We’ve all experienced this scenario at some point or another: The GUI for one of your software products has changed, and you need to update something. You go to Google, or their site to search for the answer, but the FAQ is still showing the old screenshots & steps of how to update what you’re looking for.
As a user, how does this make you feel? Frustrated? Annoyed?
So you have to go back to Google to find someone else that has maybe written a post about the new change, or spend time figuring out how to use the old steps with the new GUI yourself – wasting time.
Why is it important to keep these updated?
Well, not only because it’s a PIA for your users (old and new) – but think of new users who are just getting to know your interface for the first time and need the extra help. This really doesn’t say much about your brand and how it cares for customers.
I know it’s also a super big PIA as a company to keep this stuff updated – especially if you’re frequently updating stuff – but it is definitely important to keep it updated – or run both versions of FAQs/screenshots concurrently if you might have users that could still be on older versions.
And just FYI – the big guys also mess this up. Have you ever tried finding updated info for Google Ads interface? I sometimes feel like I’m going nuts having been able to do something just a few months before and now not being able to find it in the interface – yet their FAQs still say the way I’m doing it is correct – only to contact Google and get feedback that it’s changed.
Or another big company I recently used, SalesForce with their PropertyBase product specifically – ALL the FAQs were for the old interface when we were trying to onboard with them…This was particularly tricky as we would have on-boarding video calls, but then the documentation that was sent post the call was ALL for the old interface. This totally did our heads in.
Keep your users happy, and pay attention to what you consider the small stuff too. It’ll go a long way to keep your customers happy!