The document provides guidance on building an effective help page for a product or service. It recommends including frequently asked questions, clear screenshots with descriptions, and an easy-to-use search function. Additionally, it suggests making contact information prominently available so customers can quickly get the help they need. The overall goal is to empower customers to help themselves as much as possible through a well-designed help page.

1. Help Page
The Ultimate Guide to
Building A Truly Helpful
Get your Help Page up and Running in a Snap
Published by

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Table of Contents
3. Your Helpful Help Page
6. A Word About Screenshots
11. Frequently Asked Questions
19. Search
21. Contact Us
25. Conclusion

3. CHAPTER ONE
Your Helpful
Help Page

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So you have a product. And you want to
sell it to people. Maybe you already are!
The first thing you need is a help page.
Why? Well, because you want people
to give you their money. And if you find
people who want to do that, you need
to help them out.
Because people need help. They need
help with your website. With their
account. With purchasing, with billing,
with returns, with logging in, with
making your product work once they
have it. If you’ve sold anything, ever,
you know this is true.
Help the people.
The Basics
What should a good help site look like?

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A clean, minimalist design is best.
Include screenshots to illustrate what a
customer should do. A complicated help
page just makes things worse for a
confused customer.
Clean & Simple
Lengthy answers should be broken up in
easy-to-read sections. Making something
more clear does not mean adding more
text to the page. Bullet points and
numbered lists are nice; aren’t you
enjoying this one?
Short & Sweet
Use headers and text formatting to make
your copy easier to read. Bolding the right
word helps the customer find the answer
faster.
Headers & Formatting
When customers are on your help site, they’re
already confused and in need of help.
Don’t make it worse with a complicated page.
Focus on three things:

6. CHAPTER TWO
A Word About
Screenshots

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Every good help page features plenty of
clear, instructive screenshots. After all,
a picture is worth a thousand words, and
most of us learn better when we’re shown
what to do, rather than just told.
So what’s to discuss? A good
screenshot seems like a no-brainer.
Step 1: Take a screenshot.
Step 2: Stick it on your website.
There. You’re done. Right?
Well, no, not really.
Your screenshots should be as polished
and professional as everything else on
your help page. Read on for 3 tips to
achieve that:
Screenshots
What’s so hard about screenshots?

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1. Frame and context
Try to give the reader plenty of context, and
frame the feature you’re discussing in its natural
habitat:

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2. Use arrows and callouts
When you’re including plenty of context, sometimes
it becomes necessary to point out the little corner
of the screen that’s relevant. Arrows and callouts
help guide the eye to the right area:

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3. Don’t forget the alt text tag
Alt text exists as an “alternative” to viewing
your image.
It’s used by readers who are vision-impaired
or have disabled images in their browsers
for any number of reasons.
Screen-reading software needs the alt text
to describe the image in these cases, and
it’s your job to provide that description in the
form of alt text.
You should have the option to input alt text
when you upload your image, or in the image
settings. It’ll take a few moments to describe
the screenshot, but don’t even think about
skipping this vital step.
For more details on alt text best practices,
check out this article by Matt Polsky.
polished, well-planned screenshots
help, rather than hinder, your help
page. So get snapping!

11. CHAPTER THREE
Frequently Asked
Questions
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One of the most important elements
of any site is the FAQ, or Frequently
Asked Questions.
Do I really need to make an argument
here for improving a customer’s access
to self-support?
Customer support is a neverending
task. Answering the flow of support
requests can be a full-time job. So
every question a customer answers for
themselves, without contacting you at
all, is saved time, money, and labor for
your company.
Here are some tips for getting the most
out of your FAQ.
FAQs and You
Frequently Asked Questions

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“Wait! I’m just starting out! Nobody has
asked me any questions, let alone frequently.”
That’s ok. We can anticipate plenty of
questions even before they’re asked, and get
ahead of the game.
Start with the basics.
What are the day-to-day administrative tasks
your customers can and should do themselves?
These may include updating credit card info,
changing a password, or updating personal
information such as email or mailing
address.
Also consider the setup process of getting
started with your product. What are the steps
needed to get going?
Outline these processes simply and clearly, in
question and answer format.
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This FAQ from Snappy customer
SlideRoom.com walks users through the
basics of setting up and using their product:
?
source

