How to Create a Thoughtful FAQ

The Frequently Asked Questions list is a useful content pattern for addressing common user concerns, boosting user confidence in a product or service, and giving a page a little more SEO juice.

But, at their worst, FAQ can overwhelm users and feel more like a sneaky marketing vehicle or a content catchall than a helpful self-service tool. The question format can obscure information, making users sift through meaningless text (“How do I…”, “What if…”) to get to the actual content (“return an item”, “I ordered the wrong color”). A list of FAQ can also distract from the most useful part of a customer support page: the search box.

FAQ are everywhere. Stakeholders can latch onto them as another way to cram messaging and value props onto the site, and experience designers can lean on the pattern as a place to stash random but (mostly) necessary content that isn’t fitting into a cohesive story.

Still, FAQ may be the right content choice to solve your user problem. The best FAQ provide quick information to address a specific user need, or are a homebase for information that users may need repeated access to throughout their customer journey.

TL;DR — FAQ should act as a quick reference for users, not as the main source of truth or a band-aid fix for a bad site experience.

Use FAQ to…

• Answer questions that users are actually asking frequently.
• Address concerns that are uncomplicated enough to explain in a Q&A format.
• Provide additional details to help users to feel confident in completing an action on-site.
• Assure users that their questions are totally normal!

Try something else when…

• Users need information within the context of an experience.
• The pattern would be a band-aid fix for confusing UX or information elsewhere in the experience.
• The FAQ list does not have a clear focus or purpose. (A “grab bag” experience isn’t helpful for users looking for specific answers.)

Best practices

• Before embarking on an FAQ adventure, determine whether updates to existing content could better answer user questions.
• Have a clear purpose for the FAQ — avoid using the section as a catchall for content that should be available within another context.
• Be sure to name your FAQ appropriately. For example, Wayfair.com is home to many different lists of questions, so give your page or section title more description to help users find it (Registry FAQ, Shipping & Tracking FAQ, etc.).
• In longer lists of FAQ, organize your questions under logical headings to help users skim to find what they need.
• All questions should reflect the user’s priorities (e.g., learning about shipping options), not business priorities (e.g., promoting free shipping).
• Keep maintenance in mind — if your FAQ are duplicating information found elsewhere, you have to remember to update that information in both places should the need arise.
• Consider using the FAQ as more of a directory that points users to existing content, instead of duplicating content already on-site.