Helpful Guides and Onboarding: Good Content Design Challenge Day 17

Answering Unasked Questions

Welcome to Day 17 of the Good Content Design Challenge! Today, we’re diving into the world of help guides and onboarding flows—two critical pieces of the user experience puzzle. Writing an effective help guide not only sharpens your ability to communicate clearly but also refines your skill in simplifying complex processes for users.

The goal? To create a resource that answers questions before they’re even asked, making the user’s journey through a product smoother and more enjoyable. This type of content design requires empathy, precision, and the ability to predict user needs at every turn. Let’s explore how these skills come into play with our challenge today: designing a help guide for GlowGenius.

Today's Challenge

Day 17: Write a comprehensive in-app help guide or onboarding flow for a software product, focusing on user experience. Prioritize clarity and ease of navigation, structuring content to be intuitive and easily accessible. Use progressive disclosure to reveal only the necessary information at each step.

The Help Guide

1. Getting Started

• Creating Your Profile Learn how to set up your skincare profile, including selecting your skin type, concerns, and allergies for tailored recommendations.

  • Setting Up Your Profile

  • Taking the Skin Quiz

  • Editing Your Profile

• Navigating the Dashboard Understand the key sections of your dashboard, including your routine, product suggestions, and skincare journal.

  • How to Use the Dashboard

  • Exploring Product Suggestions

  • Tracking Your Progress

2. Customizing Your Routine

• How to Build a Custom Skincare Routine Find out how to customize your skincare regimen using GlowGenius's recommendations or products of your choice.

  • Building a Routine

  • Editing or Removing Products

  • Saving and Sharing Your Routine

• GlowGenius AI Tool Use the AI-powered skin analysis tool to get personalized insights based on a photo of your skin.

  • Using the AI Tool

  • Understanding Your Skin Report

  • Incorporating AI Suggestions into Your Routine

3. GlowGenius Features

• Notifications & Alerts Stay on top of your routine with notifications tailored to your schedule, including reminders, progress alerts, and product expiration dates.

  • Managing Notifications

  • Understanding Progress Alerts

  • Product Expiration Alerts

• Product Recommendations Learn more about the products GlowGenius recommends based on your profile, and explore how to adjust recommendations.

  • Understanding Product Suggestions

  • Filtering Products by Preference

  • Adding Products to Your Routine

4. Troubleshooting & Support

• Technical Issues Experiencing problems with the app? Here's how to fix common issues like login problems, slow performance, or update errors.

  • Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • How to Report a Bug

• GlowGenius Policies Read our privacy policy and AI policy to learn how we handle your data and ensure ethical AI use.

  • Privacy Policy

  • AI Policy

• Live Chat Support Need more help? Chat with our skincare experts or technical support directly through the app.

  • Accessing Live Chat

Final Thoughts

Creating a help guide is about much more than just listing instructions. It requires deep user empathy and a keen understanding of their journey within the app. GlowGenius users might be experts in skincare or total beginners, so the help guide needs to cater to various levels of expertise.

Through progressive disclosure, only the essential information is presented at each step, reducing cognitive overload. This ensures the user isn't bombarded with too much at once, which is key for a smooth onboarding experience. By focusing on clarity, simplicity, and the natural flow of user interactions, the guide not only resolves pain points but enhances the overall user experience.

Help guides and onboarding flows are powerful tools in content design that require the perfect balance of clear instruction and intuitive design. The more seamless these resources are, the less users will even realize they’re being guided—making for an ideal user experience.

What are your help guide and onboarding dos and don'ts? Let me know in the comments!