Why Every SaaS Business Needs a Knowledge Base: Benefits and Best Practices
SaaS businesses operate in a highly competitive landscape where customer retention is critical for sustainable growth. It's well-known that retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, making customer success a top priority for any SaaS business. However, providing effective customer support can be challenging, especially for fast-growing businesses that need to scale up quickly. The increasing complexity of products, features, and use cases can overwhelm customer support, leading to frustration on both sides. However, there is a solution to this problem: a knowledge base.
In this blog, we'll explore a knowledge base, why it's an essential tool for SaaS businesses and the best practices for creating and maintaining one.
What is a Knowledge Base?
A knowledge base is a centralized information library containing valuable resources, articles, tutorials, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Think of it as a self-service tool that enables users to quickly find answers to their questions without relying on customer support teams.
Benefits of Having a Knowledge Base for SaaS Business
For SaaS businesses, a knowledge base can be a game-changer. It's an essential tool that can help improve customer experience and retention rates while reducing the burden on customer support teams.
Let's look at the key benefits of having a knowledge base.
1.Improves onboarding
One of the primary benefits of having a knowledge base for a SaaS business is that it can significantly improve the onboarding process for new users. For any SaaS business, onboarding is critical to the user journey. It's the first interaction users have with the product that sets the tone for their entire experience.
Nonetheless, the process of onboarding can pose significant challenges, especially for SaaS companies offering intricate products or features. Without adequate support, users might encounter difficulties comprehending product usage, resulting in frustration and an unsatisfactory user experience. This is precisely where a knowledge base plays a crucial role.
A well-designed knowledge base can give users the guidance they need to start the product quickly and easily. By offering tutorials, step-by-step guides, and helpful tips, a knowledge base can help users easily navigate the product, reducing the learning curve and improving the overall onboarding experience.
2. Lowers churn
It's a no-brainer that high churn rates can be a worrisome issue for any business, especially SaaS businesses, which run on monthly plans. As mentioned earlier, churn can result from poor customer experience and lack of support, often traced back to a lack of easily accessible information.
Users who can't find what they're looking for may become frustrated and decide to cancel their subscription or switch to a competitor. This can be a significant setback for SaaS businesses, leading to lost revenue and damaging their reputation.
However, a well-structured knowledge base can help mitigate these issues. By providing users with a comprehensive library of articles and resources, businesses can empower their users to find the information they need when they need it. This, in turn, can lead to a better overall experience and reduce churn rates, helping businesses to retain their existing customers and grow their customer base over time.
3. Lowers the dependency on humans
A knowledge base reduces the dependency on human support, which means that customers can find the answers to their questions independently without relying on customer support teams. This is beneficial because not only does it provide a faster resolution to queries, but it also reduces the workload on the customer support team. According to research, up to 91% of customers prefer finding the answers to their questions on their own, without having to call customer support. In addition, when customers cannot find the answers to their queries, they are likely to move on to a competitor, which is why having a comprehensive knowledge base is crucial to retaining customers.
Also, as businesses grow, the volume of customer queries and support requests can quickly become overwhelming, leading to longer wait times and overworked support teams. By having a knowledge base that answers common queries and provides resources for self-help, businesses can reduce the number of support tickets and free up time for support teams to focus on more complex issues. This, in turn, can lead to faster resolution times, higher productivity, and increased customer satisfaction.
4. Reduces the turnaround time
A well-maintained knowledge base can also help reduce the turnaround time for customer queries. When customers have access to a library of resources that can answer their questions, they don't have to wait for customer support teams to respond to their queries. This is particularly helpful for businesses with customers in different time zones, as it can be challenging to provide 24/7 customer support.
Furthermore, with traditional customer support, customers have to wait for their support tickets to reach the right set of people, which can take hours or even days. However, with a knowledge base, customers can quickly find answers to their queries, significantly reducing the turnaround time for support requests. This not only leads to higher customer satisfaction rates but also allows customer support teams to focus on more complex queries that require human intervention.
5. Makes your operations cost-effective
For SaaS businesses, particularly those that are just starting up, every penny counts. It can be challenging to allocate resources to a dedicated customer support team while also investing in product development and marketing. This is where a knowledge base can be a lifesaver. By providing customers with a self-service option, businesses can reduce the need for a large customer support team, saving money on labor costs. Moreover, by using analytics and tracking tools, businesses can identify the most frequently asked questions and create articles that address those queries, reducing the volume of support tickets and further optimizing operational costs.
6. Builds Authority and Trust
Having a knowledge base that's regularly updated with helpful and relevant content can help establish your business as an authority in your industry. By providing users with a rich source of information and demonstrating a deep understanding of their needs and pain points, you can build trust and credibility with your customers. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, as well as positive word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews, all of which can help grow your business. Additionally, having a knowledge base that's accessible to anyone, even non-customers can also help attract potential customers and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
7. Keep Your Users on Your Website
Another significant benefit of having a knowledge base for SaaS businesses is that it can help keep users on their websites. When customers have to leave the website to search for answers to their questions, they may never return. A comprehensive knowledge base not only answers customer queries but also ensures that the customer stays on the website longer. This can be accomplished by hosting a knowledge base on your website.
A tool like WowTo - a video knowledge base builder, is a great way to keep your users engaged and on your website. With WowTo, businesses can create and host their knowledge base directly on their website and even add a widget that helps users find answers to their questions exactly where they're looking. This increases engagement and helps build trust and authority in your brand.
