As a content designer, I’ve spent a lot of time axing frequently asked questions (FAQs) from websites. I’ve proudly proclaimed that FAQs are awful and I’ve had many heated arguments about them with stakeholders.
But what if I was wrong? What if FAQs aren’t actually all that bad? Do FAQs have a place on websites and could they actually help communicate important information?
These are my frequently asked questions and I’m going to try to answer them in this post.
There are lots of articles out there explaining why FAQs are bad. But to summarise, here are some of their biggest problems:
- Websites should be structured around frequently asked questions. You shouldn’t need separate pages or sections to do this.
- They’re often not frequently asked questions at all. A lot of the time, they’re actually infrequently asked questions that didn’t make the cut on the important pages.
- They cluster important information in a single location outside of user journeys.
- Questions may not be asked in the right tone or with the right level of specificity.
- They force users to read and understand the question before they get to the answer.
- They’re often the default content type used to display a lot of complicated information.
I don’t disagree with any of these points. FAQs can be problematic and frustrating for users. But does this mean they’re always bad?
For a more detailed critique on FAQs, read the Government Digital Service’s blog post on why they don’t use FAQs.
Content designers are amazing at choosing the best format for content. They’re also incredible at keeping an open mind and reflecting user needs in their content decisions. But many can also be very quick to completely disregard ever using FAQs.
FAQs have become such a common feature of websites that users may actually expect them. I know sometimes I do. You could argue this is because they’ve been overused. Or that there are lots of poorly-structured websites out there.
While both points may be true, we still have to consider the expectations of our users. That’s the role of a content designer.
Publishing content based on popularity isn’t bad. Twitter has made a multi-billion-dollar business out of surfacing trending topics. GOV.UK shares popular links at the top of its homepage.
And then there’s voice search. Sticking keywords into search engines is being replaced by proper questions. Using the question and answer format could actually be a way to improve your search engine ranking.
The problem is the vast majority of FAQs aren’t based on popularity or frequency. They’re published by organisations who think they know what people want. And they’re often used in place of a well-structured website based on user needs.
I recently bought a new-build house for the first time ever. I didn’t know what to expect from a new-build house but I knew there were things I had to do. I had some specific questions but I was worried there were things I hadn’t even considered.
According to The Independent, 153,339 new-build homes were registered in 2021. That’s a lot of people going through the same process and I imagine there will be many frequently asked questions.
I spent hours trawling through websites trying to find the things I needed to know. But it was difficult to find the answers to the questions I had and I didn’t really know if the other stuff was actually important.
I would have loved some content with common questions and answers. It would have been even better if this content also included important infrequently asked questions.
Here’s a simple example of what I’m thinking:
Questions we get asked a lot
- How do I report a problem?
- Where can visitors park?
Important things you might not have thought of
- Your address might not exist yet! Get ready for lots of paper forms.
I’m not saying this is the best way to meet this user need. But when someone’s unfamiliar with a topic, using FAQs can help them learn more about the topic without aimlessly browsing through tens of pages. I actually looked for an FAQs page and was disappointed to not find one.
Of course, the problem with being a content designer is that you often get sidetracked redesigning content. If I’d focused more on the job at hand, I wouldn’t have been told off for putting my bins in the wrong place.
FAQs can be a content designer’s friend. They’re not always bad. In fact, sometimes they could genuinely be the best format for our content, especially where they benefit users and are based on real data.
Popular questions can help users quickly learn about topics they’re unfamiliar with. People are used to reading FAQs and may even seek them out.
Social media has made us comfortable navigating content by popularity and voice search is making our engagement with websites more conversational.
We should view FAQs as just another format we can use to help users. Sometimes they’ll work but most of the time they probably won’t. But let’s not outlaw them completely.
