Best practices for creating a successful knowledge base

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<p class="p">There’s nothing quite as empowering as solving a problem on your own. When it comes to
customer support, 73% of consumers want to solve product or service issues on their own,
and 90% of consumers now expect a brand or organization to offer a self-service customer
support portal (source: Zendesk research 2023).</p>
<p class="p">Self-service support equips customers with round-the-clock information without having to
wait for a response. It is one of the lowest-cost channels for providing excellent
customer service and high resolution rates. However, the success of online self-service
depends on the quality, quantity, and accessibility of your company’s knowledge-base
content. To provide helpful self-service, businesses need to build a knowledge base with
relevant content that addresses customers’ biggest questions.</p>
<p class="p">If you're using AI-powered features that draw information from your help center content,
a strong knowledge base is even more critical, as it will improve the quality and
accuracy of automated responses. A comprehensive help center with well-written, focused
articles will lead to better results for your article suggestions and generative
replies.</p>
<p class="p">When it comes to launching and maintaining a help center, companies often have to weigh
competing priorities, including the need for a quick launch, the importance of covering
a wide range of topics, and the desire to free up agents to respond directly to
customers. Whether you have a help center and are looking to quickly expand your
content, or you are starting from the ground up, you can explore one or more of the
following phases to help you build your knowledge base: </p>
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<strong class="ph b">Phase 1: Concept and initiation</strong> - Consider the goals of your organization
and identify primary users and key contributors.</li>
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<strong class="ph b">Phase 2: Content planning and creation</strong> - Uncover common issues to
populate the knowledge base and create high-quality, engaging content quickly
and efficiently.</li>
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<strong class="ph b">Phase 3: Launch</strong> - Boost awareness and promote your knowledge base, and
leverage AI agents to boost automated resolutions.</li>
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<strong class="ph b">Phase 4: Analyze and optimize</strong> - Monitor the performance of your knowledge
base and ensure ongoing improvement.</li>
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<p class="p">Check out our visual guide for building a successful knowledge base:</p>
<p class="p"><a class="xref" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQX-z-Jdl5RbmsT_omQozfKozXr8xRyx2WnXeP7bpO5Nrae2TIaCt9pd8qDnAdjAWjnIAMgAp56CbS1/embed?start=false&amp;loop=false&amp;delayms=3000&amp;slide=id.g1f7f1140fe3_0_0" target="_blank">View full size</a></p>
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<div class="non-responsive"><iframe class="iframe embed-responsive-item" controls="controls" height="439" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQX-z-Jdl5RbmsT_omQozfKozXr8xRyx2WnXeP7bpO5Nrae2TIaCt9pd8qDnAdjAWjnIAMgAp56CbS1/embed?start=false&amp;loop=false&amp;delayms=3000" width="730"></iframe></div>
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