3 Most Feared Words in Product Marketing

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Holiday Greetings from Infographics

Gratitude for a Winning Partnership

I’ve had a great career in the graphic design and communication industry. And now, I have fulfilled a dream of owning my own business—along with a great business partner and friend—that is staffed with really bright and nice people.

I spent years designing pieces and campaigns that were clever and aesthetic, and perhaps even a bit uniquely creative from time to time. Now I’m in the business of creating pragmatic solutions that visually communicate information people can actually use, need and appreciate. Our company specializes in communicating “how-to” information, mostly for major manufacturers of consumer products. Our small, but talented, team of information designers creates practical, yet aesthetic, visuals that are logically organized and targeted for the user, either in print, online or any medium.

Sure, I miss the creative flair and cache of marketing and advertising pieces. The kudos you get doing WOW graphics and glamorous photo shoots. But now I’m doing work the real consumer in me missed having for years and years—technical communication products (instructions, user manuals) that the typical consumer (like me) can understand and use.

As a consumer, I often lost the joy of buying a new product once I opened the box. Why? I became frustrated with myself because the instructions left me feeling inadequate and…well, just too stupid to understand how to use, assemble or care for my brand new purchase! Information and data were given to me, sometimes in massive amounts, all assuming I should be able to follow it, understand it and enjoy my purchase. Sound familiar?

Many times it took me forever to understand the instructions. I wasn’t able to use my product immediately or actually USE all the features. Or even worse, I would put it together wrong and then reassemble it, wasting more time! I felt like a loser. In time, I came to the conclusion, “It’s NOT ME; it’s THEM!” Themmeaning the manufacturer, the product engineers, the technical writers, the product managers, and the CEOs, who refused to recognize the need to translate their proprietary data and languages into simple language that would actually communicate on my level as a consumer.

They were what I referred to as Product Elitist (OK, and worse) who really wanted to make me feel stupid while they used their internal knowledge and vocabulary to punish me and to demonstrate their superiority! And adding insult to injury, I paid money for the suffering. I bought into the marketing and didn’t return the products to avoid my own humiliation from my inability to understand the data! Aarrgh!!! And as I continued to create my own conspiracy theory against me—these same elitist, kept their jobs because no one in their organization was brave enough to admit or point out—THEY couldn’t understand them either!! As long as they could sell it and I was buying—they were OK with my suffering. That was my conspiracy theory and by God…I was sticking with it!

So, when I got the chance, I went into the business of trying to show them the errors of their ways, and guess what their first objection was? How much it cost! Providing documentation, instructions and helpful information their customers could understand, as a customer service, seemed to them TOO EXPENSIVE. Despite the fact it was a mere fraction of their marketing and advertising budgets to SELL us the goods and make us suffer through their proprietary jibber-jabber after the sale.

So, our little team began making our case on the value of doing a better job of communicating to customers in terms THEY could understand. Our case was based on reducing customer service calls, having fewer returns, and creating a loyal customer base that would buy more of products because of an improved ownership experience…things like that. Product manufacturers started, and continue, to come around thanks to my team’s hard work convincing them of the value of improved product information, companies seeing positive results…andan economy that tanked.

Yes, one good thing from the economy tanking is happening. Now that people have to spend their money more judiciously. They want MORE for their purchases. They want to be able to USE all the features. They want to ENJOY their new purchases faster with fewer hassles AFTER they take it out of the box. They want to LEARN about their products and not feel stupid trying to understand it. It really shouldn’t have been considered too much to ask for. But when times are good, hey what the heck, you can sell something for the label alone, right? We were glad to see some consumers finally woke up and manufacturers started caring.

Now that I’ve got this off my chest, I have a confession. I work with the very people I’ve sounded off about—and I LIKE working with them! My business and I depend on them for their expertise, input, and support. They are our partners and I respect their knowledge and enjoy their involvement. They’re vital to our success as a business and to the products we produce to communicate technical information specifically for the end-users.

Our goal is to EARN our clients’ respect and confidence by not completely recreating or glossing over their work or altering the accuracy and details required of it. Our job is to translate and communicate that information accurately and logically so that the masses can understand it, learn from it, and benefit from it.

Once that’s accomplished, the product development people that I once thought were conspiring against my fellow consumers and me, appreciate that we made sure all the work they put into their product and sweated over to develop for years is both used and appreciated by many more people. Then, a winning partnership between two very different disciplines is accomplished and everyone—from the people who invented and engineered the products, to the regular guy like me, who buys them—benefits.

