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Senior Writer: Paras Kela
Date: February 28, 2024For customer support reps it is usual to get overwhelmed by innumerable customer queries. In fact, 74% of service professionals feel frustrated when they have to answer the same questions repeatedly.
So, what is the solution– a solution that will reduce the burden of the customer support reps and is also cost-savvy?
The solution is a Knowledge Base! Create a knowledge base and thank me later. Now, you may ask, ‘How to create a knowledge base?’. Well, keep reading, and you will know how to create one.
A well-designed knowledge base streamlines call center operations, making sure that agents have quick access to accurate information.
A knowledge base improves customer satisfaction, reduces resolution times, enhances agent productivity, and promotes consistency in responses.
To structure your knowledge base, organize information systematically, categorize topics, use searchable tags, and incorporate multimedia elements.
Regularly update and refine your knowledge base based on feedback, analytics, and evolving customer needs to ensure its effectiveness in addressing queries.
What is a Call Center knowledge base?
A call center knowledge base is like a big library full of helpful information for customer service agents. It has answers to common questions, guides for fixing problems, and details about products and company rules.
When agents need to help customers, they can look up the answers quickly in this library. The knowledge base is always updated to make sure the knowledge base data is accurate and useful.
Ultimately, it helps agents give better service, fix issues faster, and make sure everyone gets the right help when they need it.
Advantages of Implementing Knowledge Base Software for Call Center
Here we will discuss how your business can benefit from creating a contact center knowledge base.
1. Boost employee productivity
According to a McKinsey report, employees spend 1.8 hours every day searching for information.
Not just the support reps but also sales, marketing, and other departments contact support reps or product managers to discuss or clear a doubt. Having a centralized resource to clear doubts or learn about the product would really boost your employee productivity.
2. Bring a huge relief to your customer support reps
Mentioning FAQs and simpler solutions in the knowledge base helps support reps to focus on issues that need a higher level of expertise. It is also for the customers looking for a self-service resource to refer and help themselves.
Hence, it reduces the number of support tickets generated for naive issues that unnecessarily consume the time and efforts of support reps. Also, saves the time taken in resolving them.
3. Improve customer satisfaction rate
Technically sound and self-sustainable customers prefer resolving their issues on their own. You must have experienced issues taking lesser time to resolve on your own instead of contacting a support rep.
According to Forrester, customers prefer knowledge bases over all other self-service channels.
So, offering self-service to customers through a knowledge base positively impacts the customer satisfaction rate.
4. Promote a seamless onboarding process
A resource to refer to for the onboarding of new employees will get them prepared for their role in the organization. A knowledge base will let them explore on their own without waiting for someone’s assistance. A speedy way to find their place in the organization and start contributing.
5. Ensure 24X7 assistance
Unlike our human support reps who need rest. A customer service knowledge base can be available 24X7 to answer customers’ queries. Also, it is globally available regardless of the region it is published from.
It also helps a business stretch its help globally without relying on support reps changing shifts according to different time zones.
Best Practices for Setting Up a Call Center Knowledge Base
Creating a knowledge base is no cakewalk but if you follow a process it will feel like a breeze. Let’s discuss some of the best practices for setting up a call center knowledge base.
1. Know the purpose of your knowledge base
Is this knowledge base for the employees or customers? Here as we are discussing call centers it may seem as if it is specifically for the employees. However, it is actually a mix of both.
Once you know the targeting persona, the next step is to find out the topics to cover. You may want to start researching from the following sources:
- What are the frequently asked questions(FAQs) by the customers? This will help you pick the issues that you must cover first to ensure a reduction in support tickets.
- What is the current response rate? This will help you measure how effective your knowledge base is.
2. Develop an easy design and robust structure
Three core elements must be included when designing a knowledge base:
- A set of Frequently asked questions(FAQs)
- An option to Contact Support
- An Effective Search Function
Make sure there is a creative design and proper structure to your knowledge base. As mentioned above a knowledge base isn’t just about providing support but also relates to user experience or customer expectation. As a common practice, it is prominent to mention knowledge base articles on Home Page.
Below is an example of Evernote that clearly conveys how listing documents on the home page could be visually appealing and easy to access:
Evernote’s design is apt to take inspiration from. The design is such that it lets you search and navigate between content categories such as ‘Troubleshooting‘, ‘Tips’, ‘Tutorials’ etc. Other categories you may want to include could be by roles such as beginner, intermediate & expert.
