User Experience for Content Management Systems

I will admit that one of the most omitted aspects of creating a new feature (or product) is making sure the user knows how to use it. At the same time, you can only make one first impression. How to make it great? Let's face it: It's very hard to onboard users. People have very little time right now and are used to instant gratification. Thus, if the product requires some effort to use, you may see a very upset user on the other end. At the same time, not all products can be reduced to a single button called "solve my problem". So, how to onboard a new user in a way they actually engage? 1) Start with a great text copy There is nothing worse than a technical copy that is not written with your client in mind. Separate it into easy-to-complete steps so the user can learn and move to the next step easily. Remember, the user is not an expert yet like you are. Also, invest into professional translations, so the copy is great for everyone! 2) Set the production value of onboarding materials very high If your onboarding videos look and feel professional, you will build your brand image and user confidence. While creating such videos used to be expensive, nowadays tools exist that will help you automate and speed up the process, such as this post's partner: Guidde! Guidde allows you to create how-to videos quickly based on the screen recording of the process you wish to document. Using AI, Guidde will automatically generate the storyline with highlights, and add text to voice and multiple CTAs, saving you many hours of work. 3) Make it easy to repeat training People forget or skip onboarding steps accidentally. If it is difficult to access the training materials again, you might avoid a lot of user frustration. Not to mention support calls or tickets that could have been avoided. 4) Add micro onboardings While onboarding is associated with getting the user started using a product, that can also apply on a feature level. Take this into account when planning a new release, so it's stellar and accessible from day one! 5) Make it easy to speak to human support While your onboarding will surely be great, a lot of your users will prefer to talk/write to a human being. Make it easy to find contact info. Bonus: monitor the issues that come with this. Rather than hide support contact, eliminate the causes that led to those calls in the 1st place. Thus: 6) Care for onboarding funnel as a product Monitor onboarding usage and later client engagement. Look for steps/materials in dire need of improvement and monitor the metrics once those are introduced. As I said earlier, you can only make one first impression! Make it count :) So, did you find this useful? How do you build your product so that it's welcoming to new users? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #onboarding

40-60% of first-time users never come back. Most companies focus on one type of onboarding support and neglect the other. Some build great in-app experiences but never follow up when users drop off. Others send tons of emails but their product experience is confusing. The best PLG companies use both product bumpers (inside the app) and conversational bumpers (outside the app) working together. Here are 11 bumpers that could double your activation rates: Product Bumpers (Inside Your App) 1. Welcome Messages Restate your value prop and set expectations for what users will experience. Make them feel invited, not lost. 2. Product Tours Eliminate distractions and give users only the options they care about. Use profiling questions to launch them into the right part of your product. 3. Progress Bars Show how close users are to completion. They'll know onboarding won't take long and they're just a few steps away. 4. Checklists Break big tasks into bite-sized steps. Pre-fill some items before users see them to boost motivation. 5. Onboarding Tooltips Provide just-in-time guidance, but don't drown users in tooltips. Keep it simple and guide them only through the critical steps. 6. Empty States Turn blank dashboards into clear next steps that lead users closer to value. Conversational Bumpers (Outside Your Product) 7. External Messaging Emails, texts, LinkedIn - meet users wherever they spend their time. The best messages provide clear next steps to re-engage. 8. Knowledge Base Give users instant answers to common questions. They solve problems independently while you deflect support tickets. 9. In-app Messaging When users need to ask specific questions, let them message your team in-app for near-instant solutions. 10. Community Forums Let users help each other. Notion does this brilliantly - users share templates that simultaneously increase adoption, engagement, and retention. 11. Training & Specialists Close the knowledge gap with coaching calls, academies, or cohorts. For high-value users, assign specialists to speed up time to value. Pro Tip: If you're just starting, give 10-40 signups per week the white-glove treatment. Welcome emails, onboarding calls, trial extensions - do everything to get them to value. Find what works, then automate it. Manual emails become automated. Common questions get added to your knowledge base. The unscalable path is how you identify the scalable path. What bumpers are you using today?

