Your Web-based applications in the Cloud are likely to be used by your customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With SaaS (Software as a Service), users can stop paying for your software overnight, which means it’s important your users can get the support they need, at any time of the day.

You may have noticed many Cloud-based applications provide Help in a different way to desktop applications. The User Assistance can appear in different places, and it often comes with additional capabilities that you don’t see in desktop-based Help.

If you need someone with the skills in developing and creating Help for Web-based software applications, then Cherryleaf can help you. The next step is to contact us.

Free advice on creating clear and simple online information your users will love

For free advice on creating clear and simple online information your users will love, take a look at the Cherryleaf Blog and the free content section on this site.

The business benefits of Web-based Help

Having your online Help published on the Web could do wonders to your business:

• Marketing SEO benefits
  • The search engines love the type of information-rich content that online Help contains (more information), because the content is valuable and other Web sites link to it. The result is these pages appear high in search engine rankings.(More information). This improvement could lead to an increase in leads from your Web site.
• Reduce stress on your Support line
  • Many users begin by looking for answers on the Web before they call the support line (more information, see also our support call cost reduction calculator). If they find the answer on the Web, then they won’t need to call the Support line.
• Better customer service
  • There’s a new generation growing up who are shying away from telephone-based support in favour of text-based support (more information). By delivering assistance in the way they prefer, your providing better customer service.
• Greater brand loyalty
  • You can allow your user community to add to the content. They not only improve it, but they also get a greater sense of belonging to your brand. (more information)
• Improved product development
  • You can get a better understanding of where users struggle with your product
  • Web Analytics can tell you how many thousands of people are reading the Help and what they are searching for.

Creating a more positive emotional experience for the customer

For some Web applications, studies have shown that a different writing style can be more effective than the traditional writing approach seen in more complex and expensive applications.  This style uses techniques from usability research to establish a more positive, affective (emotional) connection with users.

The benefits of this approach include:

• It encourages users to solve problems themselves more often
• A more positive attitude towards the product.

You have the option to apply this affective writing style when you work with Cherryleaf.

Re-use the content elsewhere and spread the cost

Documentation is an fundamental part of a software product’s marketing, sales and technical support strategy, so why not use the information developed for the online Help elsewhere – in the technical support, marketing, Web, sales and training departments?

Equally, if your Support team and other staff are creating User Assistance in other systems (such as Knowledge Bases), why not embed this information into your Help? When they make a change, the relevant section in the Help gets updated as well.

If the Help is developed in a single-sourcing tool (an option we offer), you can write your content once, publish it for many uses and realize huge cost savings.

Next steps