Identifying a problem
The company I currently work at, Century Business Solutions, creates payment integrations into leading ERP and accounting systems. There are millions of businesses in niche industries who use industry-specific software, and we don't build integrations into most industry-specific systems. However, we encourage these software companies to utilize our robust open API to add custom payment functionality directly inside their software. As I participated in meetings where development verbally explained our API and provided links to documentation, we noticed months after initial calls and well into their development time, many companies showed that they didn't really understand all the API offerings and therefore didn't implement them. This meant that users kept missing out on the benefits of functionality.
Coming up with a solution
I created a presentation for these initial API calls with the hopes of increasing understanding and utilization of our features. The presentation describes each of our features and their benefits first to illustrate how implementing them would greatly benefit users and is worth development time. I added iconography and UI examples of how these features can be added to make content easier and more enjoyable to read. Then, slides are displayed showing where in the API documentation the methods to implement these features can be found. I figured a copy of this document could be sent to these companies for reference as they develop.
Adoption & outcome
The company adopted the presentation and since they feel I communicate our features and benefits clearly, I now present the deck on every API call. The result has been increased understanding, faster and better utilization of our API, and smoother partnerships.