Documentation Survey Results and Responses

The 2009 Q1 results for the documentation survey have been compiled. Here is a quick summary of our key findings for Q1:

• We received 153 responses in Q1 2009. That, my friends, is a new record. And with all those responses comes a ton of great feedback (more on that in a minute).
• For our five overall rating categories - Accuracy, Completeness, Easy to Understand, Accessibility, and Usefulness - the most frequent rating was a 4 or 5 (out of 5).
• Our highest overall rating category was Accuracy. (Mean = 4.26)
• Our lowest overall rating category was Easy to Understand. (Mean = 3.82)
• 72.4% of survey respondents were able to find the answer to their question in the documentation the last time they accessed it.
• The last time our respondents had a question, we were able to help 62.5% resolve the issue on their own with documentation instead of them having to contact Customer Support.

I like compiling the statistical data and comparing trends from quarter to quarter. Those metrics are important and help us understand our weaknesses and strengths. But my favorite thing about reviewing survey results is reading all the user feedback. You can really get a feel for the struggles and pains users experience when they can't complete tasks. For example, when a user says he can’t run an import because the guide doesn't explain which fields are required, that's great information. We can work with that. It requires no trend analysis. And when we call the user, even those who sound upset or angry in the survey, they are typically appreciative that we responded, and usually have even more input for us. It's a great example of how this survey helps us improve our documentation.

Likewise, you can sense the relief when a user is able to find information he needs and perform his job better. Knowing that the documentation is helping users and doing what it's supposed to be doing is great to hear. It validates a lot of hard work and effort.

Here are some of the responses collected this quarter (names withheld to protect privacy):

"PLEASE expand the documentation for Dashboards! There is not enough information about functionality with Share Dashboards and other descriptions are not detailed enough. I've had to do a lot of trial and error and testing on my own."

"Create a guide to explain Actions and Action Track creation."

"I would recommend that when the user guides are updated that an email be sent out to inform us."

“I really appreciate having the user guides. I go there first. Yes, I am pleased, too, with the Knowledgebase, and the telephone support. However, I will almost always first go to the user guides, because I want to know as much as possible about the topic with which I'm dealing, and the user guides point out features I may either not understand, or features that our organization is not yet using. So, typically do I not only find an answer to my question, but I learn something else I can apply.”

That’s just a sample of the responses we got last quarter. I look forward to reading the survey responses every quarter because I know I’ll learn different things about our users and how they use our documentation. So if you've ever wanted to know if users really do read our documentation, the answer is a resounding yes. We hear from them every day.

To be entered in our 2009 second quarter drawing, complete our online survey. It takes only a few minutes. To send us feedback about our user guides or help file documentation at any time, email documentationcomments@blackbaud.com.