Jim Kughler is general manager and president for Knoxville, Tennessee-based Infographics, a pioneer and leader in the development of innovative post-purchase product communications tools for consumer goods manufacturers. Jim began his career as a graphic designer after graduating from Indiana University. His 22 years of experience has covered the entire gamut of creative communications. From a graphic designer, to the manager of an in-house corporate graphic design studio he has experienced the process of corporate communications and marketing from the inside. From a sales representative in the emerging electronic age of printing and prepress in the 80’s to the late 90’s, to a director of sales over two teams in two states, Jim has spent his career providing design, sales and creative production consulting services to national brands such as: Philips, Magnavox, Philco, Sylvania, Rubbermaid, Yale, Sara Lee, Coca-Cola, TVA, Exxon-Mobil, Maytag, Meridian, Maxim, Trophy and Bayliner.

We agree with a recent time is money study by Accenture, but think their experts overlooked one important topic—effective and efficient product instructions.

Here’s a portion of what Accenture’s report had to say:

Businesses that thoughtfully examine and measure the time customers spend with them, and then either reduce the time costs or enhance the time value of their offerings, can gain an advantage that will continue when the economy recovers. For companies looking to win over today’s more frugal customers, a focus on the value of time comes not a moment too soon.

Time, as they say, is money.

And no more so than in today’s tough economic environment: Companies find themselves in a bind, unable to find new ways to meet the customer’s relentless demand for lower costs and higher value. Is there a way out?

Yes. Accenture research and experience suggests that marketers can quickly enhance their offerings to make them both less costly and more attractive if they focus on time—specifically, on respecting or improving the value of their customers’ time, across the entire marketing lifecycle.

Accenture’s research focused primarily on manufacturers’ timesaving innovations (like Viking Range Corporation who offers a high-speed convection oven that cooks a five-pound chicken in 28 minutes) and even the manner in which customers shopped for products (online versus self-service checkouts, etc.), yet they overlooked one aspect of the marketing lifecycle that has big time-draining potential. That is, what actually takes place after the purchase, i.e., the real “out-of-the-box” experience?

You’ve heard the horror stories. Nightmares related to assembly or installation projects, especially with flat-pack furniture or toys during the holidays. Manufacturers now have a reliable resource to help circumvent customers’ wasted time and frustration when it comes to RTA or DIY products. Infographics, the pioneer and leader in the development of innovative post-purchase product communications for consumer goods, has years of experience helping companies build better instruction manuals. Their innovative and proprietary process has proven that logically written and well-illustrated instructions make all the difference when it comes to avoiding potential customer frustration and dissatisfaction with a product or brand.

So what does this have to do with the time is money theory? Infographics believes that spending more time up front developing clear, concise and complete instructions leads to less time spent by the consumer during the assembly or installation process resulting in a more positive ownership experience. Additionally, Infographics believes that offering well-designed quick start, reference guides, and troubleshooting charts that include step-by-steps and visuals is another time accelerator for improving ownership experiences.

Wordless Instructions by Infographics

Infographics uses sequential drawings—not photographs—with as few words as possible, to produce easy-to-follow instructions. Each process is analyzed—frequently by assembling and disassembling products in the company's lab—to determine the consumers’ communication needs. Logical organization, better graphics and illustrations and less verbiage result in better understanding and less time required by consumers trying to read the instructions. 

Quick Reference Guide by Infographics

At Infographics we believe that a focus on the value of time when it comes to product instructions can provide a significant competitive advantage that more companies will need to recognize in order to keep pace in this “new normal” economy.

More Tips for Delivering "Best in Class" Instructions

Get to the point quickly and concisely.
As the complexity of products continually increases, customers are placing the burden to explain how to use, maintain, and service products at the feet of manufacturers. Rather than instead of investing in professional communicators, this task is often left to the product engineer. Bear in mind that providing instructions or manuals to Joe Q. Public written in “engineer-speak” will most likely result in a frustrated customer.

Recognize documentation development is a crucial part of the product development lifecycle.
Interestingly, this is a marked departure from past practices in which documentation was addressed at the tail end of product development. As a general rule, it seems that product development schedules are seldom met. Therefore, if documentation is being addressed at the end of the development cycle, the need to introduce the product to market as quickly as possible can result in sacrifices in the planning and execution of the instructions. The best in class companies are incorporating documentation as another piece of the product development process allowing time for proper evaluation and analysis of the best manner to communicate to the end-user.

Visually communicate critical product information instead of forcing customers to read lengthy text.
Yes, it’s true. A picture is worth a thousand words. Data from our research confirmed more people understand concise, image based instructional or educational material than text-heavy collateral materials and engineering based images. Best in class companies recognize that visually based communication tools can decrease technical support and customer service calls as well as reduce product return rates. In addition, companies are realizing a reduction in the time and cost of localization because communicating with graphics instead of words reduces the amount of text there is to localize.

Are you ready to join the “best in class” companies when it comes to your product instructions and documentation? If so, call on the expertise of the team at Infographics.

