TECHNICAL WRITING
Rakuten Advertising leads the industry in delivering performance-driven marketing solutions that help the world’s top brands connect with unique, highly engaged audiences – from awareness to activation.
Rakuten Help Center Audit and Reorganization
In 2023, Rakuten created a New Publisher Dashboard (Beta) and a New Publisher Help Center to complement the new, easier-to-use, streamlined dashboard. All 300+ Legacy Publisher Help Center articles had to be copied and updated for the new dashboard. Each article had to be evaluated for accuracy, for its usefulness to our Publisher users, and updated or archived. It was a mammoth task that took the better part of the year while maintaining the Legacy Help Center and the Advertiser Help Center and responding to rapid releases from the developer teams. Our small team kept up with the process and improved our information architecture for users’ benefit as well as for our marketing and onboarding teams.
I created a new organizational structure for the information based on four key actions: Begin, Grow, Engage, and Thrive. I moved all the content into new categories and sections and again edited each relevant article to focus on one of these concepts. The result was a more organic and useful help center for our users, reducing Customer Support touches with the addition of AnswerBot technology and streamlined content.
Rakuten Advertising New Publisher Help Center (Beta)
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Rakuten Help Center Videos
Rakuten had a very outdated cache of videos for both of their products, some 5 years old. The videos did not follow best practices for length, style, or substance and were getting no views. Users and account teams were also asking for new video content to date and answering specific questions. Without formal training, I learned Camtasia software for video making, worked with SMEs to write relevant scripts, and created 25+ videos for both the Advertiser and Publishers Dashboards. A very short video on how to toggle between the two dashboards during a deprecation of one became the most viewed article in both dashboards.
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Rakuten Advertiser Dashboard Help Center
Rakuten has two main products for its affiliate network: the Advertiser dashboard and the Publisher dashboard. The user audience for these dashboards is very different. Publishers range from small influencers to large, experienced brands. The advertisers tend to be more technically savvy and experienced, often with a dedicated developer team to help. Keeping up with these releases and updating all relevant articles is challenging.
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Signal is a tag and data management company that was acquired by TransUnion, a major credit reporting agency, and specializes in real-time data collection technology, allowing businesses to organize better and leverage consumer data.
Signal Tag Tracking Education
Documenting Signal’s tag-tracking software as a service (SaaS) posed a unique set of challenges primarily due to its status as an innovative, newly developed technology at the time. This complexity necessitated a comprehensive approach to documentation that took into account the diverse backgrounds of its intended audience.
The documentation needed to cater to a wide spectrum of users, ranging from highly experienced developers who required in-depth technical insights to summer marketing interns who might need foundational knowledge and practical application tips. This meant that the documentation had to be layered and flexible, offering both high-level overviews and detailed technical specifications.
Since the documentation was intended for partners at Yahoo! Japan, special attention was given to ensure the content was easily translatable.
Creating documentation for Signal’s tag-tracking SaaS required a careful balance of detail and clarity, ensuring it was comprehensive yet accessible to a varied audience. By structuring the content thoughtfully and considering translation needs, the documentation aimed to empower all users, regardless of their technical expertise, to utilize the new technology effectively.
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Signal API Usage Education
Educating customers on API usage, especially in the context of platforms like YouTube, is crucial for several reasons. This education not only enhances user experience but also maximizes the potential of the API, leading to better outcomes for both the users and the platform itself. By providing comprehensive, clear, and structured educational resources, companies can empower their users, foster innovation, and create a more effective ecosystem around their API. This benefits the customers and strengthens the platform's reputation and user satisfaction.