FAQs revisited

Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ as they are more commonly known on the web, are valuable web site furniture. Their aim is to field the top ten or more questions asked by customers. But could long, clumsy-looking FAQ pages be avoided in the first place?

The answer is yes and no.

Taking the negative first, FAQ pages are important, albeit sometimes under-rated. If nothing else, they help precious business resources concentrate on core selling and customer service activities. And most web site users are appreciative and find FAQ pages useful in their purchasing decisions.

However, the more often we add to a FAQ page, the more the suspicion grows that our other web site pages aren’t getting the message across to users. Instead of enlightening our web site visitors, the use of jargon and euphemism will do nothing but serve to confuse.

The golden rule of web site writing is say what you mean, say it clearly in language that everyone can understand. An example of this not being applied was encountered recently when the author finally got round to booking his summer holidays.

One of the questions that arose during the process was whether I wanted to book a quiet room. After some probing, this turned out to be a room on the upper floors. This answer, of course, created more questions than resolutions.

If customers were asked whether they wanted a quiet room, did that mean they could book a noisy one? Or did it imply there was a general problem with neighbourhood noise in this establishment? Or, worst still, an in-house disco that pumped out club music to 3 am?

Alternatively, was a quiet room one that was tucked away half a mile from the main lobby with a view of a brick wall?

Perhaps, it would have been simpler – and less troublesome - to ask holidaymakers if there was a compelling reason such as age or infirmity to request accommodation on the ground floor?

* While on the subject of Frequently Asked Questions another pedantic niggle is the frequency of references to FAQ’s rather than grammatically correct FAQs.