Content conundrums: why we need subject matter experts
Subject matter experts play a massive role in content design, bringing professional insight to all our work. In this post we’ll show how content designers work with subject matter experts and why both are vital to successful content.
TRIGGER WARNING: The following posts contains mentions of sensitive topics such as mental health and self harm.
Using data responsibly
Content design research focuses on human habits. Using algorithms, user testing and feedback analysis, we can gain powerful insights into what people want or need.
This data is gold dust. it provides the basis of any decent content strategy.
But we also have a responsibility to the people we are creating content for. Never is this responsibility greater than when we are dealing with sensitive issues. For example, this could be guidance on a potentially difficult or divisive topic such as abortion or mental health.
What we publish can have a real effect on people’s lives. The content not only has to be factually solid and up to date, but also delicately handled.
This is where subject matters experts play such a vital role. Working closely with subject matter experts is a crucial part of crafting good, responsible content. They bring the professional knowledge and expertise. We bring the user perspective ad content design skills.
I’ll give you an example.
Managing content on sensitive issues
I once audited the mental health issues section of a health organisation’s website. One of the areas I had to review was about self harm.
Self harm is a sensitive subject and one that is little talked about in public – or in private. It’s important that people who self-harm can find the right guidance online. This goes for the people that care for them as well.
One of the pages on the website was titled ‘Self-harm: Types and Signs’.
From a healthcare perspective, the purpose of this page was to help people recognise self-harming behaviours (whether their own, or someone else’s) and find support.
Judging from its high click rate the page was performing well and reaching its target users.
But when we looked at user feedback for the page, we spotted something odd and disconcerting: there was a request by a user asking for more ideas about how to self-harm.
This wasn’t an isolated request. Delving deeper into the feedback, we found several similar messages. Meanwhile, other users wanted to know how to hide injuries caused by self-harm.
Interpreting user feedback
Our discovery that the page title was attracting people who were looking for ways to self-harm or hide their injuries was genuinely surprising. It also presented an ethical dilemma.
People were coming to the page for the ‘wrong’ reason – or at least a reason we hadn’t anticipated. This was bad, right?
But wasn’t this page connecting people who were at danger of harming themselves to the kind of professional guidance and support that could be really useful to them? To the type of help they normally might not find otherwise?
What if, despite arriving there for the ‘wrong reasons’, those users could use the advice to identify and resist the urges that cause self-harming behaviour? Or discover where to go for counselling or peer support?
Even if this was the case for just one user, wouldn’t that be a good thing?
The importance of subject matter experts
Our next step was to consult our subject matter experts (SMEs), the healthcare professionals.
They check all work is factually accurate and up to date. They also help us develop the content and provide us with new source material when necessary.
The collaboration between content designers and experts often goes on for several months, via messages on a shared document, as well as emails and video calls.
The experts on the ‘self-harm’ content were mental health specialists. They agreed that it was important that the target audience were finding the page, even if they were looking for the “wrong” type of information.
They also felt that the page title wasn’t misleading, as it accurately reflected the guidance available on the page. Instead they suggested moving the opening section, which listed types of self-harm, further down the page.
We then worked together on a more suitable introduction highlighting the potential risks of self-harm. Finally, we added links to further guidance and support.
By working together in this way, we created impactful content that met the needs of users, as well as the goals of the organisation.
Creating not just good but responsible content is a collaborative exercise.
