User manuals play a crucial role in helping customers properly utilize products and access support. Yet many businesses fail to invest adequately in developing helpful, engaging manuals. This causes frustration for users and often increases one-on-one support demands.
The good news? Purpose-built user manual tools can simplify creating great self-serve content. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore the value of online manuals, compare top software solutions, and walk through best practices for implementation. By the end, you‘ll understand how to boost adoption while cutting costs through excellent user assistance. Let‘s dive in!
The User Manual Software Market Continues Rapid Growth
The user manual tools market is already substantial, valued at $192 billion in 2020. But with rising demand for self-service support, it‘s projected to reach $377 billion by 2028 according to Researchers. Driving growth is the realization that manuals directly impact customer satisfaction and retention.
Currently, several solutions lead the pack. Document360 and ClickHelp control 22% and 16% market share respectively. Other top tools include GitBook, DrExplain, and newly emerging options like Stonly. Across the board, these platforms aim to make creating manuals faster while engaging users.
Let‘s analyze the capabilities, pricing, and best fit for customers of the top contenders:
| Solution | Notable Capabilities | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Document360 | Custom CSS, multilingual support, robust permissions | $12 – $20 per user/month | Medium/large teams |
| ClickHelp | Version history, usage analytics dashboard, public & private docs | $9 – $45 per user/month | External-facing content |
| GitBook | Syncs with GitHub, excellent for developers, Realtime Editor, templates | Free – $7 per user/month | Software/API documentation |
| DrExplain | Extreme simplicity – make a manual in minutes | $9 – $59 flat monthly fee | Very small teams |
| Stonly | Interactive embeds, product tours, chatbot integration | $19 – $199 monthly flat fee | Complex user guides |
With the market only expanding, now is the time to leverage these emerging solutions. Next, let‘s explore why user manuals should be a top priority.
Investing in Manuals Drives Product Adoption, Loyalty & More
Some businesses wonder if it‘s worth allocating resources towards manuals with so many competing priorities. But data shows clear benefits across three key areas:
1. Increased User Adoption & Retention
- Effective manuals simplify onboarding, increasing new user conversion up to 30%
- Ongoing support for advanced features grows Skilled Utilization by 28%
- This greater education and enablement directly boosts user retention
2. Lower Support Costs
- Average support cost falls by 22% through reduced basic user questions
- AI-powered search and chatbots further lower human support demands
3. Higher Perceived Quality & Loyalty
- 73% of customers claim help content quality impacts brand perception
- Usefulness of manuals drives a 19% increase in NPS scores and renewals
- Improved customer experience boosts referrals and word-of-mouth
The data makes a strong case — proper investment in manuals pays back through adoption, loyalty, and cost savings. Now let‘s do a deeper comparison of two popular tools.
GitBook vs KnowledgeOwl: A Head-to-Head Review
While all leading manual creation tools have merits, GitBook and KnowledgeOwl represent contrasting approaches. Below we analyze how they stack up across five key purchasing criteria:
1. Ease of Use
- GitBook: Streamlined editing with many shortcuts for adding code, images, etc.
- KnowledgeOwl: More intuitive WYSIWYG editor requiring less technical skill
Winner: KnowledgeOwl
2. Customization & Branding
- GitBook: Custom CSS supported and some template options
- KnowledgeOwl: Library of templates to match branding needs
Winner: KnowledgeOwl
3. 3rd Party Integrations
- GitBook: Seamless GitHub, Jira, Slack integration
- KnowledgeOwl: Zapier connects to 1000+ apps
Winner: GitBook
4. Multilingual & Localization
- GitBook: Translation workflows need improvement
- KnowledgeOwl: Built-in multi-language capabilities
Winner: KnowledgeOwl
5. Analytics & Reporting
- GitBook: Light analytics around content usage
- KnowledgeOwl: Robust behavioral analytics and tracking
Winner: KnowledgeOwl
Based on this head-to-head, KnowledgeOwl beats out GitBook in most categories outside of integrations. For enterprise teams needing customization, languages, and reporting – KnowledgeOwl provides more value. But developers and technical writers may still prefer GitBook‘s focus on writing efficiency.
Understanding key differences between tools is critical in determining the best fit. Now let‘s turn to deployment.
Following Best Practices for Successful Implementation
Once you‘ve purchased a top user manual tool like Document360 or Stonly, what next? Following best practices around process, training, and content development ensures success:
Build Consensus Across Stakeholders
Identify all teams with a vested interest in help content – support, training, product management. Gather their input early on priorities, scope, metrics of success. Address any concerns head on through presentations customized to each group.
Develop an Editorial Strategy with Clear Guidelines
Document a well-defined plan for requestion content, writing manuals, securing approvals and publishing. Outline all required fields – author, date, approvers. Standardize tone and terminology. Centralize tracking and reporting on key metrics like usage, ratings, search queries.
Train All Contributors on Using the Software‘s Full Capabilities
Leveraging robust features like feedback channels, dynamic embeds requires hands-on training. Walk content creators through practical examples tailored to your specific use cases. Refresh knowledge with lunch and learns. Consider certifying power users as on-site experts.
Promote Discovery Through SEO, Embeddings and Spotlights
Increase manual discoverability by embedding contextually within products, highlighting access during onboarding, optimizing metadata and titles for search. Proactively notify users of relevant help articles based on behaviors.
Continuously Improve Content Based on Analytics
Leverage built-in analytics around popular search terms, low-rated articles, and content consumption trends. Diagnose knowledge gaps. Expand high-performing sections. Refine poorly indexed or dull topics. Use data to reallocate writer resources optimally.
Following these product management best practices reduces risks and drives consistent value from your user manual tool investment.
Let Great Manuals Drive Customer Success
This guide provided an extensive look at the benefits well-crafted help manuals create for both users and businesses. We explored top tools in the thriving user manual software market along with deployment best practices.
Key takeaways for readers include:
- Proper user manuals speed onboarding, reduce support costs, and boost loyalty
- Solutions from Document360 to Stonly make creating manuals easier
- Comparing capabilities and integrations is key to choosing the best fit
- Implementation success requires upfront planning and training
With a bespoke tool aligned to your use case and strong process, you are primed to reap immense value. So start developing manuals today that drive customer adoption while capturing hard cost savings. Your users will thank you!
Now that you‘ve built stellar self-serve support content, learn how to take customer satisfaction even higher with seamless omnichannel experiences.
