Just Tell Them

This post will take you about 2 minutes to read.

Your product isn’t perfect. It has rough edges. Parts that take some time to understand. And things that aren’t easy on the first or second try.

You know where your customers might struggle. The tasks that take more time than they should. The point where frustration sets in.

You put together resources to help customers get acclimated to your product. Videos. Help articles. Text snippets.

But do you tell your customers where they’re going to struggle? Or just make it seem like it’s not hard for anyone else?

It took a while for this to sink in for me. I would send over links to outdated help articles. I would dance around the fact that certain things were going to be hard.

But then I started trying another approach.

The big problem is not that the manual is hard (or bad). The problem is that we act as though it’s not.

You can fix the problem immediately without fixing the manual.

Just tell them. Try it. It’s like a superpower. Not for you, for them.

Kathy Sierra, Badass: Making Users Awesome

I’m honest.

This is going to involve more steps than you’d like, but we’re only an email away if you need more help.
You’re exactly right, it’s a pain. We don’t do a great job of handling this right now.
We know that’s not the answer you’d like, but hope it clarifies. And I’ve shared this example with our team as another vote for these upgrades.

And it pays off. Because when you’re honest, people start to show confidence in you. They begin to trust you.

Your customers don’t need you to be perfect. They need you to be honest.

Just tell them.