So You Want the Best Knowledge Base Software?

Emily Randolph
written by
Emily Randolph
last updated
February 08, 2021
So You Want the Best Knowledge Base Software?

Sometimes the best can be hard to find. One solution that works for everyone seems far-fetched. 

If you’re going to choose one solution, that solution has to have all the knowledge that a customer might need at any given time. 

84% of customers prefer a straightforward solution to their problem, and companies prefer not to answer repeat questions day after day. 

The best knowledge base solution brings all of the knowledge of your company to one place so your customers can get straightforward answers and you can get the most out of your time and relationship with your customers.

A knowledge base collects all the information about your company or product. It then puts it into a centralized home base.

Customers can look through it themselves and find whatever they need. Software makes this easy system even easier, if you can believe it. 

So you know what it is, and now you want the best one. To start, you’ll need to know what you need as a business.

There are many different types of knowledge base software. One way to narrow the search is to figure out what you don’t want.

Self-service support for customers should be right at their fingertips. The big benefit of a customer knowledge base is its consistency and productivity.

You can improve the blanket of customer experience. Just provide a consistent and productive source of information for your users.

Most customer knowledge bases are Software as a Service, or SaaS, based. Customers pay a subscription fee to access their software over an internet connection. 

Some services have no up-front investment, on-premise installations, or ongoing maintenance needs. This seems to be bang for your buck.

Digging deeper, however, you may find up-front licensing payments and other missing features. That may not be worth it.

Some help desk software is now offering an add-on knowledge base for customers. The help desk will add-on a centralized KB for customers to use in addition to the ticketing system.

The problem is that you cannot have the KB without the help desk, and you have to pay for both. You cannot add the knowledge base without already being a customer. You have to pay for the full software. 

All in one services tend to focus on agents for live chat or tickets. This means that you get a sub-par quality knowledge base because it is not the true reason you use the service. Sub-par quality knowledge bases give agents less of a chance to deflect tickets.

Why get something you don’t need if you’ll have to pay more?

An internal knowledge base is a big help for employees. But if you are looking to improve customer service, this won’t be of help to you.

It eliminates the need for constant repeated questions, emails, and meetings within your organization.

Your team can efficiently resolve issues, which in turn will help your customers. But your customers want a straightforward self-service solution for themselves.

They don’t care what goes on behind the curtain. These systems are usually on-premise solutions and are not customer visible.

We’ve established that you are looking for the best knowledge base software the world has to offer. The next step is to figure out what features you need in order to make an informed decision when the time comes. The best software has the following features.

To deliver good customer support, you need to include a search function. That way customers can find what they are looking for as fast as possible.

Organization is a very important part of any plugin that you choose to install. And including search functionality will be a big help to keeping content organized. 

Data is a huge part of making sure the knowledge base is performing.

It also makes for a better overall experience.

The data feature will collect insights on what people need the most help on. That way you can update and maintain your page accordingly. It measures which articles are performing best based on views and article NPS scores.

If you are trying to give customers what they want, shouldn’t you ask them? Feedback keeps your customers’ needs at the forefront of your customer service experience.

A whopping 90% of customers believe that they should be given the opportunity to provide feedback. Period. End of discussion.

The most important feature of a knowledge base is article management. There are many different things you can do with this feature, such as FAQs and tutorials.

It allows you to compile all the need-to-knows and make sure your customers are informed. Not only does it hold most of the information needed to make the knowledge base useful, but it also keeps it organized.

There is a lot going on in the world of website software. But there is also a lot going on in the smaller world of knowledge base software.

However, you shouldn’t let that scare you away. There aren’t necessarily any wrong decisions here, but each software has its own pros and cons. 

ChipBot is a knowledge base software in the form of a help bot. The bot operates on every page of your website for maximum support. It collects questions, reuses your past answers, and provides an array of extra self-service help features

The bot—as its own knowledge base—is completely interactive and self-service for users. It is automatic, so it is ready to go at all times and contains all the support your customers need. ChipBot even has actionable data. It can improve itself as it interacts with your customers.

  • ChipBot integrates with any webpage and appears on every page of your website.
  • Advanced search functionality allows you to search over multiple types of content.
  • ChipBot uses intuitive interfaces and data automation to help answer questions and give visual guidance.
  • Users can book meetings, get directions, and give feedback.
  • Doesn’t work well with long articles since the UI is smaller.
  • It adds competition for live chat. If you have live chat on every page you won’t want another bot competing for that real estate.

Installing ChipBot is a breeze. All you have to do is copy the code and paste it into your website. Then, voila! It’s embedded in your site.

If you need it, they will help you over online screen share or in-person, for free.

ChipBot has a free version, and upgrades to a paid plan at $10 per month. The free version is good for testing out ChipBot; you can get by but you’ll have to choose your answers wisely.

If your website is a blog, e-commerce store, or provides services, you’ll want to upgrade to the paid option. You won’t be capped. This tier is ideal. It provides good support, collects good feedback, and gets actionable reports.

Helpjuice is a knowledge base software that is easy to use and implement into your website. The support is quick and reliable. You can deliver instant knowledge to both users and employees. It is simple to add and edit content, making the transition easier.

The knowledge base can be installed internally or externally. That way help is always available self-service to customers.

