Using "people" vs "users" in online documentation and guidelines

Question

There's a discussion at my office around changing the term "users" to "people" in our online documentation. Some things to know, our online documentation is used primarily by developers, directors (when they want to decide if they should get our product) and product owners, we do not write user guidelines there.

The arguments for people vs users are:

• "People" generates sympathy for the user
• "User" can be a somewhat negative term when it's about someone who uses drugs
• In the Apple documentation, they use "people" instead of "users"

Some arguments against are:

• Out of a small research of 8 well known online documentation sites, only Apple uses "people". Everyone else uses "users"
• "People" might hint at more people than just our direct users
• "User" is a frequently used word and considering the context in which it is used, is universally recognisable as a person that uses your product. (Changing it might even cause confusion amongst our stakeholders)

I would be really interested in hearing your thoughts on this. What vocabulary do you use to refer to the people using your product? Perhaps even an entirely different one?

I also found an interesting source on this here: https://www.parkersoftware.com/blog/ux-terminology-time-dropped-term-users/

Answer 1

Firstly, define who exactly the guideline is for. Is it for Developers? Designers? Clients? Use that word in the name of the document. Eg. XYZ Developer Documentation, ABC Design Guidelines. Most brands have a first person brand voice. So once you've labeled the document, you can just use the word "you" within the document.

If the documentation is for a B2B app, which requires you to talk about the end user of your client, you can define the term in a more active way depending on who exactly it is intended for. Eg."Customer","Buyer","Gamer","Consultant" "Auditor", "Advocate", "Renter", "Home Owner" etc.

Any Online Documentation/Guideline (especially the super long and detailed ones) requires specific definitions. Generally there is a separate section for this at the beginning of the document. Using the word "People" in this context is too generic and does not fulfill the purpose.

Answer 2

Had a similar discussion in our team as we moved out of our specific niche and were looking for more generic terms. Some views

user, usergroup, etc is more of a software user perspective used. For regular folks wont make sense

customer, customer base sounds more transactional. customers cannot exist unless they have (or yet to) consume your product/service.

I'd suggest
community member, community as it gives a sense of belongingness. though "community member" is a bit too long. 'individual' or 'person' might be an alternative.

Answer 3

I personally think people is a vague term, as it doesn't differentiate between those who use your product and those who don't. User is more specific and referring to people who use your product. Consider how much more sympathy changing the term would generate vs. the potential problems and confusion it could cause.

It sounds like you want your team to better understand and humanize your users. Empathy can be generated for users in a variety of ways such as using tools like personas, journey maps, or describing scenarios which put the reader in the perspective of the user.

Here's an article which describes strategies to empathize with users: https://usabilitygeek.com/how-to-empathize-with-your-users/

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

I think your question is too general. The term you should use depends on the product and your target audience. It may be that in one document you will use 'users' and in another 'people'. If your document describes the whole customer journey where your clients interact with real word companies and people maybe you would prefer using people. If your document describes interaction with the digital system you may use 'users'. When I worked for a gambling company we used the term 'players', for another system it could be 'doctors', 'patients', etc. Choose what is more suitable for your system and situation and also for the level of abstraction of your document. I use a varaety of terms in my documents when I address different types of users.