Are you looking to improve how you support your customers and make their lives easier?
One effective way to do that is by creating a knowledge base that they love. Developing a knowledge base for your organization is essential for employees to collaborate and distribute company knowledge and information.
A knowledge base is a guide of information that your customers can access at any time and anywhere to find answers to their questions or customer issues. And the best part is that it saves them time and effort as they can find what they need independently.
In this article, we’ll go through 7 simple steps helpful in creating a knowledge base that your customers will love. So, let’s get started?
Table of Content
What is a Knowledge Base?
The knowledge base is a published set of documents for self-serve customer service. The knowledge base articles generally include the standard operating procedures, guidelines about any product, service, topic, or department, “help” & “support” pages, and FAQs. You might call it an online library for customer loyalty and staff learning.
Knowledge bases are the source of accurate and official information about anything. Thus, these are created by someone who is an absolute expert on the topic. It is also important to assign a person or team to manage and maintain it. In a large organization where it is impossible to maintain the consistency of how things work, the knowledge base solution works. It will also let you know how a specific product works.
The knowledge base structure can be different depending on whom it is made for. For example,knowledge base articles made for customers will not include the employee recruitment process guidelines. And sometimes in addition to the static pages, a knowledge base may also have chatbots for answering the customer support questions.
To put it in a simple way, self-service knowledge bases help in creating user manuals, popular articles, and use cases for businesses.
Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.
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What to include in a knowledge base?
Here’s a list of core elements that should be included in a knowledge base:
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Easy navigation and the search feature
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Popular articles & tutorials
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Visual tutorials
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Multimedia content (e.g., videos, infographics)
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A feedback mechanism
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Periodic updates
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Device adaptability
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Uniform writing style
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Integration with other tools
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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
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User-friendly interface
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Analytics to track usage
How to Create a Knowledge Base in 7 Steps?
Creating a knowledge base might overwhelm you. But it is not that big of a task if simplified by disintegrating it into basic steps. Therefore, we have created seven steps to help easily create a knowledge base. Let us learn them.
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Define your target audience
Defining your target audience is the first crucial step in creating a thriving knowledge base. Your target audience will determine who will use your knowledge base and their needs. Some common target audiences include customers, employees, partners, and stakeholders.
After identifying your target audience, you can gather information about their needs, preferences, and pain points. This information will help you tailor your knowledge base to meet their needs and make it more effective.
Consider using language and terminology familiar to them, and make sure that the information is presented in an easily understandable way. By putting your target audience first, you can create a knowledge base they will love and optimize your knowledge base content.
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Choose a platform
Choosing the right platform is equally important as defining your target audience. You can select the right platform or software as per your need, from simple and low-cost tools to complex, enterprise-level solutions as there are various knowledge base tools.
Consider the below factors while choosing a platform for your knowledge base:
- First, consider your budget and the level of resources that you can dedicate to your knowledge base. For example- you can go for a low-cost solution if you have a low budget. However, you can use a complex solution with advanced features if you have a larger budget.
- Next, consider the scalability of the platform you choose. You want to make sure that your knowledge base platform will be able to grow and adapt as your needs change over time.
- Then, consider the user experience. The platform you choose should be intuitive and easy to use, both for your target audience. The platform should be easily accessible from any device. It will help your target audience to access the information anytime and anywhere.
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Gather and organize information
This step aims to gather all relevant information that answers common customer questions and organize it in a structured manner. You can use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to make the information easy to read and understand. It’s also a good idea to include links to other actual knowledge base articles, videos, or resources that can provide additional information.
In addition, it’s important to categorize the information to make it easy for users to navigate. For example, you can create categories based on the type of information, such as company policies, procedures, best practices, etc. You can also include a robust search tool to find the relevant piece of content faster.
Finally, it’s important to review the information to ensure that it’s accurate, up-to-date, and consistent with the company’s standards. You can take help from subject matter experts or other knowledgeable employees to review the information.
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Create the content
Creating the content for a knowledge base involves collecting, organizing, and publishing information that would be helpful for your employees or customers. Below are some of the tips helpful to create your knowledge base:
- Identify the purpose of your knowledge base, which means who will use it and what type of information you want to include.
