How can we make user instructions motivational?

Abstract

Good technical instructions are often viewed as 'cool, concise and professional', but there are good arguments to pay attention to their persuasive and motivational aspects as well. Until now, only analyses of existing instructions have been published, while guidelines for making instructions motivational are not yet studied carefully. We present four strategies that can be followed, and an experiment that was meant to test the effects. The results show that motivational elements do increase the user's appreciation of the instructions, but have no effect on performance, self efficacy, or appreciation of the product. However, there are indications that further research may show effects.