What are the most effective ways to use content design for your customer service portal?

While all that has been mentioned here is relevant, one must not forget one's brand personality. For example, if you are a serious education portal, you can't tell your customers things like "Hey this course will make you the OG of ___". That qualifies as brand hara-kiri! While understanding customers, it is also important to understand what their expectations are from you. What also matters is a lot of visual representation (to some extent, silly emojis too). With OTT and social media reducing the average human attention span to under 8 seconds, it is important that your content has enough hooks to make your customer pause and take note. Lastly, as we are deviating from old-school voice calls, I feel personalization still matters the most.

To optimize content design for a customer service portal, prioritize clarity and simplicity in language to ensure user understanding. Organize information logically for intuitive navigation, making key details easily accessible. Ensure the portal is responsive across various devices, including smartphones and tablets. Incorporate a searchable FAQ section for quick problem-solving. Use visuals like diagrams or videos for complex topics. Regularly update content to reflect current services and policies. Encourage feedback from users to continually improve the portal's effectiveness!

While writing one's content clearly is of paramount importance, it is also necessary to provoke the right amount of curiosity. Reference to trending topics and keywords are extra helpful. There should be a clear CTA (if relevant). Multiple CTAs in a single piece of communication are detrimental to chances of further action.

I've found that when companies make changes to their products, features, and/or pricing, they sometimes neglect to update the corresponding customer service pages (FAQ, user guides, etc.). Whenever a front-end change is anticipated, it is important to map out the back end customer service function in parallel and document how it will be impacted. Don't forget the fine print! Terms and conditions, disclaimers, copyright notices...some of these items might also need updating. You might need to check with your Legal team on certain kinds of content changes. As a matter of course, it's good practice to schedule at least quarterly reviews to make sure customer service content is in synch with other content.

Personally what I always ask my content team to do every time is to put themselves in the customer's shoes and think. Imagination is crucial and if we cannot think like our customers, we cannot create relevant content for them. I also encourage them to use our products (or services) impartially and introspect as to what their exact feelings are. If there is a gap, how would the content they create bridge it?