Technical literature

Armitage Venesta Bailey Atlantic

Trenta Trevi Hydro

Formulating a product that the market wants, promoting and selling it is one thing. Helping people to assemble, install, operate and use it satisfactorily is another.

We all know those jokes about hopeless instruction sheets and the abstract sculpture that was supposed to have been a coffee table. The danger is that those feelings of incomprehension and irritated frustration become directed at the product manufacturer or supplier with a consequent negative effect on future sales. Good instructions are critical not only for safety and proper performance but for customer satisfaction.

There is considerable evidence of serious situations that arise on site when people do not understand instructions so much so that the subject of 'technical communication' is being incorporated into EU and UK consumer protection law on the basis that manufacturers will be liable should instructions be deficient.

Good, clear, professionally created instructions are not only necessary in their own right but also provide a means to optimise customer satisfaction, important for relationship building, and are yet another way for brands and products to differentiate themselves positively from their competitors.