Create and curate an effective Knowledge Base

Today’s customers are more inquisitive and informed than ever. They demand an explanation for everything and expect complete accuracy in the explanation. By bombarding you with ifs, whats, hows and whys, they might seem to be troublesome. However, they have the potential to bring out the best of your customer service.

You only need to have two points in mind while dealing with such customers. One, you should cultivate the art of patience and two, you shouldn’t take shots in the dark while providing solutions. While the former needs some level of practice, the latter has a relatively easier fix: maintaining a Knowledge Base.

What is a Knowledge Base?

It’s a collection of material with everything you need to know about your product or service. Whether the solution to an issue or an additional feature, the Knowledge Base is a repository of such information. For your customer service to continually improve and provide a great experience, you need to have content that enriches your quality of responses. And a Knowledge Base does that.

Here are some of the numerous benefits that you’ll experience when you have a Knowledge Base:

• Find a resolution in the first interaction: Whenever an agent is assigned an issue, a considerable amount of time is spent searching for the solution, leading to call transfers and unnecessary delays. By having a Knowledge Base, solutions are within reach and the agents have the resources to resolve issues within the first few minutes of the interaction. It is a win-win situation for both customers and agents,  enhancing agent productivity and satisfying customers with the quality of service.
• Reduction in ticket volume: Not all issues require an intervention with a contact center agent. The solutions for these issues are as simple as a snap of a finger. In such cases, write an article and share it with your customers. You might be surprised by the reduction in ticket traffic.
• Material for agent training: During the onboarding process, you need the right material to train agents. With the Knowledge Base in hand, you can train them with up-to-date information.

Now that we know what a Knowledge Base is and how it can enhance your customer service, here are some tips to create the perfect Knowledge Base:

• Focus on frequently searched terms:  Before contacting a customer service rep, customers first type their issue in the portal. Only if they fail to see any results do they contact the rep. Look at your failed keywords to get an idea of what issue you need to work on.
• Customize your articles: While drafting articles you need to have a clear idea of how you want the article organized and presented. By fixing the formatting and tone of the article, you create consistency and convey the voice of your business.
• Get your team involved: Creating articles on a regular basis isn’t easy but you can ease the burden by bringing your team into the picture. Encourage them to post and review articles. Your team will not only be more involved in customer service process but will also pack a punch with some really good content.
• Divide and conquer your base(s): Your business might have different departments. Maintaining a single Knowledge Base for different departments can be taxing for agents and customers alike. Provide different Knowledge Bases for different departments to clear up any confusion.

After creating a Knowledge Base for your team, you may ask yourself: how do I maintain the Knowledge Base? Here are some tips that might help you:

• Keep track of the feedback: Collecting feedback and working on it is a reliable way to maintain the quality of your Knowledge Base. When you find that an article isn’t good enough based on the number of dislikes, you can analyze what went wrong and review (or even rewrite) it.
• Stay in trend: When the times are changing, you need to be in tune with it. What was a perfect solution five months (or even days) ago might not be the same today. Stay up to date with the changes and let your articles convey the same.
• Ensure the visibility of the articles: Whenever customers search the customer portal for articles, make sure your articles contain the same keywords that your customers type, and when writing, make sure the articles and language are easy to understand.
• Analyze the utility of the articles: Monitor the value of each article by scrutinizing the number of times each has been used in a ticket. When you find that a particular article has been used many times, it means that your business should look into the issue as soon as possible.

Make the saying, ‘Knowledge is wealth’ a reality and harvest the wealth of customer satisfaction and agent productivity with a powerful Knowledge Base.