Formatting documents for customer service is not as complicated as you might think. Neither is it something you can just do without thought. Here are 5 tips on formatting documents for customer service to make them the best possible for your customers.
Make it easy for customers to find what they want.
Probably the most important things to keep in mind, and something that applies to every document you produce is to make them clear. Your customers should be able to scan them and find the information they need. Similarly, with forms they should be able to see exactly what they need to fill out and find any information they need quickly.
Highlight important items
As much as it’s important for customers to be able to find what they need, it’s important for you to make your point simply. So any information that you need your customers to know should be highlighted. This might be in the form of a text box, a different style or size of font, or as part of an image. Whatever you use, it should jump from the page and grab your customers attention.
Be precise
Don’t include information that’s irrelevant. While you may want to explain the reasons for something or go into a lot of detail about a product, a process or anything else. Resist the temptation to give too much information. Stick to the facts the customers need to know and if you really think more information is needed, put it on your website and include a link in the document. There’s nothing more likely to get a customer to stop reading than going into too much detail.
Pick the right style
Think about the purpose of the document and use the right style. There are times when a pamphlet is the best way to share information, other times a case study might be the best way to share something. There are so many options available, you’ll be able to come up with the right style of document. Consider pamphlets and brochures, printed pages, forms and bound documents.
Consider the format
As much as it’s important to choose the right style for the content, you need to consider the format you’ll be providing the document in. For example, a trifold brochure looks great printed, but aren’t the best in PDF. While you won’t be setting the format in stone, and a certain amount of flexibility is necessary. You should make sure the document looks great in the format it will most often be supplied in.