3. Preparing content for the knowledge base
Once the structure and discoverability are sorted it is time to put out content that will help the readers to get a quicker solution to customer’s query. Support agents are well aware of the topics that need to be covered in the documentation. You may also want to find FAQs from the queries in the customer support queue.
Suggestions from sales and marketing personnel must be considered while preparing a knowledge base. Then make a list of all topics and categorize them.
Here are some tips to follow before you start creating your knowledge base documentation:
- Pick an illustrative title.
- Content must be descriptive.
- Mention helpful resources by linking to them as a source.
- Put FAQs in your support-ticket auto-responder and Chabot
Well, that covers the text-based content. So, what about the video content?
Is video content not a part of the knowledge base document?
Instead of starting a debate over which one is more effective – it is recommended to combine both. People love options, be it support reps or customers. Hence, blend text, video and screenshots to make your documentation engaging.
4. Adding visuals to your call center knowledge base
Remember how we liked and quickly grasped pictorial representation of the concepts that were tough to learn. Even here the same approach is needed for the support reps to identify a quicker solution. It also makes the content engaging instead of dull documentation.
As mentioned above, visually appealing solutions having screenshots or videos would really make the learning engaging, interesting, and easy to understand. You can use a screenshot extension to take screenshots and include them in your documentation.
5. Make sure the content is accessible
The next vital step while creating a knowledge base is to make sure that the content is accessible. The content must be optimized for search and according to the content standards.
Remember, a knowledge base is to help support reps find quicker solutions. Therefore a robust search system is indispensable for knowledge base documentation.
6. Review, Revise, & Publish
This is a continuous process to be carried out on a regular basis. However, before you publish your knowledge base documentation below are some vital aspects to consider:
- Domain/Subdomain:
It is vital to decide whether your knowledge base will have its own domain or will it be a subdomain of the root domain. - User Access Levels: You may provide different roles to professionals in the organization to access your knowledge base documentation. To ensure it is time-savvy, the ones with editorial rights may not need to get the corrections or additions reviewed.
And some professionals could be assigned the role to access the document as read-only. Making use of access levels helps to keep the documentation protected. And can keep away from unnecessary edits.
Once these aspects are taken care of, your knowledge base is ready to be shared with the world. So, go on ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button to make it live. Remember, this knowledge base once published will be an ongoing process with new issues to cover.
7. Update your knowledge base regularly
A knowledge base needs an active update just like your product, service, and support reps. Neglecting the knowledge base after publishing is not wise. Innovation must be a standard across all assets of your organization.
If not your product or service, Google will always update its algorithm and for that, you must keep your pages accordingly optimized. Follow the same process in the creation of new articles for new features or content regarding a new product.
8. Measure effectiveness & improve performance
In order to know how well your knowledge base is doing, you can add a reporting feature. This will work as feedback on each article that is rated positively for providing an effective solution. Not just that, the knowledge base report will also include metrics such as the number of times that page was viewed, whether it was helpful or not, etc.
9. Gather feedback and improve
Having a report to help you take insights from is always helpful. However, people don’t always initiate feedback. So, ensure you are all ears to work on the critical statements made by your customers or some issue that support reps were discussing.
There is always a scope for improvement. A knowledge base may be complete for now but it never ends.
Pro Tip: Prioritize ongoing maintenance and updates for your call center knowledge base software. Regularly review and refine content based on customer feedback and evolving needs. This ensures the knowledge base remains relevant, accurate, and valuable for both agents and customers.
How to Select the Right Call Center Knowledge Base Software
When choosing the right call center knowledge base software, it’s important to consider several factors to ensure it meets the needs of your business and enhances your customer service operations.
Here are some tips to help you select the best software for your call center:
A. Assess Your Needs
Before exploring different software options, take the time to assess your call center’s specific requirements. Consider factors such as the size of your team, the volume of customer inquiries, the complexity of your products or services, and any unique features or functionalities you may need.
B. Evaluate Ease of Use
Look for a knowledge base software that is intuitive and easy to use for both agents and administrators. The software should have a user-friendly interface that allows call center agents to quickly access and update knowledge base articles without requiring extensive training.
C. Consider Integration Capabilities
Choose a knowledge base software that seamlessly integrates with your existing systems and tools, such as your CRM platform or help desk software. This integration will enable agents to access relevant customer information and provide personalized support more efficiently.
D. Look for Customization Options
Opt for a knowledge base software that offers customization options, allowing you to tailor the interface and features to meet your specific needs. Look for features such as customizable templates, branding options, and flexible content organization to create a knowledge base that aligns with your brand identity and workflow.
