I’ve spent the past several days doing a delightfully left-brain activity: getting income tax information ready for the accountant. Yes, I’m late. What else is new?

I’m changing over from MS Money (which I’ve used for years) to QuickBooks Pro 2007.

Through this seemingly “easy” installation and conversion process, I’ve had to install QuickBooks, download two conversion tools (one to convert Money to Quicken, and one to convert Quicken to QuickBooks), download the Google DeskTop (recommended by QuickBooks), download two versions of Quicken (2004 and 2006), search through forums and Knowledge Bases, and finally call Technical Support.

The problem is, the solutions don’t work. Now, QuickBooks Pro crashes every time I try to use it, and the conversion tool to convert Money to Quicken won’t open at all.

Am I happy customer with QuickBooks Pro 2007? Noooooooooooooooooo.

What can software developers learn from this delightful experience?

1. Put clear, easy-to-understand instructions about typical problems like this in user’s manuals, help files, knowledge base areas, etc. In my situation, I dug through all of those places and had to call Technical Support to find the answer. MS Money has come packaged on many computers through the years, and people often continue using it since they’re used to it. There needs to be an easier solution.

2. Have how-to videos that demonstrate how “easy it is” to do certain tasks. For something as complicated as this project has turned out to be, there should be videos, audio clips, whole sections of a manual, etc.

Instead, I found one forum post from Intuit that didn’t even give correct information! How helpful is that?

As a software developer, you need to make sure that whoever is posting to your forums gives out the correct information.

3. If something isn’t simple, don’t make it appear to be simple. Instead, provide proper documentation in a step-by-step format to where the users can easily understand what to do next. Don’t make them waste a whole day digging for it. This doesn’t make for happy customers.

4. Intuit is a financial software company that is requiring their customers to download two conversion tools and another one of their accounting programs in order to convert old accounting files before they can use QuickBooks Pro. I could be wrong, but there’s got to be an easier way to do it.

If there isn’t, at least give me the solution in writing all over the place so I can easily find it without wasting my time.

5. Write the instructions so (as my dear friend and affiliate marketing guru Ginette Degner would say) a blond can understand them. No need for further explanation.

6. What really cool things can your software do that most people wouldn’t figure out for themselves? Write articles or tips about those things. As you know, the majority of people don’t use most of the features of a software program. Help them to use your software program by pointing out these cool features.

7. Have a Bug Station for people to turn in bugs they find, and maybe even offer a reward for those Bug Catchers. For example, when WebPosition Gold was owned by Brent Winters, he used to offer a $50 reward for finding bugs in his software. It was a marvelous idea, and it worked.

8. If the software program has a learning curve, it’s even more important to provide as much help and training as possible for the program. I used to work in technical support with Wordtracker. When you work with a program with many facets, it’s important to offer support in a variety of ways. Wordtracker provides their Wordtracker Academy, a blog, case studies, articles, e-mail support, a knowledge base (that John Alexander and I helped write), a downloadable user’s manual, a monthly newsletter, and more. Plus, John continues to write Wordtracker articles on his own about the program.

The bottom line is, think about your audience. Answer these questions:

Have you made it easy for them to use your product?

Do you have a comprehensive user’s manual with screen shots and step-by-step instructions?

Do your technical support people continually add new questions/answers to your knowledge base?

Do you have video files for those customers who prefer watching videos about how to do certain things with your software?

Do you offer training for your product?

Are your help files comprehensive and up to date? If you’ve added new features, do the help files reflect those features?

Can the true beginner understand your help files and user’s manual, or did YOU write the help files? This can make a huge difference.

I hope this helps.

Back to taxes. Wish me luck!

Robin