How Self-Service Knowledge Bases Empower Support Staff to Get More Done

“The customer is always right”. Yeah, and they’re super demanding too. According to Harvard Business Review, 65% of customers want their problem resolved in the first try. And, over 60% of customers believe that knowledgeable employees is crucial to providing good customer service. Enter: customer service knowledge bases.

A knowledge base system is a customer support tool that helps employees access the information they need. It’s a “self-service” platform, too.

Knowledge bases can be implemented internally, where only employees from an organization can use it, or externally, where it’s primarily designed to provide help to customers. All businesses can benefit from one whichever way they decide to implement it.

In this post, we will discuss how a self-service knowledge base helps support teams to up their performance and productivity.

Increase support productivity with a knowledge base

Knowledge acquisition

Can you use a customer support tool to train your employees? As it turns out, yes, you can.

By using a knowledge base to store various training content, including quizzes and guides, employees will be empowered to acquire new skills more quickly. A knowledge base can also serve as an information hub that can promote social learning, as employees share important information amongst themselves, start learning networks, collaborate and contribute.

Build stronger relationships with customers

If a customer is asking customer support staff for certain information that they might not have, the knowledge base can be used to find that information, and fast. This of course results in a satisfied customer, as well as a more knowledgeable employee. A good and efficient knowledge base will allow your support team to address issues faster, and without fail.

Acquaint non-client facing team with the organizational processes

Training the non-client facing team isn’t an easy task. But it’s made easier if a knowledge base is kept up-to-date, and its very existence affords non-client facers the ability to access information at their own convenience. This helps to address any ‘knowledge gap’ issues and makes the onboarding process more effective.

Efficient organizational information sharing

Knowledge bases are a valuable resource, the resource that all employees turn to for important organizational information.

Knowledge base databases are designed and structured such that different types of content are stored in different categories. For example, if the subject in question is product returns, there will be a separate folder with information on this, as well as clear steps on what needs to be done in specific situations. This way, customer support staff can easily find what they are looking for, and information sharing is a breeze.

Collaborate on a knowledge base

Improved collaboration

If an internal knowledge base is implemented, that means only the people within your organization will be able to access it. Think of it as a centralized database that contains all of the important data about your business, as well as the processes within it.

This is a very transparent information hub, and transparency is something that brings customer support staff much enjoy. As well, a knowledge base acts as a safety net for customer support employees. They can turn to it whenever they need help, and be able to find the information they need. Additionally, they can use it to see what colleagues have done, and to collaborate with them.

A customer support employee can access the following:

  • all of their past actions
  • information about customers
  • how they handled previous issues
  • information on how to solve specific issues
  • what co-workers have been up to
  • etc

Such a tool empowers customer support teams, and in-turn makes their job more enjoyable, and them, more productive.

Fewer errors

One of the challenges of customer support is to ensure that your customers are always being provided with accurate information. Providing the wrong information can have horrible effects. Not only is it not useful, it may result in the customer damaging their product, making wrong decisions, and it will most definitely leave them with a bad impression of your business. That is something no business wants… or can afford!

With a knowledge base, customer support staff can always double check and make sure that they are providing the right information. With that said, knowledge bases need to be populated with accurate information, and kept up-to-date. When new features are added to your product, besides catching bugs and making improvements, remember to add it to your knowledge base.

Share “same” response

One of the essentials of customer support is to create standards in terms of how to talk to customers, what information to give them, and what course of action to take in any given situation.
Create guides and user manuals with clear instructions on how to handle certain situations. That way, customer support personnel will rely on the same information to help customers, and take similar steps towards solving certain problems (which is essential!). Such standardization is a great stepping stone for your business to be seen as professional and reliable.

Summing up

A knowledge base is a comprehensive customer support solution that every business should utilize, irrespective of its size and industry vertical. If you want your customer support department to impress clients, having a knowledge base is a must.