Think Like a Customer

In Washington State we changed to daylight saving time on Sunday morning, so yesterday I needed to set all our clocks back one hour. All of the clock changes were easy, except the one in our car.

My husband was driving, and my job was to adjust the clock. On the center console is a button that says Clock. So far so good. But after pressing that button, I could see no obvious way to change the hours. I tried pressing several buttons after pressing Clock, but I had no luck. So I pulled out the owner's manual.

What word would you look up in the index to find instructions for changing the clock?

Clock? No. Nothing in the index under Clock.

Time? No, nothing under that term.

Adjusting? No.

Changing? No.

Daylight saving time? Not a chance!

Display? Uh uh.

Radio (since the clock is next to the radio and CD player)? Nope!

Console? No.

Dashboard? No.

Digital? No.

I read the entire index and found nothing having to do with the clock. So I decided to flip through the manual.

There it was on page 6-24: Clock. Above Clock was the heading Audio System. Below it were these subheadings:

• Setting the time
• Exact hour adjustment
• Changing the display mode

What went wrong? Whoever indexed the manual was not thinking like a customer. Audio System appeared prominently in the index, with the entries Audio control switch, Audio set, Operating tips for audio system, and Safety certification as subheads.

As business writers, we need to think about our readers, our audience, our customers. What are they looking for? What will they call the thing they are looking for on our websites, in our procedure manuals, on our resumes, or in our email? If they are looking for clocks and time, we will lose them if we offer only audio systems.

Well, our family is set on daylight saving time until next spring. When I need to change the clock again, I will look up this blog entry. I hope I can find it under "Clock"!

Lynn
Syntax Training

Comments

[Bryan]

Actually you changed from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time.

[Lynn Gaertner-Johnston]

Bryan, you are SO right. Thanks for the correction.

[Margaret Elwood]

The owner's manual for my Ford Focus is as poorly indexed as the one you describe. Setting the clock is as counter-intuitive. Yet I borrowed a friend's Subaru Outback this weekend and its manual was indexed sensibly and written in plain English!

[Lynn Gaertner-Johnston]

Hi, Margaret. Thanks for praising the Subaru Outback manual. We need to recognize those who are writing well.

Lynn