Manuals Only Deliver Value When They Reach Users
You've created a manual with careful planning and invested time. But if you don't know whether people are actually viewing it, you can't tell if users are properly utilizing it. Manuals only deliver value when they reach their intended users.
To encourage user adoption, it's important to first understand viewing patterns.
Viewing Data Enables Effective Measurement and Appropriate Improvements
Let's examine what you can achieve by understanding viewing statistics from three perspectives: administrators, creators, and decision makers.
1. Administrator Benefits: Capturing Changes in User Behavior
By checking which manuals are viewed by whom and how frequently (or infrequently) they're viewed, you can identify factors that affect manual effectiveness and develop appropriate countermeasures.
2. Creator Benefits: Increased Motivation for Manual Creation
Creators dedicate significant time to making manuals. Being able to see the impact of their work in numbers motivates them when creating or revising manuals. Showing effectiveness through numbers also makes it easier to justify allocating time for creation.
3. Decision Maker Benefits: Making Informed Decisions about Teachme Biz Contract Renewal
At some point after implementing Teachme Biz, there will come a time to report usage status to decision makers. By consistently monitoring viewing statistics and promoting adoption within the organization, you can make appropriate and smooth renewal decisions.
As you can see, visualizing "viewing statistics" as a KPI is extremely important when determining whether manuals are being properly utilized. Conversely, even the best manuals cannot be effective if they aren't being viewed.
Now, let's look at specific methods for monitoring viewing statistics.
Three Ways to Monitor Viewing Statistics
1. Use "Reports" to Get a General Overview of Viewing Trends Across All Folders or By Folder
Using the "Report" feature in Teachme Biz, you can check the viewing trends for all folders or by individual folder over a selected time period.
You can learn how to do this here:
For example, by looking at daily view counts like this, you can establish baseline metrics for daily usage.
The above is an actual example from our company. With approximately 100 users, we can estimate that the average daily view count per person was about 8 in March and about 10 in April.
When you've just recently implemented Teachme Biz, you can easily monitor adoption trends by looking at daily and weekly patterns.
If you've been using the system for over six months, you can check monthly viewing trends over a year to understand if a culture of using Teachme Biz manuals has established itself over the medium to long term.
If view counts are stable or increasing as shown above, there's no problem, but a downward trend in views is a warning sign.
While the above analysis looks at "All Folders," if you've organized folders by job type or department, you can monitor usage for each by using the "Folder Selection" option.
Looking at our company's Customer Success and Sales department folders, we can see different adoption and usage patterns.
This approach allows you to easily check adoption status when developing manuals for specific folders (departments or operations).
2. Check Viewing Status by Manual Using CSV Export
By exporting a manual list as CSV, you can check the total number of views for each manual, as well as views for the last month, 3 months, 6 months, and year.
For example, as shown in the image above, you can identify manuals with low view counts from the manual list CSV.
If a manual that has existed for several months or more has few views, it may not be utilized by the intended users.
*However, even manuals with relatively fewer views compared to others may be considered well-utilized if the absolute number of target viewers or frequency is naturally low.
You can perform various other analyses using Excel functions as well.
3. Check the Viewing Status of Individual Manuals
In Teachme Biz, you can also view the viewing trends of individual manuals*.
By looking at the viewing trends for each manual, you can measure how well newly created or updated manuals are being adopted.
*This feature is not available if your current plan is "Entry" or "Starter."
Especially in the early implementation phase, it's important to establish the habit of viewing manuals in Teachme Biz.
Creating "killer content" is a highly effective strategy for establishing the habit of viewing manuals in Teachme Biz.
Killer content refers to content with high user engagement designed to promote adoption in a specific field.
In this case, this means:
Manuals that are expected to have a large number of viewers or high viewing frequency to promote adoption of a specific field (Teachme Biz).
Manuals with a high number of viewers might include those for tasks performed by many employees.
By checking the growth in views of killer content, you can confirm whether the habit of viewing manuals in Teachme Biz is becoming established.
For example, in our company's case, the "How to Apply for Domestic Business Trip" manual is a good example.
Employees who visit clients, such as sales staff, need to make applications and settle accounts each time they take a domestic business trip.
Since the input items change depending on the frequency and pattern of the trip, users tend to need the manual more often to confirm what information to enter.
By looking at the viewing trends for individual manuals as shown in the image above, you can gauge adoption levels.
Even if viewing progress is slow, you can make informed decisions about improvement measures based on the data.
From this report, you can check which users have read/unread the manual and their last viewing date and time, which can help with individual follow-ups for users who haven't viewed the content.
As views increase for manuals related to "tasks with many target viewers and high frequency," the habit of viewing manuals in Teachme Biz becomes established.
Next Steps After Understanding Viewing Status
After understanding the current utilization status, implement measures to promote manual usage.
Identify Factors Affecting Viewing Status
Interview both frequent and infrequent viewers. If there are many users, try interviewing a few people from the highest and lowest viewing frequency groups.
【Sample Interview Questions for Frequent Viewers】
- In what scenarios do you frequently use manuals?
- Have there been any positive outcomes from using manuals?
- Have you encountered any difficulties when using manuals?
【Sample Interview Questions for Infrequent Viewers】
- Do you know how to access manuals?
- Are you aware that manuals relevant to you exist?
- Can you envision scenarios where you would use manuals?
For frequent viewers, gathering specific stories about manual usage helps confirm the effectiveness of adoption.
By identifying challenges they've encountered, you can document solutions as knowledge for others who might face similar issues.
For infrequent viewers, try to identify where the bottlenecks are. Is it about access methods, awareness of manual existence, or a gap between the intended purpose of manuals and the user's perception? Pinpoint these issues.
Develop and Implement Solutions
After completing interviews, develop solutions based on the identified factors.
Let's consider solutions based on the sample questions for infrequent viewers:
Do they know how to access manuals?
→If they don't know or are unsure about how to access manuals, share login methods and how to find manuals. It's also important to ensure they have the right environment for viewing manuals during their daily work. Check if terminals and internet access are available when they need to consult manuals.
Are they aware that relevant manuals exist?
→If they don't know manuals exist, they won't look for them. There are two main approaches:
First, create opportunities to share created manuals. Sharing helps align everyone's understanding and perspective.
Second, incorporate QR codes or URLs for manuals into work processes. Placing them in visible locations makes users more likely to check, even if they weren't previously aware.
Can they envision scenarios for manual use?
→If they can't visualize how to use manuals, share use cases from frequent viewers. Understanding how others around them are using manuals helps them grasp the purpose and significance of manual usage.
Summary
Understanding viewing statistics and confirming that created manuals are reaching the right people leads to better adoption and establishment of manual usage.
To increase viewing rates, actively create opportunities to share manual usage benefits based on your own experiences and interview findings.