The 10th and last UX heuristic is called Help and Documentation. It states, “It’s best if the system doesn’t need any additional explanation. However, it may be necessary to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their tasks.”
There are two types of help.
Proactive help
This is provided before the user has a problem. Its aim is to reduce issues and includes training, tutorials and tips.
Reactive help
This help is searched for once the user has an issue. It usually offers documentation, knowledge bases, or videos.
Salesforce doesn’t provide the ability to create first-time use tutorials, but we can train users before they use the system. Aside from helptext, we don’t have many available options to provide proactive help.
One option is to create a dynamic informational component and place it on the home screen. This almost guarantees users will see it upon login.
In terms of reactive help, in-app guidance is a great place to start. You can supplement this with a wiki or knowledge base that’s easily accessible. This could mean displaying a component on the home page which is a list of support links.
Also, to manage the worst case scenario, be sure to inform users on how to contact the support team.
The takeaway
Anticipatingly the needs of your users and providing two kinds of help improves the user experience. Sadly, we don’t have many options, but there are small ways to help them regardless.