Moreover, when customers spend more time on a website, it signals to search engines that it has valuable content. This can improve the website's search engine rankings, driving more organic traffic and ultimately leading to more conversions.
8. Boosts your SEO ranking
In addition to what we mentioned above, a knowledge base will contribute significantly to your SEO ranking, as it provides a wealth of relevant and valuable content for search engines to crawl and index. By creating resources and videos that address commonly asked questions and user pain points, businesses can increase their online visibility and attract potential customers who are actively searching for solutions to their problems. Not just this, incorporating relevant keywords and optimizing your content for search engines can also further improve your SEO ranking and drive more traffic to your website.
Tips to Create and Maintain a Knowledge Base for Your SaaS Business
While we've covered several benefits of having a knowledge base for a SaaS business, it's important to remember that simply having a knowledge base isn't enough. To fully leverage its potential, you need to create and maintain it effectively. In this section, we'll discuss some best practices to help you create a high-quality knowledge base that can truly benefit your business and customers.
1. Make it Look Like a Part of Your Website.
When creating a knowledge base, it's important to make sure that it fits seamlessly into your website's design and branding. This can help make it feel like a natural extension of your website and not a separate entity.
To achieve this, you should use the same colors and styles as your website. Consider adding your logo to the knowledge base to reinforce your brand identity. This consistency in design can help build trust and make it easier for users to navigate the knowledge base.
2. Make it Easily Accessible
You may have the most comprehensive knowledge base in the world, but it's useless if your users can't find it. Therefore, making your knowledge base easily accessible is critical. One way to do this is to include a prominent link or button to your knowledge base on your website's homepage or in your product's interface. Another option is to include a search bar on your website or product that allows users to search for the information they need easily.
Another excellent way to achieve this is by using the WowTo knowledge base builder, which provides customizable widgets that can be added to your website or product interface. These widgets ensure that users can conveniently access the information they need at the right time and place. With WowTo's customizable widgets, you can seamlessly integrate your knowledge base with your product or website, creating a smooth and uninterrupted user experience.
3. Add Videos to Your Knowledge Base
When it comes to creating a knowledge base, one of the best practices is to include videos. Videos are more engaging and often more effective in communicating information than written content alone. With video, you can offer users a walkthrough of your product or service, answer frequently asked questions, or provide step-by-step tutorials on how to use certain features.
In fact, many users prefer watching a short video instead of reading lengthy texts. This is why video knowledge bases are becoming increasingly popular, and incorporating them can help keep you ahead of your competition.
4. Categorize it Well
Categorizing your knowledge base into clear and distinct sections makes it easier for users to find the necessary information. This can be done by grouping articles by topic, function, or even audience. By keeping your content organized and structured, you can enhance the user experience and reduce the time it takes for them to find what they're looking for. A well-categorized knowledge base is also easier to maintain and update, which can help to ensure that your content stays relevant and up-to-date.
5. Cover All the Relevant Topics
Covering all the relevant topics related to your product or service is essential to ensure that your knowledge base is comprehensive. This requires a deep understanding of your target audience and their pain points. You should consider conducting research and analysis to identify the common queries and issues that your customers face and then create content that addresses these concerns. This will enhance your brand image and provide a comprehensive understanding of your products or services to your customers. By ensuring that all the information is readily available and easily accessible, you can instill trust and loyalty in your customers toward your brand.
6. Make it Multilingual
Catering to a global audience is essential for a SaaS business to succeed and grow. However, language barriers can be a significant hurdle for users who do not speak the primary language used by the business. By making your knowledge base multilingual, you can break down this barrier and make your solutions accessible to a wider range of users, thereby increasing your customer base and ultimately growing your business. WowTo's knowledge base builder offers multilingual support, enabling you to easily create and maintain a multilingual knowledge base to cater to a global audience without burning a hole in your pocket.
7. Keep it Updated
It's essential to keep your knowledge base up-to-date to ensure that your customers have access to the most accurate and relevant information. However, updating your knowledge base can be a time-consuming and challenging task, particularly when it comes to video content. With WowTo's video knowledge base builder, this task becomes much easier. Any changes to the features or UI can be quickly and easily edited within your existing video content, streamlining the process of updating your knowledge base and ensuring that your customers always have access to the latest information.
8. Track and Analyze
Last but not least, Another vital factor to consider when creating and maintaining a knowledge base for your SaaS business is to continuously track and analyze the usage data to understand the areas where your customers face difficulties. By analyzing this data, you can identify the most searched queries, the significant pain points your customers face, and the areas where your knowledge base is lacking. This can help you create targeted content around the missing topics and improve your knowledge base to meet your customers' needs better. Additionally, using an analytics tool can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your knowledge base and the level of engagement it receives.
Ready to Build your Knowledge Base?
In today's business landscape, customer success is the key to growth, regardless of the size of your business. A knowledge base is an indispensable tool to help you achieve this goal. By providing easy access to relevant information, categorizing it well, and keeping it updated, you can earn the trust and loyalty of your customers. Additionally, incorporating videos, making it multilingual, and tracking and analyzing user behavior can take your customer experience to the next level.
We hope these tips have been helpful in guiding you toward creating and maintaining a successful knowledge base for your business. When looking for a tool to help you build and host your knowledge base, it's crucial to find one that meets all your criteria. WowTo's knowledge base builder is a great choice that offers customizable widgets, multilingual support, and video editing capabilities, among other features. You can even get started for free and host your first video knowledge base at no cost.
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