How to Build an ROI-Focused Product Content Strategy
“Great products sell themselves” is not necessarily a term that fits today’s ultra-competitive open markets. Customers have many choices when deciding what to buy. They usually pick a product based on how good the information about it is and how easy it is to find. In many cases, an effective product content strategy is crucial for improving sales.
What is Product Content Strategy?
A product content strategy is a specialized subset of the broader content strategy. While general content strategy covers all forms of content used to engage with customers (such as blog posts, social media updates, and email campaigns), product content strategy focuses specifically on the content related to a product. This includes user guides, FAQs, UI text, error messages, call-to-action buttons, notifications, onboarding screens, and forms.
Unlike UX writing, which focuses on the interaction design, product content strategy ensures that all product-related content is consistent, helpful, and drives user engagement.
While quality content creation can help generate new business, the time and money involved can often be substantial. Businesses need to keep in mind that increasing these costs can often offset improved product sales. To that end, content creation teams must consider adopting steps that can help corral expenses and improve ROI. 7 of those steps are as follows:
1. Know Your Audience
When creating your product instructions, think about who will be using them and write the content with them in mind. The best product descriptions focus on what the users need and address their pain points.
Start by developing detailed customer personas that include demographics, preferences, and behavior patterns. Understand what motivates your audience, what challenges they face, and how your product can solve their problems. This will help you create content that resonates with them on a personal level.
Use simple, relatable language that your customers can easily understand. Avoid jargon unless your audience is familiar with it. Think about who your ideal customer is and imagine having a conversation with them. This will help you know how to communicate with them effectively.
Engage with your audience through various channels such as social media, customer feedback forms, and direct interactions. Listen to their feedback and use it to refine your content. By continuously learning about your audience, you can keep your content relevant and engaging.
Consider the different stages of the customer journey and tailor your content accordingly. For instance, new customers may need more educational content, while existing customers might look for advanced tips and troubleshooting information. Personalizing your content for different segments of your audience can greatly enhance its impact.
Incorporate visuals, examples, and storytelling to make your content more engaging. People connect better with stories and real-life examples, so use them to illustrate how your product can make a difference in their lives. This not only makes your content more interesting but also helps to build a stronger connection with your audience.
By thoroughly understanding and connecting with your audience, you can create product content that not only informs but also engages and inspires, ultimately driving higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
2. Set Clear Goals and KPIs
Creating an effective product content strategy begins with setting clear goals and identifying key performance indicators (KPIs). This foundation helps ensure that your content efforts align with business objectives and drive measurable results.
Define Specific Objectives
Start by outlining precise and achievable goals for your content strategy that connect directly to your overall business objectives. For example, you might aim to boost user interaction with your content, convert visitors into customers, expand your reach and visibility, or strengthen customer loyalty. Clearly defining your objectives helps create a roadmap for your content strategy, ensuring all efforts are directed towards achieving these goals.
Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Once your goals are set, determine the KPIs that will measure the success of your content strategy. KPIs should be specific, measurable, and relevant to your objectives. Key metrics to consider include traffic metrics (page views, unique visitors), engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments), conversion metrics (downloads, sign-ups, purchases), retention metrics (repeat visits, customer feedback), and SEO metrics (keyword rankings, organic traffic). Regularly reviewing these KPIs helps you understand what’s working and allows you to adjust your strategy accordingly.
Align Goals and KPIs with Business Objectives, Strategy and Vision
To maximize ROI, ensure that your goals and KPIs align with your broader business objectives. For instance, if your business goal is to increase market share, focus on brand awareness and lead generation. If the aim is to improve customer satisfaction, prioritize content that addresses customer pain points and provides valuable solutions. By maintaining this alignment, your content strategy directly contributes to your company's success.
3. Maintain Consistency
Knowing the right content for your customers is important, but keeping your message consistent throughout the customer journey is crucial. Inconsistent information can cause potential customers to doubt your trustworthiness, negatively impacting their purchase decisions. Questions you will look to answer to preserve consistency include:
- Are product features described using consistent terminology?
- Do those feature descriptions include the same data throughout the customer journey?
- Do your call-to-actions include consistent language?
