• Customers love it: According to Forrester, customers prefer the knowledge base over other channels of self-service. Another study by Social media today claims that a staggering “91% of customers would use an online knowledge base if it were available and tailored to their needs.”
• Reduces support calls and boosts traffic: As per research by the CRM Magazine, 45% of organizations that offer web or mobile self-service options witnessed a boost in website traffic and a reduction in phone inquiries. Further research by HBR claims that “Improving your Help section can reduce the number of calls by 5%.”
• Unlimited scope: According to Gartner, 15% of all customer service interactions will be completely handled by AI by 2021–an increase of 400% from 2017.

Clearly, businesses that do not develop a comprehensive and robust knowledge base will be at a competitive disadvantage going forward. To that end, let’s look at how you can build a knowledge base– one that:

• Empowers your customers to self-serve
• And literally takes over some of the repetitive and routine tasks that your CX team is typically burdened with–leaving them with valuable time to focus on looking after disgruntled customers.

Top 3 Dos for Establishing a Robust Knowledge Base Software

1. Review and update the knowledge base regularly

Let’s set the record straight: An outdated knowledge base is worse than not having one at all. This means no hyperlinks to a dead-end, no outdated instructions or imagery, no typos, you get the drift, right? Lyft’s knowledge base page uses a “Tips” section to assist drivers in creating a better customer experience. What makes it interesting is the use of updated videos and blogs that offer readers a visually- and textually-enriching experience:

The whole point of using a knowledge base tool is to offer accurate and real-time support to customers–which is only possible if the information that’s been integrated is updated constantly. In other words, if your products and services are constantly being updated, your knowledge base too will require regular upkeep.

Pro tip: Make sure to do regular surprise audits of your knowledge base to find out which pages are most visited and which ones are least visited to make iterations accordingly.

2. Use chatbot and live chat for real-time support

The use of conversational AI, a.k.a, chatbots, and live chat can not only replicate the customer-agent experience but also enhance it. How so? Here are three compelling reasons:

• Chatbots can work 24×7, assisting your customers and pointing them in the right direction without taking any sick leaves, casual leaves, coffee breaks, and so on.
• Live chat and chatbots can offer instant, contextual, and reliable support, eliminating the need for customers to “hold the line” or “wait in the queue” to resolve their queries. This also reduces the customer’s frustration and makes the experience more positive, as Yoast’s knowledge base demonstrates below:

• These ‘intelligent’ AI tools can personalize the customer experience by offering relevant suggestions and providing contextual support.

3. Keep your brand positioning in mind

Your knowledge base should align with your company’s branding–this includes the content tone, style, and voice. 

You should also pay close attention to the smaller details such as formatting, the kind of imagery being used, etc., to provide users with a consistent experience. Asana’s knowledge base is an excellent example to consider:

Here’s a helpful process to get you started:

Step 1: Write the content by factoring in the visuals and graphics you want to use.

Step 2: Think about segregating your content into neat and organized categories so that the information seems logically placed, not chaotically.

Step 3: If the information seems too overwhelming, start with the basics and then move onto the more advanced topics. 

Step 4: Keep updating your knowledge base as your company evolves to ensure that it is always up-to-date.

Voila, you have an intuitive knowledge base ready!

Top 4 Don’ts for Establishing a Robust Knowledge Base Software

1. Say goodbye to industry jargon

Nobody likes to read jargon-heavy content–much less your time-pressed customers. In other words, keep the language easy-to-digest and simple to the extent possible:

If your content centers around complex topics that are difficult to dumb down, include credible third-party links or short videos to explain the concept.

2. Do not make login mandatory for use

Along similar veins as the last point, assume that your customers need the information ‘yesterday’ and build a knowledge base that works overtime to provide users all the data they need right away. This, of course, includes doing away with the whole song and dance about logging into the account. 

As a thumb rule, make sure that your knowledge base is freely accessible to anyone and everyone, on-the-go.

3. Don’t engage in data dumping

Repeat after us: When it comes to deciding what kind of data you’ll want to use for your knowledge base, quality wins over quantity any day. While it may sound tempting to simply dump topic after topic that you think your users might find useful, it can leave them annoyed, or worse, overwhelmed mid-way. So make sure to structure the content you’re going to use and ensure that it is as user-friendly as it can get. Additionally, a logically structured knowledge base–complete with relevant categories and collections– is also easier to maintain and navigate. Take a look at Canva’s knowledge base for some serious inspiration:

At the end of the day, you want customers to save time and get answers upfront instead of fishing for answers in a maze-like knowledge base.  

4. Don’t overshadow your support options

Companies that try to hide critical support options such as contact number, email address, social media links, etc. within their knowledge base invite unnecessary moments of friction and frustration in the customer’s user experience. 

The more you are upfront about offering relevant support options to your customers, the more seamless and superior their experience will be–as Dyson’s knowledge base page demonstrates below:

Companies can also create QR codes for use in product packaging or on the product, linking to the customer knowledge base for an improved user experience. 

Closing Thoughts

If growth is your business’ true North Star, you cannot hope to scale your CX support without an in-depth knowledge base. The end goal is to provide your customers with real-time, relevant information at the right time and as conveniently as possible. This is where a knowledge base truly shines.

Today’s customers are wired for instant gratification and getting immediate and accurate support for common problems relating to your product/business should be no exception. So follow these best practices outlined above and take your customer experience to newer heights, without driving your business into the ground.

