Help Content Strategy presentation, iDW Oct 2014

Yahoo Help Content Strategy

Chris ToddInformation Development World 2014

How do you make a case

study of a strategy?

…the story of how we got here and what we’re doing now.

Tell you how it was executed,

of course!

Yahoo

Mail

Fantasy Sports

Answers

Flickr

Tumblr

Aviate

Search

Finance

and many more…

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) - NASDAQ

Founded January 1994

by two Stanford grad students

Jerry Yang and David Filoincorporated March 1, 1995

Yahoo CEO and President

Marissa Mayerappointed on July 16, 2012

My Yahoo

organization

writes customer

help content for all

Yahoo products

…everywhere

We assist millions of unique Help visitors every

month

Me

20 years | Xerox ◆ Mentor Graphics ◆ Oracle ◆ Yahoo

Marketing | Customer Support | Training

Moda Center

Home of the Trailblazers

Mt St Helens

Willamette River

Portland, OR

USABILITY.GOV

“…focuses on the planning, creation, delivery, and governance of

content. Content not only includes the words on the page but also the

images and multimedia that are used.”http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/content-strategy.html

WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY? KRISTINA HALVORSON

“…plans for the creation, publication and

governance of useful, usable content.”http://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy

JEFFREY MACINTYRE

“…addresses the specific purpose, form, and development of the content assets

that we have at hand, or those that circumstances (and our analysis) require us to

produce. The analysis of content and assessment of its value lies at the core of our

labors.”http://alistapart.com/article/contenttiousstrategy

Your content strategy is

everything you do

and don’t do related to

your content.

Remember, no strategy is a

strategy too.

Investment

Platform

Translations

Writing style and voice

Process and governance

What you share publicly

Hiring practices

What might be in your strategy?

My Strategy

+1

Write once for

everywhere 9

Apply 9

content principles

Everywhere?

Every user

▪ Customer

▪ Support agent

▪ Partner

Every device

▪ Mobile

▪ Tablet

▪ Desktop/laptop

▪ In-product

▪ Every language

▪ Every locale(language + country)

Everywhere!

Content PrinciplesKnow your audience

Must be able to follow the scent

Easy to scan titles

Easy to scan articles

Support SEO in every way

Use brand voice

Use translation best practices

Make strategic use of videos and images

Write for multiple UIs(user interfaces)

Know your audience

JAKOB NIELSEN

“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 12, 2011http://www.useit.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/

“If your grandmother and

your 10 year old niece

can read and understand

your content, you’re

doing it right!”

Personas“ Users often leave Web pagesin 10-20 seconds, but pageswith a clear value proposition

can hold people's attention for much longer…”

While customers will search onour site; most searching occurs before

they reach us.

Must be able to follow the scent

“Informavores will keep clicking as long as they sense (to mix metaphors)

that they’re “getting warmer” -- the scent must keep getting stronger and

stronger, or people give up.”

JAKOB NIELSEN

“Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 30, 2003http://www.useit.com/articles/information-scent/

Easy to

scan titles

…that promise what will be in the article

Easy to

scan titles

…that promise what will be in the article

Easy to

scan titles

…that promise what will be in the article

Easy to

scan titles

…that promise what will be in the article

Easy to

scan

articles

Title <H1>

Heading <H2>

Caution

Heading <H2>

Numbered steps

Title <H1>

Heading <H2>

Heading <H2>

Support in

SEO in

every way

Locale SEO URL

en_US https://help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.html

en_AU https://au.help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.html

de_DE https://de.hilfe.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Fehlende-Apps-in-Aviate-sln24249.html

vn_VI https://vn.trogiup.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Thiếu-ứng-dụng-trong-Aviate-sln24249.html

Support in

SEO in

every way

LARSEN “Creating the right brand voice”larsen.com/insights/creating-the-right-brand-voice

“Brand voice is the purposeful,

consistent expression of

a brand through words and

prose styles that engage and

motivate...

The personality of your brand is

determined, in large measure, by

the words you use and the

sentences you write.”

Brand voiceWhat’s yourbrand voice?

Use translation best practices

One idea per sentence

Simplicity over creativity

Reuse and consistency

Spend the time and get it

right the first time

Own your translation memory

SOURCES

just-one-liners.com http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/translations

SignsFail https://www.etsy.com/shop/SignFail

Seafood

brought in by

customers

will not be

entertained.

