What are User Guides? – Glossary by Userpilot

If your product has ever made someone whisper, “Okay… but how do I do the thing?”, congratulations:
you’ve discovered the reason user guides exist. A good user guide is basically a friendly, highly organized
translator between your product and a human brain on a deadline.

In this glossary-style deep dive (with a little personality, because instruction manuals shouldn’t read like
a tax form), we’ll unpack what user guides are, what they’re not, why they matter, and how to build guides
that reduce confusion, boost adoption, and keep your support team from developing a thousand-yard stare.

User Guides: A Plain-English Definition

A user guide is a set of instructions that helps people complete tasks with a productwhether
that product is software, an app, a platform, a device, or anything else that comes with buttons you can click
(and consequences you can regret).

The best user guides are task-focused, easy to scan, and written for real users
(not for the internal team who already knows where all the settings are hiding). Instead of explaining every feature
like a museum plaque, a user guide answers practical questions like:

• How do I set this up?
• How do I complete my first important workflow?
• What should I click next?
• Why isn’t this working, and how do I fix it?

What user guides are trying to accomplish

User guides exist to reduce the “time-to-value” gapthe awkward period between signing up (or unboxing) and actually
getting something useful done. That gap is where churn, returns, and rage-clicking are born.

Why User Guides Matter (Even When You Think Your Product Is “Intuitive”)

Most products are intuitive… to the people who built them. For everyone else, a user guide is a shortcut through
uncertainty. When done well, user guides:

• Increase product adoption by helping users discover and use key features.
• Reduce support tickets by answering common questions before users ask them.
• Improve retention by making success feel achievable early on.
• Protect user confidence (because nobody likes feeling “bad at software”).
• Scale customer education without scaling headcount at the same rate.

For SaaS, user guides also support onboarding, feature launches, and change management. For physical products,
they reduce returns and improve safe, correct usage. Different worldssame mission: help people win.

User Guide vs. User Manual vs. Tutorial: What’s the Difference?

These terms get tossed around like they’re identical twins. They’re more like cousins who look similar but have very
different hobbies.

User guide

A user guide is typically task-based and practical. It shows users how to complete specific
workflows, often in a structured, step-by-step way. Think: “How to invite teammates,” “How to export a report,” or
“How to reset your device.”

User manual

A user manual is usually broader and more comprehensive. It may include product overviews, safety information,
detailed specifications, and extensive reference material. Manuals can be helpfulbut they’re often too big to be
someone’s first stop.

Tutorial

A tutorial teaches by guiding someone through a learning path. It often includes context, examples, and “why”
along the waylike “Build your first dashboard” or “Create your first automation.” Tutorials are great for skill-building.

Onboarding guide / in-app walkthrough

An onboarding guide (especially in SaaS) is focused on the first-time experience: setup, activation, and early wins.
It might live inside the product as tooltips, checklists, modals, and walkthroughsexactly where user-guide content is
most likely to be used.

Types of User Guides You’ll See in the Wild

User guides aren’t one format. They’re a family of “helpful instruction things,” each with a different job:

1) Quick start guides

Short, focused guides that get users to the first success fast. Perfect when time is limited and motivation is fragile.

2) Step-by-step how-to guides

The classic format: one task, clear steps, helpful screenshots, and zero philosophical tangents.

3) In-app user guides (interactive guides)

Walkthroughs, tooltips, and contextual prompts inside the product interface. These reduce context-switching and help users
learn by doinggreat for onboarding and feature adoption.

4) Knowledge base articles / help center content

A searchable library of user guides, FAQs, troubleshooting articles, and explainers. Ideal for self-service support and
ongoing education.

5) Video user guides

Best for visual workflows or multi-step processes where motion matters (e.g., design tools, editing, configuration flows).
Bonus: users can speed you up to 1.5× when you talk like a caffeinated podcast host.

6) PDF or printed guides

Still common for hardware, regulated industries, and products used in low-connectivity environments. They’re also useful
when customers need documentation for compliance and training.

