Site User Assistance: Aspirin Versus Vitamins

Web site user assistance that consistently exceeds customer’s
expectations can catapult your company to legendary status and create
brand equity you can measure in billions of dollars. However, making
Help a strategic asset for your company is an arduous task. To shed
light on this important topic, I have teamed up with Tricia Clement,
a renowned cognitive psychologist and Web site user assistance
expert. In this month’s Search Matters column, we’ll deliver
actionable insights about Web site user assistance:

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/searching-help-dont-even-go-there.php

In our article we classified Help content using the following three
attributes:

1) immediacy—Aspirin Help versus Vitamin Help
2) depth of knowledge—how versus the why of how
3) touch—static content versus a phone call

For all of SUA experts out there: what do you think? Is there a Help
classification/interaction design framework that you found useful in
your work? How important is it to understand and use the power of
emotions to create a compelling, positive SUA experience?