7 Tips for Building a Knowledge Base to Wow Your Customers

The heart of a successful business is not the customer. Customers are empowered.

The latest trend in customer support is to leave it up to your user base to resolve issues on their own. And one of the most common forms of promoting self-service is giving customers immediate and unrestricted access to information by building a knowledge base.

Companies looking to capitalize on this trend are using knowledge base software as a go-to tool for establishing knowledge management systems that support their customers and employees.

Most customers would rather browse a knowledge base than contact support. This means it's an essential component of knowledge management that can save time (on both sides) by providing first-hand knowledge and reducing the number of tickets your support team receives on a daily basis.

How to build a knowledge base? Decide on the basics Follow a complete article structure Make a list of topics Create content guidelines Optimize for Google Use visuals Configure analysis

This article will give you valuable knowledge management tips for your support team. First, let's review some essential terms and questions.

What is a knowledge base?

Let's say a new customer discovers your website and wants to know more about what you do as a business. How many minutes can this customer spend looking for answers? Maybe they have to fill out a contact form to get a call back or spend many minutes searching for an email to get in touch with a support agent.

Ideally, a guide with common questions from new customers could have solved the query in seconds. But without one in place, you risk losing that perspective altogether. And that is precisely why you need a knowledge base for your business.

A knowledge base is essentially an online library curated by knowledge architects, providing easy access to unlimited information through product guides, service documentation, company policies, customer FAQs and video demonstrations.

Data in a knowledge base can come from multiple resources. However, it is mainly organized by subject matter experts.

Knowledge Base vs Help Center

Before you learn how to create a good knowledge base, you need to understand how it differs from a help center. These terms often need clarification because they are so closely related.

A knowledge base is a centralized collection of everything there is to know about your service or product. It can be internal, that is to say accessible only to employees of the company, or public. A public knowledge base is like an encyclopedia where customers can search for answers any time of the day.

A help center, on the other hand, has a broader meaning. It may contain a knowledge base, FAQ section, community forums, etc. As it contains the verb "help", users expect there to be documentation available with someone standing by to help them.

And if you're wondering which option is best for your business, you should work with both. Create a help center with a well-documented knowledge base and other components to help your customers find a solution to their problems.

consumers try to solve their problems, but only a third of companies offer self-service options like a knowledge base.

Source: Zendesk

How to build an effective knowledge base

To build an effective knowledge base, it is essential to have a strong knowledge management system. So, generally speaking, a connoisseur...