  • Helpjuice is very beginner-friendly and easy to use. 
  • Its search function is so good it compares to Google.
  • Helpjuice gives you the unique ability to customize the design of the knowledge base.
  • Unfortunately, Helpjuice is very expensive — the most expensive on our list.
  • In comparison to other knowledge bases, it has limited features. It also only supports a few integrations

The Helpjuice customer support team will set it up for you if you create an account. It is a cloud-based system, so you don’t have to do any heavy work to get it started. They also give you step-by-step instructions after you create your account. 

If necessary, you can self-host Helpjuice on your own servers. Their team is there to help with this as well if needed. 

Helpjuice starts at $120 per month. With this plan, you can have up to 4 users. Upgrade to 16 for $200 per month and unlimited for $499.

Document360 is a SaaS knowledge base creation portal. It lets you create a self-service portal for both internal users and customers. It is a knowledge management system developed to make knowledge base creation easier.

The software integrates with chat apps and allows users to leave feedback on articles. That way, you know whether your articles are helping or not.

  • The user interface is simple and easy to use so that customers can find what they need quickly. 
  • The search function is advanced and even supports autosuggestions.
  • You can create both private and public knowledge bases that work for your employees and customers.
  • Document360 has analytics for the search function. It collects all searches, including the failed ones, in order to give important metrics.
  • Document360 is limited in features; you cannot use it fully as customer support.
  • There are very little third-party applications that it can integrate with. 

Just like the system itself, the set-up process is very easy. Document360 provides all the tools necessary to help you set up whatever you need. The software guides you through the process with its built-in customization tools. All you have to do is set up an account. 

Document 360 has a very wide range of prices. Plans start at $49 per month for a 2-team account with 5GB of storage. On the other end, you can have a 30-team account with 300GB storage for $499 per month.

Zendesk is a help desk software. It brings all customer interactions onto one platform. It is super easy to keep track of support requests and answer questions as soon as possible. Their top features are the ticketing system and community forums. 

The ticketing system lets you collect customer support requests from any source. You can then manage them all in one location. This allows agents to be quick and organized, gaining respect from users.

The community forums help build onto that respect. They allow users to give feedback and interact with your company.

  • Zendesk has what they call the Complete Suite. It comes with a list of tools to create your idea of an effective customer support system.
  • If you want to provide additional support, you can. Zendesk can manage support tickets, chat, and more on top of creating knowledge bases.
  • The designs offered are top-notch, modern, and perfect for a knowledge base.
  • Zendesk is an expensive system. Compared to Helpjuice, you may find it cheap, but it is a big ask for customer support. 
  • It is an advanced system. The platform may take some getting used to. 

Zendesk’s platform also works fully and completely in the cloud. Similarly to Helpjuice, all you have to do to get started is sign up for an account. And then just follow the step-by-step instructions.

For knowledge base tools, Zendesk offers an $89 per month plan. To get full support 24/7, however, they offer a $149 per month plan. 

Many companies use WordPress for content management on their website. They then also want to use it for a knowledge base. WordPress is a good option for a knowledge base platform because you can add on features as you need them.

It is easy to use and customizable.  There is also a large selection of products so you can choose your page thematically. You can add a knowledge base to your page using a plugin.

  • You can easily add features using WordPress plugins, and even third-party integrations.
  • With WordPress you are in full control of your knowledge base. No rules.
  • There are thousands of WordPress themes to choose from, so you can choose your own design.
  • The admin dashboard is beginner-friendly and easy to use.
  • The set-up process can be difficult for beginners. If you try to do everything within WordPress, it can be limiting and complicated.
  • Because you are in full control, you are also responsible for keeping the system updated and backed up.

WordPress set-up requires a bit of work. The WordPress software itself is free, but you need to buy a host to set up your site. Once you have everything set up, you can choose a theme and install the knowledge base plugin. 

Though WordPress is free, you still need to buy a hosting package, theme, and the knowledge base plugin. This could cost close to $300, not including the monthly fees for hosting.

Your customers are saying they will use it. Keep in mind that what they want is something customized with their interests in mind. This makes feedback and data and analytics especially important.

Choose a system that not only has these features, but that can handle most of it on its own. That way, your information is always updated and ready for the next customer.

In today’s world, it’s not surprising that your customers are trying their best to avoid waiting in line or calling a customer service representative. Having a knowledge base allows you to be a large part of what the customer does to take care of matters themselves. 

This statistic should be a large concern for your company. Customers just want to be helped quickly. If you are taking longer to take care of customers’ problems, they are less likely to make a purchase or stick around for the answer.

Nowadays, excellent service is quick, easy, and offered 24/7. The easiest way to do that is to create a knowledge base that serves all your customers needs once they start looking. 

It should now be obvious that knowledge base software will benefit your business. But what is the best option for you?

Make a list of what you want and need out of a knowledge base software and then go back and compare it to the list above.

The goal is to transform customer support. So naturally, customer support should be at the top of your list. Choosing software boils down to choosing the right support system for your users. Simple as that.

This has been a lot, we know. But we want to make sure you get all the information you need before going forward.

In the same way, software that encompasses all the necessary software features, like ChipBot, just wants to make sure that customers get all the information they need.

Even better, though, is that ChipBot is accessible on every page of your site.

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