Products become more individualised. Regardless of whether it's option and colour choices for your own car or materials for your favourite trainers. In order to be able to fulfil customer requirements, companies are increasingly adapting the functions and benefits of products to the individual requirements of their customers. The customer becomes the designer of his or her own product.
Why should this development end before the information process? Could it be possible to learn much more from development to individuality and then possibly make use of it?
It is exactly like this. You may be wondering what exactly this means. What does "individuality" mean in the information process? We cannot write an individual manual for each reader.
The appropriate keyword is: User-focused.
Of course, we cannot make customised user information for each individual reader, at least NOT YET. In the future, for example, personalised accounts from within content delivery portals are conceivable, which assemble individualised information at the click of a button. Exciting developments await us here. But back to the present. What can we do today, in concrete terms? We can work intensively and conscientiously with our target group. Because the better we know our target group, the more individually we can adapt information to your daily work, your knowledge requirements and your use of language. And the better the information is adapted, the clearer the understanding.
For the conscientious activity with the target group, various tools exist. Also, if the training in the methods for target group analysis costs time and effort: It’s worth it to use these methods.
Too often, the target audience analysis is neglected. This often leads to cliché role players being assumed as the target audience. The exact understanding of the target group remains on track -- and you can tell it even from the informational products. The problems of the target group are not treated, important work steps are not dealt with. In the worst case, the user information is unusable for the target group.
User-centered informational concepts can help prevent this problem, and can have other measurable benefits for a business: Many tasks can be handled solely with the help of user information. Even challenges such as a machine breakdown can be overcome with the help of user-centered information. This reduces the number of customer service enquiries, fewer service technicians need to be dispatched, and especially important: the positive experience with the user information also improves the overall impression of the product, and thus leads to an enduring and trusting bond between manufacturer and customer.
The wishes of the customer should not only play a role in the design of cars and trainers, but also in the information process.