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Poll your support team.
If you’re already in business and
doing customer support, you and
your team should have a good
idea of the kinds of questions that
get asked a lot. Get input from
everybody who talks with
customers. Make a habit of writing
down the questions that come in
repeatedly, so you can add them
over time.
Next Steps...
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Cannibalize your canned responses.
If you’re using a support software like
Snappy, chances are you have the ability to
create “canned responses” (in Snappy we call
these “Phrases”). These are pre-written
answers to common questions. You and your
team may create them on the fly, as you find
yourself answering a particular question for the
third time in a day; if a question is asked often
enough to merit a canned response, it should
also appear on your FAQ page.

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Enlist help.
Especially if your product is brand
new, you’ll want to get a few outside
opinions. Ask friends and family to
navigate your website and/or product.
Where do they get tripped up? What
questions and problems arise? In
some cases you may find areas where
small improvements to your site or
process will eliminate the need for
questions all together; you’ll also no
doubt discover FAQ topics you hadn’t
thought of before.
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Formatting the FAQ
Keep it Simple.
A confusing help page is no help at all. Your
FAQ in particular should be intuitive and easy
to use. You may choose to organize it by
topic, alphabetically, or some other way that
makes sense to your product and questions.
Make it Searchable.
People generally know exactly what they’re
looking for when they come to the FAQ page,
and they don’t want to browse. Make it easy
to search by keyword so the information they
need is always at their fingertips.
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19. CHAPTER FOUR
Search

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You must have a solid search tool.
No matter how organized things are or how
clear cut your FAQs are, customers search for
things first. Today’s users are accustomed to the
ease of a Google search.
Make it easy to find.
Customers should find the search tool as soon
as they land on the help site. If it’s not readily
there, they’ll go ahead and send you a support
case so you can do the heavy lifting and answer
their question. If they find the search box first,
they’ll use it and find their answer without ever
emailing you.
It’s really as easy as that.
Of course, a truly useful search tool depends
upon truly useful content to search. So be sure
you’ve built up your FAQs, and then add that
search box right up top. Don’t neglect it, don’t
forget it, and you’ve already solved half your
customer support woes!

21. CHAPTER FIVE
Contact Us

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Give your customers an easy way to get in touch
with you. Don’t make them work for it. These are
your people. Be there for them.
Some of the channels you may want to include
on your Contact page:
Email
Phone
Physical Address
Social Media profiles
Live Chat
Support Request form
Contact Us

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Phone
Number
Email Live Chat
FAQ Page Request Call
Back
Customer
Forums
Short Video
Tutorials
Live Video
Chat
None of the
Above
61% 60% 57%
51% 34% 17%
12% 7% 16%
support channels customers say they
would like to find on a Contact page.
Customer Expectations
source:
Econsultancy

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How many sales are you losing while customers fail
to get in touch with you?
But don’t make promises you can’t keep.
If you don’t have the staff or resources to handle
24-hour phone support, be up front about that.
Be creative and find ways to support your
customers within your means.
Why does it matter?
of online shoppers need some form of
support while making a purchase.
expect help within 5 minutes.
will abandon their purchase if they don’t
receive help the first time they try
83%
71%
51%
source:
Econsultancy
Set reasonable expectations for the support
channels you can handle, then make it easy for
customers to access those channels. Work to
exceed the expectations you’ve set.
The Snappy Blog is
full of these ideas!

25. CHAPTER SIX
Conclusion

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Your help page matters. It’s your first line of
contact with customers and prospects, and
statistics show they’re looking, and they have
expectations.
We hope by following these tips you’ll find
yourself better equipped to start supporting
your customers and closing more sales!
A great help page includes:
• A complete, well-organized FAQ.
• Clear, high-quality screenshots.
• A highly visible search tool.
• A Contact page that makes it
easy for your customers to find
you when they need you.
An extraordinary customer
experience starts here.
We hope you’ll consider using Snappy to
implement these steps and take your
support to the next level!

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