What a Great User Guide Includes

Great guides aren’t just “instructions.” They’re structured answers. Here’s the anatomy of a user guide that respects
people’s time:

A clear promise (title that matches user intent)

“How to Create an Invoice” beats “Invoices Overview” almost every time. Users search for outcomes, not for your internal
naming conventions.

Who it’s for (and prerequisites)

If a step requires admin access, a paid plan, or a certain setting enabled, say it up front. Nothing ruins trust like a guide
that confidently sends users to buttons they don’t have.

Step-by-step instructions that start with verbs

Each step should be actionable: Click, Select, Enter, Choose, Upload. When steps read like “The user
should ideally consider…” users consider closing the tab.

Supporting details where they help (not where they distract)

Keep the main path clean. Use brief notes for clarifications, edge cases, or tipswithout turning every step into a paragraph novel.

Visuals with a job

Screenshots, GIFs, diagrams, and short clips should clarify a confusing UI or confirm the user is in the right placenot decorate
the page like confetti.

Next steps

User guides should be part of a journey. End with what users typically do next: “Invite teammates,” “Create your first report,” or
“Set up notifications.”

Troubleshooting and FAQs (for the predictable potholes)

If 20% of users get stuck on the same step, that’s not “user error.” That’s your guide politely requesting a troubleshooting section.

How to Write a User Guide That People Will Actually Use

Writing user guides is less about being a genius and more about being a great tour guide: you know the terrain, but you explain it like
the visitor has never been here (because they haven’t).

Step 1: Start with the user’s goal (not the feature)

A feature is what your product has. A goal is what your user wants. Guides should map to goals:
“Send your first campaign,” “Connect your data source,” “Create a project,” “Recover access.”

Step 2: Use the language your users use

If customers call it “billing,” don’t title your guide “Monetary Transaction Interface.” Read support tickets, sales call notes, reviews,
and in-product search queries. Then mirror the words people already type when they’re stressed.

Step 3: Make it scannable

People don’t read user guides like novels. They hunt. Help them hunt:

• Use short paragraphs (2–4 lines is a good target).
• Use headings that sound like questions users ask.
• Use numbered steps for procedures and bullets for options.
• Highlight critical warnings (carefullytoo many warnings become wallpaper).

Step 4: Write steps that can’t be misread

Strong procedural writing is specific without being exhausting. Compare:

• Vague: “Configure your settings.”
• Clear: “Go to Settings → Notifications, then toggle Weekly summary on.”

Step 5: Add examples that remove doubt

If a field needs a specific format, show it. If a “good configuration” exists, model it. Examples prevent guessworkand guesswork is where mistakes happen.

Step 6: Test the guide like you’d test a feature

The fastest way to improve a user guide is to watch someone use it. If they pause, scroll wildly, or mutter “What does that mean?” your guide just handed you free
research. Take the gift.

User Guides in SaaS: Where Userpilot’s Glossary Lens Fits

In modern SaaS, the “user guide” is no longer only a PDF hiding in a footer link. It’s often embedded directly in the product experience:
in-app guidance that appears when users need it.

This matters because software isn’t used in a vacuum. Users are mid-task, mid-meeting, mid-panic. In-app user guides meet them in context with:

• Tooltips that explain a UI element right where it appears
• Walkthroughs that guide a multi-step workflow
• Checklists that nudge users toward activation milestones
• Resource centers that combine guides, videos, and FAQs inside the product

The goal isn’t to spam users with pop-ups. It’s to deliver the smallest helpful instruction at the exact moment it prevents confusionlike a GPS that speaks up before you miss the exit,
not after you’ve already ended up in another state.

Example: Turning a complicated feature into a friendly path

Imagine an analytics tool with a powerful (and intimidating) dashboard builder. A strong user-guide strategy might include:

• A quick start guide: “Build your first dashboard in 5 minutes.”
• In-app prompts that highlight where to add a chart and how to filter it.
• A help-center article for advanced filters and edge cases.
• A troubleshooting guide: “Why your chart is blank (and how to fix it).”

One feature becomes a guided journey instead of a “good luck, have fun” moment.