E. Prioritize Collaboration Features
Collaboration is essential for maintaining an up-to-date and accurate knowledge base. Choose a software that includes collaboration tools, such as version control, commenting, and workflow management, to enable your team to work together seamlessly to create and update knowledge base content.
F. Ensure Scalability
Select a knowledge base software that can grow with your business and accommodate future expansion. Look for a solution that offers scalability options, such as the ability to add users, increase storage capacity, and support multiple languages, to ensure it can meet your evolving needs as your call center grows.
G. Consider Analytics and Reporting
Choose a knowledge base software that provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities to track usage, measure performance, and identify areas for improvement. Also, look for features such as real-time reporting, customizable dashboards, and integration with analytics tools.
By carefully considering these factors, you can find the right knowledge base software that will help you streamline your customer service operations and deliver exceptional support experiences to your customers.
Top 5 Call Center Knowledge Base Software Providers
Here are 5 top call center knowledge base software providers that you can consider for your customer service operations.
1. Zendesk Guide
Zendesk Guide is a leading call center knowledge base software or a knowledge management software that is known for its user-friendly interface and robust features. With Zendesk Guide, call center agents can easily create, organize, and update knowledge base articles, FAQs, self service content, and documentation.
The software offers seamless integration with other Zendesk products, allowing for a comprehensive customer service solution. Additionally, Zendesk Guide includes advanced analytics and reporting tools to track knowledge base usage and identify areas for improvement.
2. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a popular call center knowledge base platform that offers a range of features to support efficient customer service operations. With Freshdesk, agents can create and manage knowledge base articles, FAQs, and self-service portals to empower customers to find answers to their questions independently.
The software also includes collaboration tools, allowing agents to work together to resolve complex issues more effectively. Freshdesk offers customizable templates and branding options to create a personalized knowledge base that aligns with the company’s brand identity.
3. Salesforce Knowledge
Salesforce Knowledge is a robust call center knowledge base software solution designed to enhance customer service productivity and effectiveness. Integrated with the Salesforce CRM platform, Salesforce Knowledge enables agents to access relevant information quickly and efficiently during customer interactions.
Salesforce Knowledge also offers powerful search capabilities, making it easy for agents to find knowledge base articles, product information, and troubleshooting guides. Additionally, Salesforce Knowledge includes collaboration features, allowing agents to contribute to and update knowledge base content in real-time.
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4. Helpjuice
Helpjuice is a versatile call center knowledge base software provider known for its simplicity and flexibility. With Helpjuice, businesses can create and manage knowledge base articles, FAQs, and documentation with ease.
Additionally, the software offers customizable templates and branding options, allowing businesses to create a knowledge base that reflects their unique brand identity. Helpjuice also includes powerful analytics and reporting tools, enabling businesses to track knowledge base usage and measure its impact on customer satisfaction.
5. Nuclino Knowledge Base Software
Nuclino knowledge base system is a comprehensive call center knowledge base software solution designed to empower organizations to deliver exceptional employee experience. Also, with Nuclino knowledge base software, businesses can create, organize, and update knowledge base articles, FAQs, and documentation quickly and easily.
The tool also comes with advanced customization options, allowing businesses to tailor their knowledge base to meet their specific needs and preferences. Moreover, Nuclino knowledge base also includes collaboration features, enabling support teams to work together to create and maintain knowledge base content effectively.
Conclusion
Creating a knowledge base will help you take your customer service to the next level instead of hiring support reps. Numerous positives to take a decision; starting from saving cost on investment in support executives to increased customer satisfaction.
It will help the call centers focus on educating customers instead of dwelling their time in reacting to the support tickets. A customer service knowledge base can prove to be hugely positive for an organization.
FAQs
What features should I look for in call center knowledge base software?
You should look for easy-to-use features like article creation, search functionality, and analytics. Also, consider customization options, collaboration tools, and integration capabilities.
Can call center knowledge base software integrate with other systems?
Yes, call center knowledge base software can integrate with other systems like CRM platforms, ticketing systems, and communication tools. This ensures a smooth flow of information across different channels.
Paras Kela is a highly skilled SaaS content writer with over 7 years of experience in the IT field. His expertise lies in simplifying complex technical concepts for easy comprehension. With a portfolio of over 100 high-quality blogs covering various SaaS topics, Paras’s writing style is engaging, informative, and SEO-friendly, ensuring maximum effectiveness. He continuously updates his skills and knowledge to stay current with industry trends, making his writing relevant and reliable.
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