Are you one of the 90% of documentation leaders that say a product’s documentation is “extremely important” or “somewhat important” when making a purchasing decision?

This insight — and many more — in the State of Docs Report 2025 give us a glimpse into the docs landscape in 2025. And that one in particular shows just how valuable documentation is to a product’s overall success, not just for support.

The report is available now, with insights from more than 450 docs professionals from across the sector. There’s a ton of interesting data, plus some great interviews from industry experts who offer practical advice for improving your workflows.

You can read the full report here, but here’s a quick roundup of some of the best insights.

The State of Docs Report 2025: Summary

First off, while 90% of leaders said that a product’s documentation is “extremely important” or “somewhat important” when making a purchasing decision, only 35% of respondents think their own docs have an impact on conversion when it comes to their product. It’s clear that docs are a great conversion tool — even if people don’t acknowledge this internally right now.

AI was, of course, another big topic discussed within the report. It reveals that 60% of respondents are currently using generative AI as part of their docs workflows. That is perhaps not surprising considering how widely adopted AI has become, but the impact of docs will soon reach far beyond that according to the report.

A massive 87% said AI will be either hugely or somewhat impactful on documentation. The report dives into some specifics, asking what people think AI will be used for most — including docs that automatically adapt to the users’ needs. We’re hard at work on that right now, and we’ll have more to share soon.

One other interesting point was that 39% of respondents don’t track metrics or measure the success of their documentation at all. We know from experience that docs teams struggle with tracking docs metrics — or even knowing what to track.

Despite a lack of data from some teams, more than half of respondents say their docs generate as many leads as their marketing site — and some say their docs generate more.

This all paints a fascinating picture of our industry, and gives us some great information to work from as we work on building the future of documentation.

The future of docs

The report proves what we already know — documentation is essential for a product’s success.

But it goes further than that, showing that documentation is much more than just a support tool. It plays a key role in sales and marketing, too.

Most importantly, the report shows that there are two key roles that great documentation will play in the future. First, convincing prospective customers that your product is better than the competitors. And second, being adaptable and flexible enough to give users information they need proactively — ideally within the product itself — and with the context of whatever they’re working on.

In the next few weeks we’ll be talking about a few of these things in more detail — so stay tuned. In the meantime, take a closer look at the report, and let us know what you think over on X.

→ Read the State of Docs Report 2025

→ Introducing AI into your product documentation workflow

→ Documentation analytics: which metrics to track and how to measure success