What Content Experience IS (and what it actually means for you!)
If you haven’t given much thought to “user assistance” documentation before, take a little peek behind the curtain into the life of a Salesforce Content Experience (CX) technical writer.
Olive Lopez shares her learnings from her time as an intern on the Content Experience team and how she discovered just what’s involved in helping you find the answers you need.
“Tell us a little bit about your team”
I froze. Everyone in the room turned to look at me. It was only the second week of my summer internship and we were going around the room doing introductions at a networking event. The host repeated, “Just tell us your name, role, and a little bit about the team you’re working on right now.”
Just a “little bit” about my team? I had no idea what to say. Why was I struggling to describe my team when I started over the summer? Because in my first week on the job, I realized that the team I was working with did so much that it was hard to summarize into one little introduction!
So what is Content Experience (CX)?
Formerly known as Documentation and User Assistance, the CX team does much more than produce implementation guides and help content.
We create content to help users seamlessly navigate the Salesforce ecosystem — providing help to you, the user, when you need it, where you need it.
Let’s be honest. If you’ve given user assistance a thought before, it probably wasn’t in the greatest context. I, for example, used to think of it in terms of each time I’ve unsuccessfully navigated confusing software, been taken through an endless application install process, or gotten frustrated when I couldn’t follow instructions written in what seemed like a foreign language.
But the CX team focuses on smoothing out any bumps to ensure that you can navigate Salesforce as effectively and efficiently as possible. And we deliver all of this help in the Salesforce way — with an engaging, encouraging voice and tone.
Nearly 200 people behind the scenes
During my time on the CX team, I’ve worked on many projects that demonstrate the range of content that we produce. Our team is responsible for all Salesforce’s help content — from user interface (UI) text to implementation guides, videos, diagrams, and everything in between.
We own not only the content but also the strategy behind it — all the planning and research that goes into decisions on how to guide our users. There are nearly 200 of us working behind the scenes to make sure that your Salesforce experience is smooth and seamless.
And of course, we (and writers from other teams across Salesforce) write for “The fun way to learn” platform you may have heard of… Trailhead!
Plus six technical writing interns
There were six of us who started this summer. Yes, six! And we focused on everything from internal docs to content strategy. You can think of technical writers like journalists. And you might think that we just write all day.
But technical writers, like journalists, cover so much more than “just” the writing. We are also tasked with investigating new changes from the user’s perspective, interviewing product owners, and organizing information to deliver valuable Trailhead content, documents, web copy, videos, and more.
It’s a huge undertaking! Making sure that engineers, product managers, and writers are all aligned for user success is no easy feat. I now realize the extent to which technical writers are integral to delivering a seamless customer experience.
So much more than implementation guides
So CX isn’t just about implementation guides and help content. It’s about supporting each and every one of you and guiding you through the platform. It almost seems like magic, but there’s a ton of work that goes into providing this help.
We’re so focused on customer success that you may never see all the undercover work that goes into a Trailhead module or help document.
Imagine the number of people who worked behind the scenes to produce this one tweet!
Not only are writers assigned to document changes in each release, but to make sure that users know what it means for them and their org. And writers do so with witty jokes and comments, offering a delight and a laugh along with user assistance.
Just the tip of the iceberg
Now you can see why I had no easy answer to, “Tell us a little about what your group does! ” But today, I’m ready to rattle off a list of responsibilities and content types that our team produces. Developer guides and release notes are just the tip of the iceberg — there’s so much more underneath. The best way I can describe it is:
“Content Experience covers the entire spectrum of content creation and strategy for a seamless user experience.”
And you can’t ask for much more than that.
So the next time you’re working through a Trailhead module, looking for information on a specific release, or we ping you with some timely details, give a little nod to us technical writers and the whole CX team — who, like swans, are working to keep you in ignorant bliss of how fast our legs move beneath the calm waters of user assistance.
Want to learn more? Visit the Salesforce Help pages, check out our timeless Write the Trailhead Way blog series, and earn your Writing Style Trailhead badge.