Simple Product Instructions Make All the Difference

Rob Eddy, principal at Infographics, offers tips for improving instructions In 15-plus years of working closely with product designers, engineers and quality assurance professionals in many consumer-product industries, I’ve found that a critical factor affecting manufacturers’ success rests with how they value consumer opinions.

One oft forgotten but pivotal aspect of consumers’ product experience centers on instruction manuals for assembly, use and maintenance – or, what many people have grown to dread as incomprehensible directions that, in theory, are supposed to make a product work.

How many of us have struggled to the point of total frustration with archaic instructions offering no help whatsoever with a new product we’ve just purchased and anxiously await to use? The experience is practically universal – just ask any parent who has struggled until 4 a.m. Christmas morning with a child’s “some assembly required” toy.

The fact this consumer nightmare is so commonplace should tell all of us in product development fields that many companies are doing something wrong . . . specifically, failing to make a consumer’s initial product experience an enjoyable one.

Why should companies take notice? Consider these realities:

• Companies that offer clear, concise and well-written product instructions (also known as “post-purchase” communications tools) generally experience fewer product returns. Conversely, customers faced with poor instruction manuals sometimes decide that assembling a complicated product is not worth their trouble and demand their money back. (As a matter of fact, I worked with one company that was struggling with a 50 percent non-defective return rate because consumers could not understand how to install and use its product.)
• Manufacturers also reap benefits of lower customer call center demand when product communications provide inclusive information. In addition, good assembly and usage instructions offer a solid foundation for consumers and customer service agents to communicate – facilitating smoother and clearer support. 
• For a company’s legal department, fewer product liability claims due to injury or poor performance arise when consumers correctly assemble, use and maintain their new purchase.
• In dealing with products distributed to international markets, manufacturers can also realize lower translation costs and less confusion across cultural boundaries when they employ proper use of universal symbols and understandable graphics.
• An improved brand perception often follows any company that makes the consumer’s assembly experience an easy and “painless” one. That brand perception can have residual effects, such as a consumer’s desire to purchase other products of the same brand or to recommend a brand’s products to friends.
• Better product instructions typically result in much better ownership experiences, which, at the end of the day, can easily parlay into increased sales, higher profitability and greater market share.

So how can companies evaluate their product instruction performance from the consumer’s vantage point and make necessary improvements? Several steps facilitate the process:

• Determine the appropriate department and specific manager(s) within your company to guide product communications. Frequently, tight product launch schedules and a lack of clearly defined responsibility can lead to hastily developed post-purchase communications tools. Establishing ownership for the development of these components can make a significant difference.
• Communicate internally with other managers and functions to gain buy-in across departments. Quality assurance and customer service functions most often deal with shortcomings in the area of “post-purchase” communications. However, these functions seldom lend input on creating these tools; instead, usually product development, marketing and/or engineering drive instruction manual development. By establishing cross-functional teams and collecting multiple perspectives interdepartmentally, companies can enhance product manuals significantly.
• Research how your product’s instruction manual currently performs by collecting direct customer feedback (i.e. product registration cards, product packaging inserts, customer call center questionnaires, etc.). Evaluate factors like readability, quality of illustration, accuracy of instruction, whether or not the entire informational piece is “intimidating” (too much complex information) or inadequate (not enough information to be useful). Focus groups can also provide a wealth of insight. If possible, try to compare your product’s informational performance with those of competitors’ products.
• Establish metrics that will allow you to measure and quantify the results of making improvements, such as volume/content of call center inquiries, reasons cited for product returns, litigation cases attributed to “faulty design” that may have originated as assembly/maintenance issues not addressed adequately in product literature, etc. 
• Consider working with a third-party design expert specializing in consumer product communications, via both written copy and graphic illustration/design. Check the company’s references for a track record of performance with large consumer brand names, highly technical products and multicultural communications.

While the notion of providing understandable product instructions to consumers is a simple idea, it’s not necessarily a simple process. That’s probably why so few companies achieve it consistently. However, for those that do, the benefits can manifest themselves from the retail line to the bottom line, with big cost savings and revenue enhancements for companies that make the effort.

Rob Eddy is vice president of marketing for Knoxville, Tennessee-based Infographics, a pioneer and leader in the development of innovative post-purchase product communications tools for consumer goods manufacturers. A 1986 University of Wisconsin graduate, Eddy’s broad experience includes marketing communications, product development, product line management and brand management with major national brands such as Bemis, Rubbermaid, Rolodex, Eldon, Newell, Haworth, and United Chair.

Infographics Celebrates 15th Anniversary

Infographics celebrated our 15th year of improving technical design, illustration, animation and publishing with an informal Anniversary Open House at our office last Friday evening. We thought we'd share a few snapshots from the evening and extend our sincere appreciation to our clients and friends who joined us for the celebration. Here's to 15 more years!