LADIES

ARE REQUESTED

NOT TO HAVE

CHILDREN IN

THE BAR

Make

strategic

use of

videos and

images

Writing for multiple UIs

Plain vanilla HTML

CSS classes supported by each UI

Variables for local values

Our Story

Content Principles

Challenges2009

Global products

Distributed platformand contributors

Multiple repositories

$$$ TranslationsLabor

Writing skills

UI inconsistencies

Emergence of mobile

A new platform was needed

• 1 Global repository for self-serve and agents

• Use 14 languages (1 dialect or form per language)

• Reduce from 70+ down to 38 locales(language + country, en_US)

This forced a new authoring strategy

Stop the bleeding ($$$)2010

Did we need content everywhere?

How many independent repositories are needed?

A new language and translation strategy

Getting to fewer locales and languages

Easy!

Go to where the

customers are

14 languages in 38 locales

en_US

es_ES fr_FR

en_CA

en_GB

es_MX

es_CO

fr_BE

MASTER (1)

PARENTS (14)

CHILDREN (24)

: :

en_AU es_US * Use variables for

local values

fr_CA

Replicate from

Parent to Child

Translate from

Master

to Parent

en_US

Benefits realized, so far

Centralized oversight

Systems used to their fullest

Fewer experts necessary:systems and content

Buying software once

Content consistencyacross the world

Same reporting platform

Prod Groups work withone team

Easy as flowers growing after a

volcanic eruption

Come see me afterward tolearn more

The move to one system

Support the language and translation

2010

2012-

Who writes it?

When do they write it?

Who maintains it?

Content authoring strategy

Original Vision

KCS (Knowledge Centered Support)

• Anyone can add or modify content

• When errors are discovered, fix them

• Through coaching, grow skills

• The most skilled publish content

Support the language and translation

2010

2012-

Who writes it?

When do they write it?

Who maintains it?

Content authoring strategy

Unforeseen issues

Coaching program challenges

Content updates were frequent;

hence more costly than planned

Sponsorship change

– labor investment reduced

Failed authoring strategy!

Was it the strategy or the execution?

The strategy didn’t support the realities

of the environment

✱ System is complex even for

full-time users;

* too much for part-time

users to be successful

✱ No DAM (digital asset mgmt) –

more manual management

✱ Writing wasn’t a core

competency of the agents

✱ More coming:

✱ Multi-lingual

✱ Our voice / style

✱ SEO

✱ More coming:

✱ 3 more UIs (5 total)

+ Partner portals

Hub and Spoke

New content authoring strategy

2012

The content Writer is the hub

Writer

Product launch timelines

Prod

Engineer

Product

Mgr

Prod

Supp

Mgrs

Rich

Media

Legal

and

Privacy

Marketing

and PR

Translate

/ Localize

Agents

Help Site

Admin

Search

Manager

Writer

Super Writer!

Writer

Project Manager

Communicator

Information Designer

SEO Specialist

Data Analyst

Skills

Applying the Content Principles – in detail

When to translate

Engaging Legal and Privacy departments

Utilizing the rich media experts

Dealing with local content

Writing standards and processes

2012

2013-

Advantage of customer support agents

2012

2013-

Recommend or Draft

Emerging Issues

Urgent translations

Linguistic feedback

Using data forcontent improvement

2013

Top used articles

Least used articles

Articles not updated

Search tuning data

On-boarding

Writer workshops

Peer-to-peer reviews

Improving our content and growing team skills

2014

Hiring the right people2014

Marketing, PR, and/or Communication background

Must have existing writing skills

Ability to manage multiple projects/activities

Ability to deal with ambiguity

Passion for helping people

HTML / technology skills are a bonus

A community

for each Yahoo

product

Writer

Communication model2014

More benefits realized

Translation costs decreased

Greater collaboration with Marketing and others

Same message from self-service and assisted support

“New” bugs are getting self-service content, fast

Full visibility on all content expenses

Challenges we still face

Site design vs. content design

Content discoverability

Goal conflict between writing for self-support and agent support

Better customer success data

How are you measuring content

success?

THANK YOU!

http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdottodd/

@CHRISdotTODD

https://help.yahoo.com