied about your products and services when it is accurate and easily accessible. On the other hand, it can frustrate customers and send them to your competitors when instructions and information aren’t clear and helpful. The experience a customer has when using your content can make a big difference in their loyalty to your company.

Scenario: After getting several reports of customers complaining about the user guides for their products, the technical communications managers spend weeks developing new guidelines to make their content more consistent and clean up the vocabulary used by the writers. They create a list of acceptable and unacceptable terminology. Then, they hand over the packet of new guidelines to their team of writers. The writers get to work.

After a few weeks, the managers realize that the writers aren’t consistently instituting these new rules, causing the content they collectively produce to be discordant. So how can the managers get the writers to comply with the new guidelines? Here are some tips to consider:

Some of the hottest gifts in the last year were tablet computers, ebook readers, and smart phones. This emphasizes how communications are changing; people want to access information digitally on these mobile devices more than ever.

Tips for Content Conversion

CMS content conversion can involve the transformation from a print to digital content format, or from one digital format to another. Whether you are considering content conversion to digital formats for the first time or assessing your process for ongoing needs, a clear strategy will give you the greatest chance of a smooth experience and a successful end result. Here are some key points to keep in mind when readying your content for conversion: