FAQs: The lost world
“I like trying to guess which information is right — the FAQ or the web page. Especially when I’m in a hurry.” — No Austin resident ever.
The other day, my coworker and I were talking about how we can help content authors write content so simple it does away with the need for frequently asked questions (also known as FAQs). Aside from adding unnecessary pages to a website, FAQs can lead to conflicting information about your service, and they don’t show the whole picture. We talk about FAQs in our Funshops — a fun workshop series to help city employees create better content for our residents. If you haven’t been to one yet, or just want to brush up, read on!
When we brought these points up at our most recent Funshop, we heard from one department that their users like their FAQ pages for their “short, quick, and easy answers.” So we challenged them — or really all departments — can their content authors include the short, quick, and easy answers right there in the content? Where did we get the ideas that our service pages have to be complex or overly wordy? Why can’t we answer the questions simply, in one page, without sending the resident on a wild goose chase?
As my coworker and I thought about this, we started talking about Jurassic Park. I asked her, what if I was just trying to figure out how in the world do I survive a Raptor interaction? If I were searching Jurassic Park’s page, I would really hope that answer would be easy to find (that I wouldn’t have to search through several pages for it) and that it would be accurate.
While there may not be many needs like that in Austin (or in the non-cinematic world), our residents still need to trust that they can find accurate information quickly and easily on the City website. Still a little unsure about why FAQs are not very helpful to residents or employees? I broke it down into three points.
FAQs duplicate other content
Let’s put aside why all of the FAQ pages can be confusing for a resident for one second, and talk about how much extra work this creates for you, the content author. You have to write the content for the web page, and then parse out what questions the residents will have about your service even after reading about it.
Wouldn’t it be great for everyone if instead of doing double the work, you use service-oriented language to draft one single page that answered all of the questions about that particular service?
FAQs can lead to conflicting information on your site
Like many departments, your department has an FAQ page in addition to your service pages. Now imagine this: Your department made a change to a service, so you update the service page to reflect the new and exciting changes! But because you’re also managing a ton of other projects, you forget the FAQ pages even existed (or you said you would update them when you get a minute).
Does that sound familiar to anyone?
While doing research with residents, we had several people tell us that they were confused because they didn’t know which page was right. Not only that, but 311 ambassadors field calls from residents. The first thing those ambassadors do is check the City website. If they find conflicting information, they have to go through extra steps to find out the correct information to pass on to the resident.
So be kind to yourself, to residents, and to 311 ambassadors and leave the FAQs out of it.
FAQs don’t show the whole picture
If you think a resident will still need to go to a separate page to have their question answered, then that page is not doing its job. Because our resource recovery department was the first department to pilot Alpha.austin.gov, I used the example of “Is it possible to change the size of my trash cart?”
If a person lands on this page, they don’t know why they would want (or need) to change their cart size, or how to change it. This frequently asked question is taken out of context and is only minimally helpful to residents because they need to search for more information to complete the task. Not to mention, because the heading is in all caps, it looks like it’s yelling the question at the resident.
Instead, content authors could create a page dedicated to changing the size of resident’s trash cart size. It doesn’t have to be lengthy or complex — remember, it should be the opposite!
Next steps
If you’re looking for a way to simplify your department’s web content, I suggest starting with your FAQs. Do a little research and ask yourself these questions:
- Are the questions on your FAQ page actually frequently asked, or are they a guess at what residents will want to know?
- How are employees tracking the questions that residents ask?
- How often are the questions reviewed?
- If your department works with 311, what types of questions are they getting from residents about your service?
After you’ve done your research, you can use service-oriented language to address what a resident needs to know, and answer the questions they often ask in the page itself. Doesn’t it feel good to know you’re saving time for both yourself and residents?