- Does the tone of your content remain consistent across various products?
Even a slight inconsistency can significantly impact your credibility. Small details matter and can make a customer choose your products over a competitor's.
Distinguish between a product content strategist and a UX writer. A product content strategist looks at the overall strategy and consistency of product content. A UX writer pays attention to the small details in the product interface.. Both roles are crucial and often overlap, but understanding their differences helps streamline collaboration and responsibilities.
4. Create a Product Content Style Guide
To encourage consistency, consider creating a product content style guide. This document outlines the information and tone needed to create content that matches your branding. It serves as a universal guide for all products and includes rules on:
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Tone of voice
- Words to avoid
This guide ensures that all team members are aligned in their content creation efforts. Create a guide for the tone of your product content to ensure consistency and engagement with your audience. The guide should reflect your brand's identity and maintain an interesting tone throughout. This will help establish a strong connection with your target audience.
5. Content and Design Are Complementary
Your documents' content and design need to work together seamlessly. Mismatched content and design can create credibility problems and confuse customers. Ensure that the images used in your text support the product information rather than contradict or complicate it. This consistency helps customers understand and trust the information presented.
Close collaboration between the product content strategist, product owner, and UX designer is vital. By working together, these roles ensure that the product content aligns with the overall product vision and user experience. Regular communication and joint planning sessions can facilitate this collaboration, helping to maintain a cohesive and clear message.
Ultimately, the harmony between content and design enhances the user experience, making your product more appealing and easier to understand. This synergy not only improves customer satisfaction but also drives higher engagement and conversion rates.
6. Include an FAQ Page
Having a well-crafted FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page is invaluable for several reasons. It can play a crucial role in persuading potential customers to buy your product by providing them with clear and concise information about the benefits, features, and unique selling points of your product. An effective FAQ page addresses the most common questions and concerns that customers have, helping them make informed purchasing decisions.
A comprehensive FAQ page also enhances the overall user experience by providing quick and easy access to important information. Customers appreciate being able to find answers without having to contact support, which can be time-consuming. This not only builds trust and credibility but also significantly reduces the number of technical support tickets. By addressing common questions and troubleshooting issues upfront, you allow customers to resolve their own problems quickly and efficiently, leading to higher satisfaction and less strain on your support team.
To create an effective FAQ page, gather questions from customer feedback, support tickets, and social media interactions. Write clear and concise answers that are easy to understand and free of jargon. Use bullet points, headings, and subheadings to make the content scannable. Including images, diagrams, or videos where applicable can also help illustrate your answers and make the information more engaging.
Regularly update your FAQ page to ensure it remains relevant and accurate, and link to detailed resources if a question requires a more in-depth explanation.
By investing time and effort into creating a thorough and user-friendly FAQ page, you can enhance the customer experience, reduce support costs, and ultimately drive more sales.
7. Link Your Content to Its Products
If you manage a blog on your website, include links to the respective products from your online technical documentation portal content as often as possible. This helps customers see the connection between the content and the actual product, making it more believable and encouraging them to purchase.
Create a mission statement and draw a roadmap for your product content strategy. This strategic approach provides a clear direction and actionable steps for your team, helping you stay focused on your goals and measure progress effectively. Clarify the distinction between product content and marketing content.
Product content focuses on the user's interaction with the product, while marketing content aims to attract and convert potential customers. Understanding this difference helps create content that is appropriate for each stage of the customer journey.
Highlight how product content directly impacts the user's experience with the product. Well-crafted content can enhance usability, reduce frustration, and increase satisfaction, leading to higher customer retention and loyalty.
Encourage content strategists to continually learn and adapt to the evolving field of product content strategy. Staying updated with industry trends and best practices helps you refine your strategy and stay ahead of the competition.
Key Takeaways
- Before drafting your documentation, identify your target customer base and tailor your content to that audience.
- Maintaining information, style, and tone consistency will help build credibility with prospective customers.
- Your content should anticipate and address customer questions to minimize calls to technical support.
You can create a strong product content strategy by combining these elements. This strategy should focus on return on investment and boosting sales. It should also aim to improve the user experience and product adoption.
