What are the elements of a reference guide?

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Quick reference guides are divided by objectives, but united by the common goal of making learning (or training) organic and easy.

Whether it's a step-by-step guide or a general guide to a product or process, here are some essential elements that make guides quick, consumable, and effective.

1. Title
Keeping it simple, make sure that the title of your reference guide answers – who the guide is for and what it ceo email list solves – at a glance. This helps end users discover relevant guides faster when trying to resolve a query. This allows them to navigate your product or service with confidence, increasing the overall customer satisfaction quotient.

2. Content
When writing reference guides, always keep the content short. Cut down on jargon, complex communication, and thick paragraphs. This way, your audience can get to the heart of the matter sooner. The sooner the information solves their problems, the sooner they can get back to enjoying your service.

3. Visuals
The human brain can retain and process images at an impressive rate of 13 milliseconds . Therefore, incorporating elements like screenshots, icons, and UI images into your guide to make it visually appealing becomes a no-brainer . Plus, product guides and how-to videos are made much more engaging with visuals.

4. Format
The purpose of your quick reference guide dictates the most appropriate format for it.

For example, a process guidelines document may require a simple structure. On the other hand, creating a practical guide would incorporate multiple sections .

5. Brevity
An effective reference guide is almost always skimmable and is limited to a maximum of two pages . Practicing brevity is a great exercise in simplifying product or process information. It makes it accessible even to the technically uninitiated.

Bonus: Learn how to write technical specifications in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.