How to Create Effective Quick Reference Guides (QRG): Tips & Tools

Do you have a new product to share in the market that’s ready to be subscribed to and used by your target audience?

Great!

Like any service provider, you decide to walk your users through it during the demo and onboarding call.

Awesome!

But your support team is still busy answering questions about its features and other functionalities; why?

Because they don’t have a guide they can always go back to it in case of any questions or doubts.

Building and executing a quick reference guide will surely keep your support team less busy and focus on other crucial tickets that require personal assistance..

What is a Quick Reference Guide?

A Quick Reference Guide (QRG)  is a concise (typically 1-2 pages) document that has a condensed set of instructions on how to use a product. It focuses on key features and consists of very specific details that users will find useful in case they get stuck with your product.

Here’s an example to help you understand its nature:

Such quick reference guides offer to-the-point information to your users, therefore resolving their doubts in no time. What’s more, they are easy to edit and update in case you upgrade your functionalities in the future.

Why is it Important to have a Quick Reference Guide?

While its ability to offer concise information makes it easier for us to understand why one must invest in a quick reference guide, other reasons still boost its importance for business owners.

We’ve navigated and listed a few for you below.

1. Improves Agent Efficiency

Since users get to search and find the right reference guide in your repository, they avoid reaching out to your support team more frequently.

That means your agents get to:

• • Avoid frequent support burnout.
  • Focus on pressing issues that need more time and diligence.
  • Answer customer queries faster (because they can come in handy for agents, too!).
  • Reduce support costs.

2. Demonstrates Each Functionality in Detail

While they are known to be concise, they are still very detailed. They act like a step-by-step guide for users who are new to your product or a reference documentation in case they forget how to use a certain feature

Here’s how Document360 uses its quick reference guide to help its users navigate through their Editor Folder functionality:

The best part is that this guide helps you take all the crucial steps to activate a feature. That means it’s easier for users to follow through when trying to execute the same steps while using the product.

3. Improves Product Learning

This isn’t just for users but also for support agents who come across questions about feature execution. They learn the product in and out, helping them close support chats, emails, or calls faster.

4. Beef Up Your Existing Documentation

More product information means users are using your product at its full potential. They make your product more accessible and can be easily found if you have the right documentation tool in place.

For instance, tools like Document360 help their users navigate through their documentation via proper categorization of the articles and search bar but also help to add new guides faster. Moreover, their guides are shorter and easier to follow, helping people with a non-tech background follow through efficiently.

Also, with the right images and videos, one can easily follow through the guides without getting bored.

8 Best Practices for Creating a Quick Reference Guide

Given how beneficial quick reference guides can be, it is important to learn the best practices that make their execution simple and hassle-free. We’ve selected 8 best practices to simplify the guide creation process for you in no time.

1. Keep it short and simple

Avoid writing lengthy guides that end up overwhelming the users while reading them.

Understand that they are supposed to help them find an answer to their questions faster. The faster you introduce the answers, the sooner they’ll start using your product in full swing.

Here’s a fleeting example of how Document360 does it right:

They discuss the most crucial aspects of their feature first and then dive deep into its explanation. But that, too, is short and to the point, therefore helping users enable and use this functionality faster.

2. Use engaging and exact product visuals

Simply writing a guide won’t work to familiarize users with your product. They will have to see how these steps can be implemented in your product.

Therefore, don’t just limit yourself to product screenshots. Add relevant feature videos and GIFs that give a quick run-through of the same feature. You can even consider adding GIFs to each step so that users know how to navigate through the product.

Moreover, videos will give an overall idea of how the feature works. But while you create these videos, ensure they sound interactive and keep the users engaged.

3. Highlight important points with a different color

Want to highlight pivotal information that’s the crux of your guide?

We’ve all used bold and italics to highlight something crucial in our documentation. But sometimes, users may not know that certain information in the guide is more crucial and can help them resolve their doubts faster.

Netflix kind of understands this concern.

In all their help center reference guides, Netflix highlights certain words that may be helpful for their users. Some of these highlighted words lead users to other useful articles as well. This is a great way to keep users engaged with the guide and help them learn more about the product faster.

4. Include information on a need-to-know basis

Your reference guide must establish the following every time users reach out to it in case they have doubts related to your product:

• Trust regarding the information provided
• Willingness to use your self-service guide as it offers the answers to their questions faster
• Unwillingness in users to reach out to the support team separately as your guide is self-explanatory

To achieve this outcome, you need to ensure that the information included in each of the reference guides is:

• Related to a specific product feature
• Doesn’t show information related to another functionality

In summary, you must add information on a need-to-know basis. Yes, you want to add information that helps users better understand your product, but that doesn’t mean you go overboard.

Stick to the point to help users avoid any confusion.

5. Make the language descriptive

Another thing you need to keep in mind when creating these reference guides is to keep the language simple and direct for users to understand.

Avoid using technical jargon excessively. Users with no technical knowledge would like to understand hard concepts easier. Not only do they get to save time, but they also adapt to your product faster.

6. Assume a low level of understanding

The product learning curve can be tedious for many users, especially if they’ve never worked with a particular technology before.

Considering their low level of understanding, you’ve got to ensure that every aspect of a certain feature is explained in detail. This will allow users to follow through and comprehend why a feature works in a certain way.

Spotify is a great example of how you need to speak with your users when building reference guides.

Not only do they start with a problem statement, but they also explain how to overcome it in various ways. This helps them ensure that users always reach out to their support guides instead of the support team and helps them save time.

7. Have a standard format for readability

Maintain a simple format that improves readability for users. Here’s what you can do to improve readability:

• Do not write lengthy paragraphs. Write crisp sentences and shorter paragraphs.
• Use bullet points to list various functionalities of a feature.
• Add internal links for terms that are either added to your glossary page or other reference guides to help users know about them faster.
• Show feature pathways to help users understand how they can find and enable the feature in your product.

Building this format throughout all your reference guides can help you improve user readability and increase their adoption rate.

8. Easy accessibility

You would certainly want your users to access your reference guides quickly. Here are two ways you can make your reference guides accessible for all product users.

• Create clear categories in your reference guide’s navigation. Add your reference guides under the right category header to ensure users can navigate to the right article faster.

• Add a search bar to the reference guide repository so that it gets easier for users to find the right guide hassle-free. Take a look at how Document360 does it for their repository.

With the search bar, you will allow users to search for relevant articles and save time navigating through multiple pieces manually to find the right guide.

These best practices will allow you to build a reference guide for all your features and help you create a stable knowledge repository that can be accessed by all your users. However, one missing component in the equation is the right tool to create your reference guides.

You will need a platform to share all your guides in one place. Searching, comparing, and choosing one can be time-consuming. That’s why we’ve listed a few options, out of which you can choose one for your business.

Also Read: How to Write a Getting Started Guide

Start Building Your Reference Guide Today!

Building a reference guide for your products is crucial for the business. Not only do they help your customer-facing teams answer crucial product questions faster, but they also allow users to go back to them when they have doubts about your product at any time.

As a result, you:

• Save time
• Shorten the resolution time
• Help users understand your product better
• Make your support team more productive

And the list goes on.

However, building your reference guide with the right tool is crucial. And if you’ve been on a hunt for long, don’t look further. We’ve listed our top 6 picks for the category that will allow you to build engaging reference guides faster.

We hope this helps!