What is a Customer Support Knowledge Base?

Knowledge-based software solutions centralize information, organize it, and make it easy to search. You can use it internally (for employees), externally (for customers), or both!

You know the importance of improving the customer experience but may need clarification on what customer support knowledge base software will help you achieve this. Knowledge is power for your support staff and customers, and the best way to leverage it is by sharing relevant and informative content that allows them to resolve issues independently. 

This means faster customer resolutions and greater authority and expertise on your end. Yet, not every customer support knowledge base is created equal, and it’s important to do your research and choose the solution that will be the best fit for your business. Here’s everything you need to know to ensure a successful knowledge management implementation.

What Is Customer Support Knowledge Base Software?

The term ‘knowledge base’ can describe a centralized hub for collecting, storing, and sharing knowledge with employees or customers. However, a customer support knowledge base (CSKB) focuses on consumers, enabling support teams to enhance customer assistance. This may involve providing customers with direct access to helpful content or enabling support staff to find the necessary information to aid customers rapidly in real time. 

Companies use a customer support knowledge base to distribute knowledge to customers that educates them on industry topics, answers frequently asked questions, enlightens them, and teaches users more about your product or service. It may consist of many content types, including:

• Help articles
• FAQs
• Picture and written text guides (typically for troubleshooting)
• How-to videos
• Manuals
• Product announcements 

Incorporating a Call Center Knowledge Base

Incorporating a call center knowledge base into your customer support strategy can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your call center operations. By providing call center agents with immediate access to a comprehensive database of information, they can quickly resolve customer inquiries and issues. This leads to improved call resolution times and customer satisfaction. A well-implemented call center knowledge base also reduces training time for new agents and decreases the dependency on experienced staff, promoting a more agile and informed customer service environment.

Types of Customer Support Knowledge Base Software

Explore the two primary types of CSKBs and their associated content to determine which best suits your business needs: External knowledge bases for customer self-service and Internal Knowledge Bases for employee assistance. Understanding the distinctions can significantly impact the efficiency and effectiveness of your customer support strategy.

External Knowledge Base

An external knowledge base is a self-service knowledge base accessible to customers. It usually contains pages with answers to frequently asked questions. It may also hold user manuals, demo videos, and other troubleshooting materials, allowing customers to help themselves and have information at their fingertips.

Internal Knowledge Base

An internal knowledge base is a space for employees to share knowledge to help them deliver a better customer experience. It may contain employee training materials, company policies, product documents, and official answers to common customer questions—anything employees might need to do their jobs.

4 Benefits of a Knowledge Base Software for Customer Support

Leveraging a knowledge base for customer service enhances staff performance and provides customers with a seamless, efficient service experience. Explore the benefits, including reduced repetitive inquiries, minimized resolution times, 24/7 support availability, and heightened customer satisfaction.

1. Helps You Avoid Answering Repetitive Questions

Suppose you have many customers asking the same questions. In that case, an external customer service knowledge base can save your support team time by offering solutions to those common issues online.

About 84% of people already turn to search engines to solve their product/service problems; creating content that addresses a repetitive issue reduces the number of calls on that topic while appealing to the preferences of those who would rather troubleshoot independently

2. Minimizes Average Resolution Times

Getting to the next customer as quickly as possible without sacrificing the quality of your service is crucial to keeping everyone happy. However, keeping up with complex issues and a high volume of calls is also extremely challenging. This can put a lot of stress on your team, especially since 90% of people cite a response time of 10 minutes or less as ‘very important’ to their brand experience.

Fortunately, an effective internal knowledge base will minimize average resolution times by making it easy for support agents to look up helpful information. This will allow team members more time to answer more customer questions. 

3. Delivers Around-the-Clock Support

With the advancement in technology and high expectations in customer service, it’s no longer enough to only be available to your customers during the typical nine-to-five workdays. Customers want around-the-clock access to companies that can answer questions about products/services and resolve any issues they may have.

An external customer service knowledge base does just that by providing the content they need from your company to solve problems anytime, anywhere. 

4. Enhances Customer Happiness

One of the major benefits of a knowledge base for customer service is giving your customers what they want and, in turn, making them happy. Customer satisfaction directly relates to their experience with your company’s support—whether through human contact or digital research. It’s simple: customers will be happier if you provide a positive experience.

These happy customers will generate more business because they are satisfied with your company. 93% of customers will likely repeat purchases at places with excellent customer service. If your customer service experience is especially memorable, you may also see an uptick in word-of-mouth. 

How to Choose the Right Customer Support Knowledge Base Software

Selecting the appropriate customer support knowledge base software is critical. Consider factors such as support style, user experience, customization and flexibility, scalability, and pricing to ensure the best fit for your business. Bloomfire’s software, for example, offers comprehensive solutions for internal and external knowledge bases, ensuring businesses can effectively organize and access their knowledge bases according to their unique needs and customer demands.

Style of Support

The style of knowledge base you need will depend on your company’s needs and goals, and every customer service knowledge base will vary in primary focus to a certain degree. Some solutions are focused primarily (or only) on helping businesses build an external knowledge base, while others are intended only for internal (employee) use. 

Bloomfire’s knowledge management software supports both internal and external knowledge bases, making it easy for businesses to design and organize their knowledge bases in the format that makes the most sense for their employees or customers.  

User Experience

You also want to consider the user experience of each platform when making your decision. Knowledge-based content offers your customers and employees the most value when they can easily find and share the information they’re searching for online. So, in this case, you’ll want to explore the categorization and structure of content, the quality of search, and the content’s shareability.

After all, the whole point of getting a knowledge base for customer service is to improve the user experience for your staff. Hence, they’re more efficient and productive, and so is the consumer experience, so your customers are happier with the interaction. 

Customization and Flexibility

Every company is different, so the same one-size-fits-all approach to your knowledge base will not generate the results you’re hoping to achieve. You need the ability to tailor the platform and add integrations to other tools your customer-facing staff uses so they can easily find knowledge in the flow of work. 

You’ll want to ensure the amount of technical knowledge needed to operate the software is minimal. Employees should be able to access information without an IT background. The same goes for integrating the system with your company’s tools—the process should be seamless.

Scalability

The whole purpose of boosting effectiveness and efficiency in customer service is to grow your company and its bottom line. This is why you must also consider the scalability of your top knowledge base solutions before deciding which one to invest in. 

Ask yourself the following question: which will allow you to quickly expand and restructure information as needed when your company grows? Weed out any options that pose a risk for holding your business back from being the best it can be. 

Pricing

Although it is the most apparent component to consider when choosing a knowledge base, it is among the most important. This is because the most expensive option does not equate to being the best in the industry, just as the cheapest may or may not be the worst.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. The key here is to evaluate which offers the best value in pricing—i.e., the price of the product/service versus what you get from it. Look at your potential vendors’ customer case studies to better understand the value other users are getting from the platform, and if available, see if the vendors have ROI metrics from their current customer base.

Enhance Your Customer Service with an Effective Knowledge Base

Implementing an efficient customer support knowledge base can transform your customer service operations. By providing your team with the right tools and resources, such as Bloomfire’s comprehensive knowledge base software, you can ensure that your staff and customers have the information they need when needed. This leads to faster resolutions, higher customer satisfaction, and a more informed support team. Whether you aim to enhance your customer service knowledge base or integrate a robust call center knowledge base, the right strategy and tools will pave the way for a more effective, streamlined support experience. Invest in the right customer support knowledge base software to empower your team and delight your customers, setting your business apart in today’s competitive market.

Elevate Your Customer Service Strategy

Unlock the full potential of your customer service operations with the right knowledge base.

Explore Bloomfire’s Support Platform