Why user manuals should be your priority - here are 5 reasons

Instructions for use are everywhere and yet they are often the forgotten part of product and marketing teams. What project manager has never said that the instructions for use were not his priority?

Yet this is a serious mistake! Our Pimster teams give 5 reasons why and how!

1. The cost of after-sales services

Did you know that 30% of the after-sales service tickets are justified by a bad or non-reading of the instructions for use?

Having instructions that answer your customers' recurring questions will reduce your service tickets and consequently reduce your costs. Indeed, consumers have never interacted as much with the brand community and with the after-sales services as they do today, thanks to social networks and e-mails. But this results in high customer service tickets, which represent a significant cost for your company.

But why look for complexity when you can make it simple? Just use a 250 year old tool (spoiler: the user manual!) to answer the most common questions and propose a list of solutions to do independently in case of breakdowns.

Improving the user's manual is therefore saving a lot of time and money!

Tips :

• Propose a FAQ in your user manual by listing the questions that your service departments receive most often
• Insert a table "for each failure its solution". Simply list the most common breakdowns that your users have encountered, and suggest a solution in the box opposite, preferably one that can be carried out independently and does not require calling the after-sales service.

2. Avoiding legal action

When companies are asked the question: what is the purpose of your user manual? The answer is always "to protect us". Indeed, the instructions for use serve to meet certain legal obligations of warnings and cautions concerning the use of the product.

It is therefore indispensable to write clear instructions for use, which allow the consumer to be informed about everything he needs to know about his product before using it. Finally, in addition to the warnings, the company can also describe the normal use required for the product. This applies to both Kinder toys (e.g. choking hazard warnings) and personal protective equipment (PPE).

The instructions for use are therefore a means of protecting the consumer, but also of discharging your company from any liability in the event of an accident or inappropriate use. Indeed, if the mentions are not indicated on the product, its box or on its instructions, your company is entirely responsible for the damages, and legal proceedings often tarnish the image of a brand, and destroy the confidence of the consumers.

📌 Want to know more about the legal obligations of the user manual? Take a look at our article

Tips:

• Clearly list the warnings and cautions that must be included in your instructions for use
• Present them clearly with pictograms or pictures, for example

3. A way to educate your customers

On average, consumers use 10% of the features of their products.

In addition to warnings about potential dangers related to your product, the instructions are also an excellent way to inform your customers about the features of your product.

But it is also a tool to give your maintenance tips to reduce wear and tear and improve durability.

In addition, more and more customers are watching YouTube tutorials as soon as they have a question about the product. This reveals a real blind spot in consumer education about the products they buy. Your brand should be the only reference for product information! Only you have the complete knowledge of your product, and are best able to educate your customers.

If your customers turn first to external platforms, it is probably because your user manual needs to be reworked and prioritized.

Tips :

• Your manual should be synthetic and clear
• Try to integrate maintenance tips to improve product durability and reduce premature obsolescence due to misuse.

📌 Looking for some top user manuals inspiration? You'll find plenty in our latest article.

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4. A marketing tool with unsuspected powers

Today, the retail sector cannot afford to miss out on the customer experience. It is now essential for brands to offer services to their customers and in addition to offer them an original user experience. If some brands are competing with each other to invent different and original experiences, why not go back to the roots and modernize the instructions for use?

The user guide is the best way to improve customer conversion rates, because it proves that special attention is paid to their experience, and assures them of a mastered use of their product.

So, why deprive yourself of a procurement lever that you already have at hand? Indeed, the manual is already present for most of the products, you just need to update it and make it more attractive to make it an interesting customer acquisition tool!

Tips :

• Put your manual in the forefront of your sales process! Indeed, proving that the product will be easy to handle, and that the manual will indicate maintenance tips, are essential arguments for the purchase.
• Create a manual that stands out to attract your customers! We talk about it just below 👇

5. Easily stand out from the competition

Too little care is usually given to the instruction manual. Thus, the instructions as we know them today are often poorly translated and their appearance is neglected (lack of color, tiny writing...). This is without mentioning the lack of clarity and conciseness of some instructions!

All of this gives you a lot of room to maneuver in order to easily stand out.

Tips :

• Take care of the translation of your manual. This is the number one dissatisfaction among the consumers we surveyed*.
• Use your brand's colors, design and calligraphy in your manual to make it part of your brand's universe and contribute to the customer experience.
• Try to create a concise and clear manual to guide your user step-by-step in the use of their product
• Dematerialize your user manual. For this you can use Pimster.

*Survey conducted by us with 200 people.

You want to become an expert in user manuals? Check out our blog

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