Technical writers are not expected to know about brand consistency, but they do know that companies strive to deliver products that perform equally well. What happens if a consumer buys a second product from their favorite brand only to discover that the user instructions leave them baffled?
The buyer may waste time contacting the company for more information or, worse still, make a mental note to try another brand. So imagine being able to ship multiple products always with the same degree of clarity in the instructions. The structured content model lets you select relevant information for each product and easily adapt it where necessary, ensuring that the same clear language and style are used every time.
The following article explains how structured content achieves this, while also improving customer loyalty and facilitating collaboration between the company’s production teams.
What is Structured Content?
Structured content is information that is organized and tagged in a way that makes it easy for technical writers to reuse and rearrange it. Instead of focusing on the format of the content, structured content focuses on the meaning and purpose of each piece of information. This is achieved by separating the “message” of the content from the way it’s presented. Each message is stored in a structured format, like XML or JSON, which can later be interpreted and presented in whichever way best suits the medium chosen.
Think of it like building with Lego blocks. Each block (or content element) has a defined structure and purpose, and can be combined in various ways to create different outputs.
For example, you may have a line of products, such as several different models of headphones. The physical characteristics of each device may differ, but the “Play”, “Pause” and “Skip” instructions may be the same. Therefore you can reuse the same instructions in the relevant section of each product manual. All you need to do is tag those functions in your text library and choose where to insert them in the different product documents. The same text block could also be true and relevant if inserted into the help section of your website or an FAQ answer.
Benefits of Structured Content for Product Documentation
Technical writers need to communicate complex information to less expert end-users, often adding new details to existing documentation while retaining the same core ideas. Structured content helps them do this in creative ways while maintaining the quality of their output.
Here are the main ways in which the concept enables this:
- Improved Consistency: By defining standard content elements and values, you ensure that your product documentation structure is consistent across all channels and outputs.
- Increased Efficiency: Content can be reused and repurposed, saving time and resources. No more manually copying and pasting the same information across multiple documents!
- Enhanced Findability: Structured content makes it easier for writers to find the information they need for each new document, particularly in organizations that need to document multiple products or versions of products. The use of tagging and metadata also helps search engines to index your content, which means consumers can also find it more easily.
- Simplified Updates: Updating content becomes much easier as changes only need to be made in one place.
- Support for Multiple Outputs: The same content can be used to generate different outputs, such as online help, manuals, PDFs or emails.
- Improved Translation: Translating content becomes more efficient and cost-effective, because previously translated passages can be reused where appropriate.
- Future-proof Content: Structured content is not tied to any specific format or technology, making it easier to adapt to future needs. For example, it’s possible that in the next few years companies will need to adapt their customer-centric content to be accessible via augmented reality devices.
The bottom line of these benefits and features is that you can implement effective content structures that help technical writers contribute to a better user experience, in theory giving consumers less reason to resort to your company’s support system.
Key Steps to Implementing Structured Content
Adopting structured content techniques requires a mindset shift as writers transition from a document-centric approach to a more content-centric one. There may be new tools and processes to consider, which implies a learning period requiring time, effort and planning.
This is easier to navigate if broken down into basic steps:
1. Define Your Content Model
This is the foundation of your structured content strategy. Identify the types of content you have (e.g., procedures, warnings, concepts) and define their structure and elements. This often involves creating a content model diagram or schema.
2. Choose the Right Tools
Select authoring and content management tools that support structured content. Consider factors like your team's needs, budget, and existing infrastructure. A Component Content Management System (CCMS) is often essential for managing and publishing structured content.
3. Introduce New Authoring Techniques
Train your writers to create content using specific templates you may have defined for each type of content, or to use new tools, such as XML editors or CCMS systems.
4. Implement a Content Reuse Strategy
Develop a system for storing, tagging, and retrieving reusable content components. This ensures that writers can easily find and reuse existing content, maximizing efficiency. If you implement a CCMS, it will have these aspects predefined.
5. Establish Clear Governance Procedures
Define roles and responsibilities for content creation, editing, and publishing. Implement workflows and version control guidelines to ensure content quality and consistency.