Common Mistakes That Make User Guides Useless (and Mildly Infuriating)

Mistake 1: Writing for yourself

If your guide assumes users know your internal jargon, it’s not a guideit’s a company diary entry.

Mistake 2: Explaining everything except the task

A paragraph about “the importance of collaboration” doesn’t help someone share a project. Show them where the Share button is.

Mistake 3: Giant walls of text

Long guides aren’t automatically bad, but unstructured long guides are. If your page looks like a legal agreement, users will treat it like one: scroll, accept, regret.

Mistake 4: Outdated screenshots and UI labels

Nothing destroys trust faster than instructions that don’t match what users see. If your product changes frequently, treat documentation as a living system, not a one-time project.

Mistake 5: No search-friendly structure

Users look for answers with search. If your headings are vague and your terms don’t match user language, your guide becomes invisibleeven if it’s brilliant.

How to Measure Whether Your User Guides Are Working

User guides shouldn’t be judged by how many pages exist. They should be judged by outcomes. Useful signals include:

• Self-service resolution rate: Are users solving problems without contacting support?
• Ticket deflection trends: Do guide-heavy topics generate fewer repetitive tickets over time?
• Time-to-first-value: Are new users hitting key milestones faster after you add/upgrade guides?
• Search analytics: What are users searching for, and are they finding it?
• In-app guide completion rates: Do users finish walkthroughs or abandon them midstream?
• Qualitative feedback: “This helped” buttons, comments, and user interviews.

If you learn one thing from measurement, let it be this: the “best” user guide is the one that prevents the most confusion with the fewest words.

Conclusion: User Guides Are Product Experience, Not Just Documentation

User guides are more than instructionsthey’re part of how users experience your product. They turn “I’m stuck” into “I’ve got this,”
and they scale clarity across thousands of users without requiring your team to answer the same question 400 times a week.

Whether your user guides live in a help center, inside the app as interactive walkthroughs, or as a quick start guide that gets users rolling,
the winning formula stays the same: write for user intent, keep it scannable, show real steps, and test with real humans.

of Real-World User-Guide Lessons (So You Don’t Learn Them the Hard Way)

Let’s talk about the stuff that rarely makes it into glossy documentation advice: what happens when user guides meet realitybusy users, messy products,
and teams that ship updates like it’s an Olympic sport.

First: users don’t want a “guide,” they want an outcome. The moment someone opens a help article, they’re usually trying to unblock themselves fast. That’s
why the most effective guides behave like a well-designed emergency exit sign: obvious, direct, and located exactly where you need it. If your guide starts
with a long story about the feature’s history, congratulationsyou’ve written a charming introduction that your readers will never see.

Second: the best documentation often comes from your support team’s pain. Repeated tickets are not just a workload problem; they’re a content roadmap.
If people keep asking “How do I change permissions?” you don’t need a brainstorming sessionyou need a permission guide with clear prerequisites, screenshots
of the current UI, and a short troubleshooting section for the top two “gotchas.” Treat support patterns like user-guide GPS coordinates.

Third: “simple” steps aren’t always simple. A step like “Connect your account” might hide a dozen micro-decisions: which provider, which permissions,
which error messages, what success looks like. Strong guides reduce ambiguity by adding tiny confidence boostslike “You’ll know it worked when you see
a green ‘Connected’ badge.” That one sentence can save a user from redoing the whole process three times.

Fourth: in-app guidance is a superpower… and also a temptation. It’s easy to overdo it and turn your product into a pop-up haunted house. The trick is
restraint: use in-app guides for moments that benefit from context (first-run setup, high-value workflows, tricky screens) and leave deep explanations to
a help center article. Think “just-in-time help,” not “always-on narration.”

Fifth: documentation ownership matters. If “someone” owns user guides, no one owns them. The healthiest teams treat guides like product components with
clear owners, review cycles, and update triggers tied to releases. A guide that’s accurate today and wrong next month is worse than no guidebecause it
teaches users to stop trusting you.

Finally: the best user guide is the one that keeps users moving. If your guide makes users feel capable, they’ll forgive the occasional imperfect screenshot.
If it makes them feel lost, even flawless grammar won’t save it. Clarity wins. Every time.