If your CMS can’t launch a campaign without a dev, it’s not a CMS. It’s a bottleneck. I recently worked with a team undergoing a commerce project. Their leader said, "We want to take on as much of this as possible, but our teams are drowning in ongoing work. I may have to delay until we hire up. So rather than burying our heads, we jumped into where time was going missing. Of course production issues, bug hunting and the rest but a big one. The devs were also being tasked with changes to content and marketing, endless tickets for basic changes to page layouts, images and content. It was even part of the manual QA cycle too. This was million $ problem! Less agility, more expense, just… because… This was a big no-no for me, but for the leader it was just the way things were done. After a productive discussion of what could be the case we did it, 2 weeks, 2 training sessions, a whiteboarding exercise of governance and process and we gave IT back 2-4 tickets per sprint and probably 5-10 hours of development time. Modern CMS tools do more than just store content. They power live preview, structured reuse, dynamic segmentation and personalization without an engineer on the ticket. Yet most teams never turn those features on. Their CMS ends up as a static container instead of a go-to-market engine. With the right setup, composable workflows and AI, your CMS should be about empowering marketing as a go-to-market engine. It starts with configuring the CMS for the business and peeling back the layer of dependency. Check the ecosystem. Builder.io recently launched the ability to go from Figma to deployment. Vercel generates production-ready code. Contentful and Contentstack embed personalization natively. Soon teams will be doing a whole lot more that content changes without IT support. Yet you may be living in ticket land waiting weeks to change content. If your CMS still needs engineering to launch campaigns, reply “Orium” and I’ll share the non dev workflow we use time and time again to save thousands of content deployments.

5 common mistakes when designing a legal intranet as a delivery tool for routine legal matters and knowledge sharing, and how to avoid them Implementing a legal intranet as a self-service operation benefits both the legal department and its business partners: - it reduces your legal team’s workload, creating more space for complex legal matters, and - it offers your business partners more flexibility as the intranet is available 24/7. Having redesigned numerous legal intranets, I can almost predict the outcome of an assessment as many legal departments encounter similar challenges. These are the common mistakes I see time and again, and avoiding them can make all the difference. 1. Having multiple entry points for legal information A common misstep is saving legal content across various systems (CMS, shared folders, emails). When legal resources are fragmented, your business partners can get lost. Solution? Create a single “legal window” through the intranet to centralize information, making it the go-to source for routine legal questions. 2. Structuring the intranet around legal topics Often, intranets are structured around legal topics, which can make content hard to find. Organize around the company’s products and services instead and use language your business partners are familiar with. Also, standardize and automate processes, so your business partners know what steps to follow if they can’t find an answer or if they have an urgent question. 3. Requiring too many clicks to find information If users need five clicks to get an answer to their question, they’re more likely to call you next time than to use the intranet. Solution? Apply the “one-click” principle. The goal is for key documents and answers to be just a click away, using intranet personalization to streamline the experience. 4. Focusing solely on technology, not on training users In the end it's not about technology, it's about people. When business partners ask questions that are already answered on the intranet, take the opportunity to guide them there. Educating your users is about helping them create new habits. Provide regular training so that they feel confident when using the intranet for routine matters. Make this training part of your company’s employee training program. 5. Overlooking user experience and practical application A legal intranet is more than a storage space. Focusing solely on uploading legal documents misses the mark; your intranet should provide practical, actionable advice that helps business partners do their jobs. Make it accessible and intuitive. Want to improve your legal intranet but don’t know where to start? Ask yourself this magical question: what if I take a look at it from the users' perspective? Sure, today it’s all about AI, but first, make sure you get the basics right. #knowledgemanagement #designthinking

"Don’t teach so your customers can understand. Teach so they 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥." Early in my career, both in support and in Customer Success, I thought I was doing a great job teaching customers. My instructions were “clear.” My walkthroughs made “sense.” And yet… things still broke down. Tickets got reopened. Tasks didn’t get done. Important steps were skipped. That’s when I learned this simple principle: Clarity isn’t about what you think you said. It’s about what can’t be misheard, misread, or misinterpreted. Here’s how I changed my approach, and how you can too: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝘆 Before you teach anything, explain what it’s for. Why does this step matter? What does it unlock? Purpose gives context — and context prevents confusion. 𝟮. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱-𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 Say what you’re going to do. Show the customer how to do it. Then summarize what you just did. This tight loop reinforces understanding and makes room for correction in real time. 𝟯. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 Whether it’s a written action item, a how-to guide, or a help center link to give your customer something to reference after the call. Don’t rely on memory. Rely on clarity. Great CSMs aren’t just helpful, they’re unmistakable. Because clarity isn’t just kind, it’s a growth lever. What do you do help improve your teaching with customers? #customersuccess

Dear CSMs, it's not your responsibility to do the job for your customers. It's to help them build the skills and knowledge they need to do it on their own (and excel at it). Here are the 5 pillars of a high-quality Customer Success Program: 1️⃣ Defined Scope What problems do you help customers solve? What is the minimum entry level? What are the minimum skills and knowledge customers need to bring to the table? Example: Startup founders who have never done Marketing before need a different scope of training and education compared to agency customers. 2️⃣ Outcome-focused Every piece of content and service is built with a clear goal in mind to help customers move forward in their success journey. Example: After completing your webinar, customers can identify their target audience effectively. 3️⃣ High efficiency Your customers don’t want to spend hours and days sifting through your inputs before they can start executing. Example: Create a 2-3 minute tutorial on how to use a specific feature to complete a task vs a 60-minute one that shows all 347 customization options 4️⃣ Tailored education Provide your input in various formats to address the different ways people are learning - video, infographics, guides, etc. Example: A written framework that’s also available as an on-demand webinar. 5️⃣ Customer Enablement Templates and checklists have their place in a CS program but your goal is to make customers understand what they need to do, how, and why to become less dependent on your inputs Example: Create a whole course for customers that gives them the mindset, tools, and strategies to excel on the job. Remember: Your customers' performance is tied to their demand. The better results they get the more they will buy from you to further scale their value. There's no higher return than investing in customer education and training. PS: Create exceptional value for your customers and your company --> https://lnkd.in/gGRSjD_v