6. Migrate Existing Content (Optional)
If you have a large amount of legacy content, you may need to migrate it to the new structured format. This can be a time-consuming process, so carefully select the content that needs to be migrated most urgently. There are automated migration tools on the market, which accelerate this process, but you still need to prioritize the content that will have the greatest impact and review each piece after it’s been migrated.
7. Test and Refine
Thoroughly test your structured content in different output formats and on various devices. Gather feedback from users and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement.
Best Practices for Consistent Structured Documentation
While the structured content approach has inherent benefits, the full effect may be lost if the system is not used appropriately. Follow these best practices to maximize the system’s potential:
- Keep it Modular: Break down content into small, reusable components. This makes it easier to manage, update, and reuse content across different documents.
- Use Meaningful Metadata: Think of metadata as labels and categories that help organize and retrieve your content. While the article itself provides the information, metadata provides the context. Elements like tags, keywords, and descriptions should be carefully chosen to improve findability and searchability.
- Enforce Content Rules: Use structured content authoring tools or CCMS to enforce content rules and ensure consistency. This can include validation checks for structure, terminology, and style.
- Develop Style Guides: Create detailed style guides that align with your content model. This helps writers understand how to structure and format content consistently.
- Collaborate Effectively: Foster collaboration among writers, editors, and subject matter experts. Use communication tools and workflows that support collaborative content creation and review.
- Maintain Your Content: Regularly review and update your content to ensure accuracy and relevance. Establish a content maintenance plan to keep your documentation up-to-date. Alternatively, there are AI tools that can flag potentially outdated information, detect broken links, improve readability, or identify missing topics in your content.
- Gather User Feedback: Web analytics tools can track user behavior on your help site, such as page views, time spent on a page and bounce rates. This can reveal which content is popular, or where in a document users are dropping off. You can also analyze search queries within your documentation to ascertain whether the information is complete or well-explained.
Challenges of Implementing Structured Content
While using the structured content model is highly beneficial, migrating from your former content management platform cannot be taken lightly. Writers may have concerns about maintaining the flow of production during the transition, and your organization needs to assess whether the move makes economic sense.
It may be necessary to invest in new tools and technologies, such as a component content management system (CCMS), and dedicate significant time to training so that writing teams can quickly get up to speed with the new resources. This can be a considerable financial burden, which may prove something of a hurdle for smaller organizations with limited budgets.
Another challenge lies in content migration. Moving existing content into a structured format can be a complex and time-consuming process, particularly for those with a vast library of legacy documentation. This often involves re-evaluating, restructuring, and retagging content to align with the new model, requiring great attention to detail and care in avoiding errors.
Writers need to switch from thinking in terms of complete documents to focusing on individual, reusable components. They will need to understand exactly why there is so much emphasis on metadata and tagging, and how this upgrade in efficiency will make their lives easier.
Why Consistent Documentation is the End Goal
Drafting effective product documentation is a matter of making it accurate, easy to find, and consistent across all channels. Only then will it contribute to a positive user experience and build trust in the product and brand. However, beyond this there are some subtle ways in which consistent documentation adds to product quality and gives you more of a competitive edge:
- Improved User Adoption: Well-written documentation helps users quickly learn how best to make use of your product or service. The sooner they become expert users, the sooner they will advocate for your product among their peers, or give you constructive feedback on how to enhance it.
- Reduced Errors and Frustration: Accurate and consistent information helps users avoid errors and frustration, further supporting a more positive perception of the product.
- Encourages Self-Help: Clear, accessible documentation guides users towards solving problems independently, reducing the need for customer support inquiries while also strengthening the users’ knowledge of the product.
- Stronger Brand Reputation: High-quality, properly translated documentation reflects positively on the brand, portraying a commitment to quality and enduring product experiences.
Give Structured Content a Try
Heretto offers a comprehensive CCMS platform designed to help you implement and manage a structured content model so you can create and assign product documentation with ease. It operates as a central hub for all your content, complete with tools for tagging metadata, tracking changes and maintaining your preferred formats and styles.
Ask for a demo to explore these and other features.
