The services of a competent wordsmith can help in the development of all sorts of products.

Customer helplines are invaluable, but why not do everything you can to help your customers help themselves?

Think of your product in isolation, right from the concept stage – about how your consumers and users will get on without the designer, engineer or marketing pro standing beside them when they get your product out of the box.

Involve this copywriter early in the process and you can sidestep the pitfalls. That’s because if you cannot communicate a complicated series of steps in words and pictures, you probably need to go back to the drawing board.

No one likes reading instructions, so let’s make it easier for them:

Let’s plan a structure they can refer to, only when they need to.

Let’s anticipate their next question, and then deliver the answer.

Let’s lead them through the maze with clear, unambiguous signposts.

Let's banish jargon and stick to words that mean something.

Let’s use illustration to support the text or replace words altogether.