The post The Dos and Don’ts of Establishing a Customer Service Knowledge Base appeared first on SiteProNews.

According to IBM’s study, businesses can save up to 30% on their customer support costs by integrating a chatbot in their frontline staff. 

Besides customer support, chatbots also double up as sales and marketing tools. Even data suggests that modern users are open to purchasing from a chatbot.

Millennials, who form the largest percentage of users for many companies, are twice as likely to use a chatbot that assures a personalized shopping experience. The benefits of chatbots are also not limited to any industry. According to Chatbots Life, the top five sectors that have benefitted from the incorporation of chatbots are real estate (28%), travel (16%), education (14%), healthcare (10%), and finance (5%).

As you can see, chatbots can revolutionize your business’s core aspects with substantial benefits, both in terms of revenue and customer experience. Here are some key benefits of using chatbots in your business that you shouldn’t miss out on:

Chatbots Help in Reducing Operational Costs

A bot launched by JP Morgan Chase & Co can analyze complex legal contracts at a much faster rate than humans. This bot named COIN can complete several labor-intensive tasks in a few seconds, which otherwise used to take lawyers over 360,000 hours a year to complete. Shocking, isn’t it? Well, this is just one example of what chatbots can achieve for your business.

Automation in customer service is another critical area that can reduce costs for businesses. Research indicates that 29% of customer service positions in the US can be automated through chatbots, saving businesses $23 billion annually. In case you are wondering how this is possible, you’ll be excited to know that chatbots can be trained to answer repetitive queries without human involvement in any industry, reducing the burden on your customer support team. Chatbots can also engage multiple customers at a time, increasing your support team’s overall productivity. 

In general, investing in a chatbot can save you the additional costs of hiring more agents. You also don’t have to worry about scaling up or scaling down because a single chatbot can take care of a multitude of requests. From a business perspective, this leads to more tasks being completed at a lower cost, leading to increased profitability.

Chatbots also come in handy for streamlining your internal workflows. They can be used to communicate with employees, answer questions within the organization, and even finish HR-related jobs. Additionally, you may use your chatbot for designing an automated onboarding process and building an internal knowledge database for your employees. 

Chatbots Improve Customer Service

Speed and efficiency are the two main pillars of effective customer service. Unfortunately, it is often a challenge to provide instantaneous service on phone or chat, especially during peak times, owing to staff and cost-related limitations. Chatbots solve this issue by delivering immediate customer service around the clock.

This is important because 82% of buyers expect you to respond to their queries in a span of 10 minutes or less. A third of your customers also feel frustrated if they have to wait too long for resolution or repeat themselves to customer service representatives multiple times. Chatbots can turnaround the situation by answering up to 80% of routine queries instantly. 

The success of chatbots in customer service is reflected by the fact that 37% of users depend upon chatbots for quick query resolution in urgent situations.

Besides speedy service, chatbots work 24/7, which means your business never sleeps once you have a chatbot onboard. This is especially useful for lead generation as your chatbot will take down all the necessary details from visitors, even when your staff is sleeping. Customers who prefer self-service also enjoy interacting with chatbots that can direct them to relevant FAQs or connect them with live agents in case a simple resolution is not possible. 

Chatbots are Endlessly Patient

Endless calls, repetitive queries, deadlines, customer goals; there’s a lot of pressure that your support agents face every day. It is only human if they lose patience at times, especially when dealing with demanding customers. Thankfully, bots are still incapable of emotions and don’t feel frustrated or impatient even when asked the same question several thousand times.

Thus, bots not only help you provide your customers with fast and efficient service; they also don’t get bored, tired, or frustrated, ensuring consistent customer service at all times.

Chatbots Can Personalize Your Marketing Experience 

Customers no longer want to be treated like numbers. They expect businesses to reach out to them with customized recommendations and offers. Chatbots help you curate personalized shopping experiences for your customers by analyzing their browsing data and reaching out to them with relevant offers when they are most likely to act on them. Besides targeted marketing, chatbots also improve engagement and sales by pro-actively reaching out to your site visitors.

For example, your chatbot can initiate a conversation to inform visitors about ongoing sales and promotions. Suppose a visitor spends more time on a page, your bot can ask them what they are looking for, and also suggest suitable options to make the overall experience convenient and time-saving. Most users love this kind of service, which is similar to being assisted by a personal shopper in a brick and mortar store. Most importantly, chatbot software can be integrated with your messaging apps and existing CRM to collect, store, and update user data centrally for a higher degree of personalization.

Grow Your Business with Chatbots

AI-powered chatbots have turned around customer service as we knew it. By enabling swift customer service at all times, chatbots make it easier for your business to meet customer expectations and exceed them as well. 

The best thing about chatbots is that they improve with usage. This means the more the customers interact with your chatbot, the better it will understand them and guide them to the right resolution.

In addition to customer service, bots can be employed in several other areas like sales and marketing, budgeting, HR, and streamlining internal workflows. Unsurprisingly, 80% of entrepreneurs are expected to use chatbots by the end of 2020. So, if you still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, it is time that you do to leverage all the fantastic benefits that chatbots can bring to your business in addition to increased profitability and growth.

The post Top Ways in Which Chatbots Benefit Your Business appeared first on SiteProNews.