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How to write great help articles
How to write great help articles

By following these guidelines, you’ll create content that genuinely assists customers in achieving their goals.

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Written by Zeno Zimmerman
Updated over 4 months ago

Before you start writing, define how your article will help your customers. This will help you stay on topic and only include advice that’s genuinely useful. For example, if you want to help your customers get set up with your product, only include tips that provide value right away - like how to install and customize your app. So keep your advice to the point, accessible, empowering and friendly.

Writing Tips:

Focus on Customers’ Goals: Address the tasks customers want to accomplish, not just the features of your product.

Make Customers Feel Smart:

  • Write conversationally, as if explaining to a friend.

  • Use active, confident language: "you should," "we recommend."

  • Keep a positive, upbeat tone to motivate learning.

  • Show empathy by addressing common concerns and reassuring customers.

  • Use Customers’ Language: Use the terms and phrases customers use when seeking help.

Make It Scannable:

· Keep paragraphs short and focused.

· Use subheadings to highlight key points.

Monitor and Improve:

Publish your article, gather feedback, and iterate to make it more helpful based on customer reactions.

Create an article

It’s easy to create help content and share it with your customers. Go to Help Center tab and click on New Article and start writing. Keep it short, specific and focused on one topic.

Give your article a short title

Write a short, yet descriptive article title. It’s the first thing people see when they browse your Help Center so use words people are likely to search for and recognize.

Describe what your article covers

Next, write a short article description to summarize what the article covers. This shows up in your Help Center below the article title and in search results. Again, include words people are likely to search for to make it easier for them to find.

Make your article easy to scan

The article editor lets you format your article so it’s easy for your customers to scan.

  • Try adding subheadings to break your text up. Just highlight your text and select H1, H2, H3, or H4.

  • Use bold text to highlight important information.

  • Insert dividers to separate an article into clear steps or sections.

  • Add images or videos to show customers how to complete a task. Use the toolbar at the bottom of the editor.

Choose who can see your article

If an article is published in a collection, it’s visible to everyone by default. You can also define a specific group of people who can see it.

Publish an article

Once you’ve finished your article, publishers have the permission to review and click Publish.

Make it public

To add an article to our Help Center so it's publicly accessible, click Settings and decide which collection (and Help Center) you want this article to appear in.

It is not possible to completely duplicate an article, however, you can choose to copy and paste things from one article to another.

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