The Point of Practical, Purposeful Information

It’s normal for your website users to have recurring questions and need quick access to specific information. Having a FAQ is NOT the best way to help them.

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t collect information in a FAQ on your website. The first that comes to mind is that it’s just plain lazy. Second, having a FAQ does absolutely nothing to enhance the user experience.

If a question is truly classified as ‘frequently asked,’ then cramming the information on a rarely-updated page isn’t helpful.

Commonly identified user questions should be addressed in well-written content and found in the place where a user is expecting to have the question answered.

Here are a few reasons why NOT to use a FAQ:

1. Using a FAQ page actually increases confusion and cognitive load, leaving your user to wonder: “Why can’t I just find what I need?”
2. Often, FAQ pages lack any sort of intelligent order. Presenting useful information in a Question-and-Answer format can make ordering information difficult without context. Then you’re adding content to provide context and you end up with a page that isn’t truly useful.
3. You’ve seen it: FAQ pages become a catch-all for anything and everything you’re too lazy to include in context. Too many websites with only a few frequently asked questions resort to including obviously invented questions and plainly SEO-optimized marketing language to fill the page, which can result in losing your users’ trust quickly.
4. The format feels repetitive to the user. Questions can be surprisingly specific, forcing users to mentally rearrange the wording of their questions just to find the answer that meets their needs.
5. FAQs are basically a wall of text. This sends a “do not engage” signal to your customer, who gets easily overwhelmed.

“Well, if I shouldn’t use a FAQ page, how do I answer my customers questions without endless emails and phone calls?” This is a job for Practical, Purposeful Information.

Why to Use Practical, Purposeful Information

The idea behind purposeful information is that users come to any type of content with a particular purpose in mind, ranging from highly specific (task completion) to general learning (increased knowledge). The user has needs that might not align with what we, as a company, expect or want them to do.

Using Practical, Purposeful Information:

• Improves site navigation and SEO by using natural language patterns that real humans actually search for in modern and voice-based search engines.
• Enhances customer conversions, so they feel understood and put at ease.
• Relieves some burden on sales and content teams, by publicly answering common questions.
• Reduces the reluctance to commit by answering user questions preemptively and clearly.
• Eliminates the “Lazy Leave” — “I left your website because it was too hard to find information and I’m too lazy to call you and ask.”
• Earns trust, demonstrating expertise and confidence in business model.

Practical, Purposeful Information Best Practices:

• Make the information easy to find and brief.
• Make the presentation of the information both logical and directly relevant to the user’s needs.
• Have a clear purpose for why you’re sharing this information and share highly specific content.
• Give the information a clear title related to the user tasks. “Event Logistics” instead of “Event FAQ.”
• Use clear, concise wording that mimics the language and voice of the user; avoid using internal language.
• Focus questions and answers on what the user needs, not on selling the product or brand. (Keep questions about the company on the About page.)
• Identify the kind of information that users might not be actively looking for, but knowing would benefit them.

Companies that use purposeful, practical information to align user and business goals in a way that feels authentic can be very successful in both customer retention and acquisition.

Examples of Practical, Purposeful Information

FitBit

FitBit has made it very easy to share a lot of critical information and answer questions their user might have when comparing different devices.

Amazon

Amazon has done away with an enormous FAQ and streamlined the information overload on their Help page. They accomplished this by sorting all of their previously asked question into sections, and each section has a landing page that helps the user get closer to the information they need with each click.

Oliver Winery

This website is a great example of creating practical, purposeful information presented in a natural way, rather than resorting to a FAQ page.

They identified a specific user need: being able to find practical information about visiting the winery.

There was a business need to reduce the number of calls to customer support for details regarding food, private parties, accessibility, etc. This information was available on the website, but was scattered across several pages, including a partially complete FAQ.

With their site redesign, a single page called “Plan Your Visit” was created to contain all the relevant information topics and is accessible from the both the “Visit” section and the main navigation.

The system they used is designed to be flexible. Chunks of information are added, removed, and moved around using a content management system, and published on the “Plan Your Visit” page, in a non-FAQ format. This can also be achieved in simple sections on a one-page website.

As a result, all the information a potential customer might need is easily available to them, increasing the likelihood that they’ll choose to visit the winery.

Informed consumers have fewer questions that cause reluctance to buy.

Less questions = more profit.

I hope you enjoyed the article — it’s so easy to get really passionate about the customer experience and how to enhance it. I appreciate your feedback and applause!