How an audience affects the technical writing process

During any writing process, the audience is often an inactive participant that influences what the final product will become. For technical writing, the audience is the primary focus of the document or deliverable. The document’s goal is to educate an audience about a specific process or application, which requires an intimate knowledge of the intended audience. Different audiences will require different choices to be made. Some documents may have multiple audiences, so a technical writer needs to have a complete understanding of their audience’s needs and expectations.

The four audience types

For technical writing, there are typically four different types of audiences that will be encountered. The following information regarding audience types was found and adapted from Texas A&M University Library.

1. Expert — They are considered SMEs (Subject Matter Expert) as they have actively developed, tested, and produced the product or writing subject. When you are designing a document or learning more about a product, an expert is who will field questions and generally confirm the accuracy of a document.
2. Technicians — More hands-on, a technician is someone who has highly technical knowledge, but works on maintaining, building, and operating the product that an expert has designed.
3. Executives — A superior audience that makes more business or administrative choices for the product. They often do not have the technical knowledge that either an expert or technician has.
4. Non-specialists — A reader who has no technical experience to support their reading. This audience will include novice users or those looking to become more educated about the product. Non-specialists are typically a secondary audience, but customer-facing instructional material will directly target a non-specialized audience.

Technical proficiency

When you explain how to do something, the audience’s technical skills will impact how you explain it. The four audiences above each will have varying technical prowess and this will impact the documentation process. You wouldn’t explain how to start a manual car to a mechanic. Nor would you explain how to turn on a computer to a software engineer. But you would explain how to turn a computer to an audience with extremely limited technological experience. The same goes for starting a car. A different skill level and technical proficiency will allow for different topics to be included or excluded.

Using “How to jump-start a car” as an example:

• An expert is an SME who will assist in the documentation process. They can field questions and assist where any knowledge gaps are present. This typically will not be the audience, but will support in the writing process by ensuring the content is correct. For example, if the writer were unsure about whether battery position varies between battery brands and car makes, they can interview an SME and ensure the information within the document is correct and comprehensive.
• A technician, on the other hand, might need to be told how to open the hood of a specific car model, but they know what the battery looks like and generally where to find it in a car. They’ve already learned all the fundamental information about how a car operates. Beginner information isn’t needed in a document targeting them.
• A non-specialist may need to be told where the car battery is located, why jump-starting a car is necessary, how to open the hood, what the battery looks like, and even what specific tools are needed for this. If they know nothing about cars, they won’t understand how a battery impacts the rest of the car. A document targeting this audience will include only public information.
• An executive will often possess a similar technical background as a non-specialist. This means that the writing will be similar but the audience is reading for a different reason. A non-specialist may simply want to understand how their car works, but an executive may be reading to assist in making a legal decision. The distinction is small, however can impact larger documentation decisions involving both public and private information about the subject.

Some information or background knowledge is assumed while other information is given to ensure competency. Technical writing is about gauging what is common knowledge for the audience and what needs explanation.

Audiences can be further broken down using discriminatory factors to understand how an audience might interpret a piece of writing. Factors like race, gender, age, education, and socioeconomic background, can further influence how an audience will comprehend a document. To ensure complete comprehension and avoid unintentionally alienating an audience, view the content of a document through multiple lenses.

Additional Resources

For further topic exploration, the following tools are recommended:

• WIRED produced a series on YouTube titled “5 levels” which helps illuminate how language and engaging an audience changes based on an audience’s level. An expert in their field will explain a complex topic at 5 varying levels of comprehension.
• “UX Fundamentals: Content Strategy” by Morten Rand-Hendriksen on LinkedIn Learning. Chapter 3 covers audience analysis and user identification in content strategy.