- Gather the content you want to include in your knowledge base and ensure the information is accurate and up-to-date.
- Organize the content into categories and sub-categories. This will provide a faster service to users to quickly find what they are looking for.
- Ensure each article has a clear structure, including a headline, introduction, body, and conclusion. Also, try using simple language and avoiding company jargon.
- Adding images, videos, and other multimedia elements can make your actual article more engaging and easier to understand.
- Before publishing, it’s important to test the knowledge base to ensure it’s easy to use and all the information is correct.
- Once satisfied with the content, you can make it available to the customers. Also, ensure to keep the content up-to-date and review it regularly.
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Optimize your content
The next step is to optimize your content for the search engine. Prefer using advanced search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to include relevant keywords and meta descriptions in your articles to make it easy for major search engines to crawl your site.
Also, consider using a clear and intuitive navigation structure to make it easy for the users to find answers to their basic questions. Moreover, adding images, videos, and multimedia elements can make your articles more engaging and search engine friendly.
You also need to ensure that your knowledge base has a clear structure and is easy to understand. Prefer using simple language over technical jargon as a great knowledge base can greatly enhance the customer experience.
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Gather feedback
Gathering customer feedback will help you determine what is working well and what needs improvement. Some of the ways to gather feedback include:
- Encourage leaving customer reviews on your content in your knowledge base.
- Analyzing data from your knowledge base can give you insights into what type of content users are searching for and what areas need improvement.
- You can also conduct surveys by asking common questions about what they like and don’t like.
- Encourage users to share their thoughts and feedback on social media platforms. This can give you a wider audience.
- Regularly gathering customer comments will help you stay up-to-date with your customer requests and preferences.
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Review and update
Regularly review and update your knowledge base to ensure it remains accurate, relevant, and effective. Also, practice using analytics tools to track usage and knowledge base performance for making necessary adjustments.
You can also schedule reviewing and updating your old knowledge bases on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. It will be helpful to improve the quality of your knowledge base. Do consider checking broken links and try to fix them as soon as possible.
In short, try keeping your content up-to-date because a well-organized and comprehensive knowledge base can also make the job of the customer support team easier. Last but not the least, try responding to your target audience’s feedback to ensure your knowledge base continues to meet their needs.
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- Detailed description
- FAQ section
- Search function
- Customer common questions
- Live chat option
- Extensive: Extensive: An effective knowledge base should have a large collection of information for users to access.
- Handy: User-friendliness is critical for the effectiveness of a knowledge base, making it simple for users to find what they need.
- Searchable: Quick access to information through a prominent search bar is also critical for the effectiveness of a knowledge base, which is why a good search functionality is essential.
- Comprehensible: An effective knowledge base must contain detailed and easy-to-understand information, allowing all users to access it.
- Authoritative: A knowledge base must provide trusted and reliable information to be effective, making it a source of authoritative information.
Build an advanced knowledge base for your customers and give them answers fast – real fast.
Take your app and help center to the next level with CloudTutorial.
FAQs
A knowledge base is an essential component of effective knowledge management. It is recommended to use dedicated knowledge base software for better customer support. The knowledge base should include:
Below are the characteristics of an effective knowledge base:
A knowledge base is a set of information, articles, and company resources organized to make it easy for users to find what they need. It helps to resolve customer issues and improve overall customer satisfaction. Some common types of articles include FAQs, video tutorials, and how-to guides.
On the other hand, a help center is a specific knowledge base that includes articles, guides, and FAQs to provide customer support. Some additional features such as ticketing systems, live chat, and forums allow customers to connect directly with customer support agents.
Conclusion
To conclude, developing a knowledge base that customers will love requires combining strategy, design, and content. Understanding your customer’s needs and preferences is essential, and designing the knowledge base around those needs is essential.
By following these seven steps, you can easily create a knowledge base that will be a valuable resource for your customers. By making information easy to find and understand, you’ll save your customers time and frustration and ultimately improve their overall experience with your business.
If you have any further queries, feel free to contact us. We would be more than happy to solve it.
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