We ran a training recently with no slides. Just the team, a customer scenario, and hands on time building AI agents in the platform. I have sat through a lot of product trainings in my career (and helped build them in the past!). The ones where someone walks you through a bunch of slides that start to blend together and then says "any questions?" are almost never the ones that change how you work. The ones where you actually jump in to do the thing, make mistakes, ask questions in real time, and have to figure out the next step - those are the ones that stick. You learn by doing, not just seeing. This applies to how we train our own teams and to how we think about customer onboarding and adoption. Documentation tells people what something does. Doing it together shows them how to think about it and empowers them to do it themselves moving forward. If you are rolling out a new capability with your customers and adoption is slower than you expected, ask yourself: have they had a chance to actually do it, or have they only been told about it? There is a difference. What is the best training you have ever run or been a part of — and what made it work? #CustomerSuccess #ProductAdoption #ValueCSwithEmily #csm

Think your onboarding is solid? This might change your mind 👇 For six years, we gave onboarding advice we weren't following ourselves. We told customers to focus on mental models, not features. To build systems, not flows. Meanwhile, ours was a mess. Deborah R., our Sr. Customer Success Manager, saw the pattern: users weren't failing because the product was hard. They didn't understand the workflow. So she started with documentation as the foundation. Mapped the workflow. Built 8 touchpoints around it. Behavioral emails triggered by actions, not day counts. Users went from "where do I click?" to "how should I segment this?" That's a completely different conversation. The lesson that changed everything: use your own product the way your customers do. We broke it all down: what worked, what didn't, and the templates we actually use. Full story in the comments 👇

🚨 Your Onboarding Isn't Broken — Your Thinking Is. Here’s the 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: 🧠 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 "𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁." They want to 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮. If your onboarding isn’t built around their 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘰𝘣-𝘵𝘰-𝘣𝘦-𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦, you're just wasting their time (and yours). Here’s what actually moves the needle: 🔥 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀. Nobody cares about your dashboards. They care about doing their job better, faster, easier. 🔥 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗦𝗶𝘇𝗲-𝗙𝗶𝘁𝘀-𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀. Different jobs = different paths. "Persona-based onboarding" isn't good enough anymore. 🔥 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝗻 — 𝗢𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴. You’ve got minutes — not days — to prove you’re worth it. No early win? No second chance. 🔥 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗜𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗜𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗸. Drop the upfront product tours. Coach users only when it helps them cross a finish line. 💡 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹. It's a trust-building mission. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 — 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹. 💬 What's the worst "feature parade" you've ever survived during onboarding?

Workday Training: Embrace a Team Approach Often, organizations tackle training in isolation, leaving the “change management” team to handle all training documentation. However, I believe that your functional users are the best resources for creating content for training guides. Given Workday’s configurable nature—especially its user interface—your functional users have valuable insights into the tasks and their specific configurations. Here’s an effective approach I recommend: 1) Build an Intuitive User Experience: Avoid having users navigate tasks by searching, unless they are power users. Searching is too advanced to start out learning Workday and requires users memorize tasks. I recommend build custom dashboards. 2) Involve Functional Users: Have your functional users create much of the content for your guides. They should proxy as someone in your target audience for the job aid and create a recording (securely especially if you’re using data of an actual user). During the recording, they should walk through the entire task and potential questions users might have. 3) Documentation Creation: Share the recording with someone on the training team who excels at creating documentation. This person can compile cohesive guides filled with screenshots, either using the video for visuals or by simulating the task with another user in the tenant. 4) Review Process: The documentation creator should send the guide back to the functional user for final approval. Trying to find one person to do all of this is difficult. There are people good at both (including several of us on the Legato team), but it’s not that common. Also, I like to really prioritize the time of the functional user who definitely has a lot more testing they need to do and not the time to do job aid design. For more advice like this, make sure to join our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gZ-smcGc Training and User Interface design is a passion of our team at Legato Strategic. To learn how we can help empower your team, message me or fill out our inquiry form: https://lnkd.in/gcfv3Uxw #WorkdayStudent #LegatoStrategicConsulting