UX Writing Case Study: Quickbooks
Quickbooks is an accounting software program used by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses.
In this conceptual case study, I analyze the clarity of content provided by the program’s Help Center.
Onboarding
When setting up a new business in Quickbooks, a user has many tasks to accomplish.
Most of these tasks, such as connecting a bank account and applying the correct tax rates, can have a significant impact on the success of the business.
Setting up a business correctly the first time is extremely important.
Many of the setup tasks are complex, and every accounting software program has unique features and nomenclature. Therefore, it is likely that many users will need guidance during setup. Much of this guidance will come from the Help Center.
Fortunately, Quickbooks makes access to the Help Center relatively easy to find. There is a question mark icon and the word “Help” in the top right menu. There is also a short list of commonly asked questions on the bottom left of each page.
I assume that the questions listed on the Banking page are the most commonly asked questions about banking.
I decided to take a look at the third question in the list, “When and why to enter an expense vs. a bill.
Consistency and Clarity in Labeling
The first issue arises when the Help Center pop-up window opens on the right side of the screen. The question shown in the Help Center window is not the same question that I clicked on.
While both questions are similar, it would be more clear if the link titled ““When and why to enter an expense vs. a bill” opened a window with this same title.
The wording of this question may be drawn from user queries. However, it may be more approachable if the question was rewritten with more commonly used grammar, such as:
“What’s the difference between an expense and a bill?”
Clear and Accurate Help Content
The pop-up window contains several pieces of content:
• The headline
• The full question asked by a user
• A response to the question
• An attribution to the author of the answer
• A survey question
• Links to related topics
Only after reading the full question and answer is it noted that the response comes from someone besides the Quickbooks Support Team.
It is very generous of community members to participate in the creation of help content. However, it seems that Quickbooks should make it more clear which information comes from their team and which information comes from the community.
If this is one of the top three banking questions asked by users, it may be helpful if the Quickbooks Team created a clearly written question and accurate answer for this topic. This would allow users to move forward with more confidence.
Takeaways
Clear and accurate help content is critical to the success of all users, especially those new to the program.
Quickbooks should develop comprehensive Help Center content, starting with topics most commonly searched for by new users.
Content created by the community should be presented differently than content created by the Quickbooks Support Team.