Leveraging the All-Knowing Power of the Knowledge Base

A typical day in the life of customer service help desks is a symphony of activity — from simple queries to complex issues requiring meticulous attention. Multitasking is par for the course as teams juggle phone calls, emails, and live chats, all while trying to stay organized and track tasks as departments collaborate.

In such a dynamic landscape, efficiently resolving inquiries and issues is paramount. One modern solution? The knowledge base. So, let’s explore what it is, why it's indispensable, how to create a knowledge base, and how Issuetrak’s platform can make your customers and your team a whole lot happier.

What Is a Knowledge Base?

Imagine a treasure trove of information meticulously curated to address every conceivable customer query. That's precisely what a knowledge base entails — a centralized repository that houses: 

• How-to guides & step-by-step instructions
• FAQs 
• Troubleshooting manuals
• Company policies
• Video tutorials and demos
• Onboarding resources

Rather than having information spread out or hidden in email threads, social media conversations, forums, tickets, and even the brains of your service agents, a knowledge base is one single, accessible system where queries can quickly be answered. 

It also serves as a go-to destination for customers seeking self-serve solutions, empowering them to navigate through challenges independently – and freeing up customer service desks to address other issues.

Why Do You Need a Knowledge Base?

Statistics speak volumes: Nearly 39% of customers prefer self-service options, while a staggering 69% want to resolve issues autonomously. As your business grows, grappling with surges in support queries is inevitable and will become more difficult. This is why a knowledge base is so helpful in streamlining operations. It can easily relieve the burden on your support team while providing high-quality service and scalability.

And it’s not just one or two markets that benefit from a well-structured knowledge base. Every industry can reap its benefits, especially compliance-driven sectors where maintaining standards is a must. Here are some examples:

• Information Technology (IT): Knowledge bases simplify everything from troubleshooting to training and onboarding, plus general how-to and support questions.
  
  
• Human Resources (HR): Knowledge bases are great for everything from training and onboarding to distributing company policies and pay schedules.
  
  
• Legal: A knowledge base can help with contract and other approval processes, policies, trademarks, and registrations.
  
  
• Healthcare: Knowledge bases can provide instructions on sanitation and safety procedures, troubleshooting medical equipment, PPE manufacturer contact information, and much, much more.
  
  
• Education: Knowledge bases can be indispensable for housing student log-in instructions, using online tools for schoolwork, and providing registration and other important information to parents and students. 
  
  
• Finance: A knowledge base can provide easy access to follow-up procedures for payments, billing cycles, etc., troubleshooting support, compliance standards, and more.
  
  
• Manufacturing: A knowledge base can offer how-to’s for machinery repair or equipment information as well as employee compliance, operation standards, and more.

What Are Some More Benefits?

The advantages of a knowledge base are manifold when you have, essentially, your own dedicated Google search function within your organization’s system:

• 24/7, round-the-clock assistance
• Increased agent bandwidth and efficiency
• Lower costs
• Faster onboarding and training
• Consistent and comprehensive information
• Improved support and higher resolution rates
• Better decision-making
• Feedback loops and stakeholder engagement
• Quick access to enable all of the above

How to Create a Knowledge Base + Best Practices

Crafting an effective knowledge base demands careful planning and execution. Begin by delineating your objectives and determining whether an internal or external setup aligns with your needs and goals. 

Aggregate content systematically, using insights from user contributions and recurring problems. Make sure each department in your organization collects its own data for a smoother and more accurate process.

Structure your database so that it’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. This will help keep your costs low and free up more time for agents to work on complex issues.

Establish a foolproof maintenance plan that ensures content is updated at regular intervals and as your products or services evolve. Create a system of checks and balances to keep things standardized and updated.

These are just some easy ways Issuetrak can help you stay ahead of the curve and alleviate the burden on your customer service team.

Common Ways to Use a Knowledge Base With Issuetrak Features

Issuetrak seamlessly integrates with your workflow, offering timesaving, efficiency-enhancing synergy. Here are some ways you can leverage our Knowledge Base system: 

Combine With Custom Forms.

• • Be proactive with the recurring issues your users face. Just link a knowledge base article to your custom issue forms. This will direct any users to self-help instructions while preserving precious agent hours for more urgent items.

Combine with Issue Templates.

• • Create issue submission templates for commonly addressed issues. You can pre-define appropriate information, such as the subject, description, issue type, subtype, priority, email subscribers, attachments, etc. 
    
    
  • Issue templates also help you pre-define any workflows involved, such as the Assigned To, Next Action, Tasks, etc.
    
    
  • Similar to Custom Forms, you can pre-write descriptions with a link to a knowledge base article in templates.

Take Advantage of Quick Notes.

• • Canned responses (called Quick Notes in Issuetrak) let you define pre-fabbed blocks of text that standardize the tone, verbiage, and service quality of your responses to users. You can effortlessly bring Quick Notes into a knowledge base, or into a ticket’s notes, issue descriptions, workflows, and issue templates. 
    
    
  • Also, just as with templates, you can embed links to specific knowledge base articles in Quick Notes. Read more about our Quick Notes release here.

• • You can also create a Quick Note that auto-saves templated formatting for a new knowledge base article. With similar formatting for all your articles, you can enhance the user experience with consistent, familiar navigation and usability. 

Create a knowledge base article from an issue’s notes.

• • From within an issue in Issuetrak, you can click a button to “Create Knowledge Base article.” This will automatically open the article editor and copy over the ticket’s notes of everything agents did to solve that issue. By copying data from the ticket to an article, agents can seamlessly translate notes into a knowledge base article for future use.
    
    
  • When agents encounter frequently recurring errors, this convenient tactic saves them time from having to create articles from scratch and helps them preempt similar user problems in future cases. 

Use Issuetrak’s Knowledge Base Platform to Your Advantage – and Your Customers’

Knowledge is power. A dynamic and easy-to-use knowledge base isn't just a repository of information, it's a lifeline. By supplying customers with helpful, relevant, and easily accessible resources, you can transform customer support into a seamless, self-directed – and satisfactory journey. 

Your agents also benefit from standardized procedures and consistent responses, elevating both service quality and employee satisfaction to unprecedented heights.

The journey towards exemplary customer service begins with a single step: harnessing the power of knowledge bases with Issuetrak. Let us equip your organization with the ultimate toolkit and transform your operations and customer service operations today.