Cutting Customer Service Costs at Canadian Tire With Rewritten User Manuals
Canadian Tire · Retail
The Challenge
Canadian Tire's own service data showed that a significant share of support calls came not from defective products but from customers who could not follow the existing manuals. With roughly 3,700 customer service staff across some 500 stores, and single in-home service calls to remote customers running over 100 Canadian dollars, unclear documentation was a direct and recurring cost.
Our Solution
Working with Canadian Tire's merchandising and after-sales teams, we rewrote 60 product manuals in six months using a consistent methodology: clear visual step sequences, plain-language review, and a structure a first-time buyer can follow without calling support.
Results
60 in 6 months
Manuals rewritten
Over CAD 100
Cost of a single avoided in-home service call
13+
Product categories covered by in-home installation
Why Customer Service Was So Expensive
Canadian Tire sells complex technical products that often need in-home installation or guided setup, across a footprint where a single store can serve customers more than 100 kilometres away. Every unclear manual generated calls, returns, and dispatched service trucks. A single in-home service call to a remote customer easily ran over 100 Canadian dollars before counting customer frustration, returns, and negative reviews.
The Pattern in the Service Data
In 2012, Canadian Tire reached out to us because its service data had surfaced a pattern: a significant share of calls reaching the service centre came from customers who could not follow the product manuals. The manuals had been written by different suppliers without a consistent methodology, without clear visual step sequences, and without plain-language review.
60 Manuals in Six Months
Working with Canadian Tire's merchandising and after-sales teams, we rewrote 60 manuals in six months. Each manual was rebuilt around visual step sequences and reviewed in plain language, so a first-time buyer could complete setup without contacting support.
The Outcome
Clearer manuals reduced the documentation-driven share of inbound support contacts and the returns and negative reviews that followed them. Rewriting the manuals proved to be one of the highest-return investments in the programme, and the same principle applies to any retailer selling complex technical products across a long geographic footprint.
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