It's easy to be optimistic when writing detailed documentation for your product. You want to make sure there's a wealth of knowledge in your user manual anyone can search for and find.

The sad reality is that nobody reads the user guides.

Instead of putting all your effort into perfect user guides, you should reduce the need for a user to refer to the documentation in the first place.

Here's how:

How To Reduce Dependency On Documentation:

Promote learning by doing

Users prefer to start using something without reading the manual. This is the paradox of the active user.
To work around this, you should break up a long sequence of actions required to complete a task into smaller chunks.
By doing this, users won't have to wait until they've completed their task to see the expected results.

Allow for errors

Users will make mistakes when using your product so it's important to account for this in your design.
Use clear error messages written in plain language, that state the problem, and offer a solution.
Provide ways for the user to skip ahead or step back easily.
Even better than good error messages is a careful design that prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.

Add context to actions and components

Use in-context learning cues like tooltips on buttons or other components. These can contain a helpful hint for carrying out a task or describing what a feature does.

Reduce visual clutter

To avoid overloading the user, reduce any visual clutter or information that isn't necessary from the interface.
Use progressive disclosure to show relevant info to the user only when they need it.

Include documentation if it's needed

A link to your documentation is still important in case the user needs it.
This information should be easily accessible and structured in a logical way with the ability to search.

Documentation does matter but it shouldn't be at the expense of a well-designed and highly usable product.

RTFM! Users Won't Read Your Documentation, Here's A Better Approach

The sad reality is that nobody reads the user guides.

What will you write today?