Help 2.0: Understanding The Role Technical Support Content Plays In Developing Meaningful Customer Experiences

When we started our well-intentioned move from providing users with paper-based documentation to providing them with electronic access to technical support content, we used the web as just another channel: Help 1.0. We populated websites with digital copies of printed documentation-downloadable, keyword-searchable PDF files. And, we repurposed content from printed manuals, pushing it to other digital formats (e.g., online help, CD, DVD). While these were all steps in the right direction, and at the time, the best methods for helping customers find information they need, they are no longer acceptable support solutions.

Customer expectations have changed. And, yet, many technical communication and support departments have not. Help 2.0 is about creating experiences that meet (even exceed) customer expectations. It’s not just about creating support content, it’s about creating meaningful customer experiences. It’s about making the right information, in the right language, in the right format, available to the right people, at the right time. And, it also means making that content accessible to those who need it, on the device they prefer, in ways that they find beneficial (whether our psychic power predicted such needs or not).

During this Adobe eSeminar, Adobe Technical Communication Evangelist Thomas Aldous will interview content strategist Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, about Help 2.0. You’ll learn how letting go of old school, preconceived notions about technical support have helped some of the world’s biggest brands create engaging customer experiences. You’ll find out how leveraging the knowledge of the crowd is helping users find the right information quickly and easily, regardless of who created the content. And, perhaps most importantly, you’ll discover how adopting a Help 2.0 approach helps these organizations increase sales, reduce customer frustration and build meaningful customer relationships.

About Scott Abel

Scott Abel, aka The Content Wrangler, is an internationally-recognized content management strategist and social networking choreographer whose strengths lie in helping global organizations improve the way they author, maintain, and deliver information.

In addition to his popular business blog, TheContentWrangler.com, an online resource for content professionals with an interest in content management, content standards and content technologies, Scott maintains several online communities on Facebook and Linkedin, and is a popular and influential technology blogger on Twitter. He also manages the social networking activities for several software and services firms in the high technology and digital mobile publishing arenas.

A founding member of Content Management Professionals (http://www.cmpros.org), Scott previously served as Executive Director of the organization. He’s also served on the board of several non-profit charities, including one year as the Executive Director of Indiana Thrift for AIDS, a resale store that sells donated items and returns the profit to the Indiana AIDS Fund to distribute direct emergency assistance to individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Scott writes regularly for trade and industry publications, blogs, and newsletters. He also co-produces several content industry events, including the Web Content conference in Chicago(http://www.webcontentconferences.com) and Intelligent Content conference (http://www.intelligentcontent2011.com) with Ann Rockley and The Rockley Group. You can see him delivering his speech, “Get Ready for Socially-Enabled Everything” here: http://bit.ly/dp2ftW.

He’s also a popular dance music mashup artist, dj and music producer who has been spinning since 1982.

DATE: 16th June, 2011 (Thursday)

TIME: 10.00 am to 11.00 am PST

REGISTRATION PAGE URL: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1784005&loc=en_us