Best practices to optimize your support knowledge base for AI

Integrating AI into your customer support can significantly enhance user experience by providing quick and accurate responses. However, the effectiveness of AI largely depends on the quality and structure of your knowledge base. Whether you're setting up AI for the first time or refining your existing content, following these best practices will make your knowledge base more accessible and useful for both AI systems and your customers.

1. Ensure content quality and clarity

Use clear and concise language

Writing that is straightforward benefits both human readers and AI systems. Use plain language to convey information clearly.

Provide contextual answers

Providing information in complete sentences gives AI the context it needs to generate accurate responses. Ensure that each piece of information can stand alone and offer a full explanation.

Example: Replace "Available in Rose Gold and White" with a clearer description of what is available: "The iPhone is available in Rose Gold and White."

Minimize technical jargon

Try to keep the wording you use to things that most people would understand. If you must use technical terms, provide clear definitions.

Example: "Our app uses end-to-end encryption (a method of secure communication that prevents third parties from accessing data)."

Be specific and unambiguous

Use precise language and be as specific as possible. The more precision you have, the less likely the AI will be to hallucinate or make something up.

Example: Instead of "It can take some time," specify "The process takes approximately 15 minutes."

Use customer-specific terminology

Incorporate the words and phrases that your customers commonly use when referring to your products or services. This practice ensures that both AI systems and human readers can easily find and understand the information. By aligning your content with the language of your customers, you improve the AI's ability to match user queries with the most relevant answers.

Structured writing

Organizing content improves readability and helps AI process information more effectively.

• Use headings and subheadings: Break content into logical sections, these sections make it easier for AI to pull in the correct chunk of content that's most relevant when a user is asking a question.

• Employ bullet points and lists: When appropriate, break complex or multiple ideas into separate bullet points or numbered lists. This improves readability and helps both AI systems and human readers to process and understand the information more effectively.

2. Prefer text over complex formats

AI excels at processing plain text but can struggle with complex data like graphs and tables.

Convert tables and graphs to text

If essential information is presented in tables or graphs, translate it into descriptive sentences.

Example: Instead of presenting shipping rates in a table, write, "Shipping costs are $5 for orders under $50 and free for orders over $50 within the continental U.S."

Use simple tables when necessary

If you must include tables, keep them straightforward and well-structured. Use clear headers and avoid merging cells or using nested tables. Simple tables are more easily processed by AI systems.

Example:

Avoid complex or embedded formats

Complex formatting, such as embedded spreadsheets, interactive charts, or multimedia elements, can confuse AI algorithms and lead to inaccurate responses.

3. Organize content effectively

Clear and non-overlapping categories

A well-structured knowledge base is easier for both AI and customers to navigate.

• Distinct groupings: Organize your information into specific, non-overlapping categories. This reduces confusion by ensuring that each topic is unique and clearly defined.

• User-centric organization: Arrange your content in a way that makes sense from the customer's perspective. By structuring information based on how customers think and search, your AI will be more likely to retrieve information for your customers' unique search patterns.

Limit the number of sources of truth

While it's tempting to use multiple systems for your knowledge base, limiting the number of knowledge systems / help center repositories that you use can enhance consistency and accuracy.

• Reduce redundancy: Fewer systems mean less chance of conflicting or outdated information.

• Ease of maintenance: Managing a smaller number of sources makes updating content more straightforward.

• Balanced approach: While a single source isn't always feasible, aiming to minimize the number of platforms feeding information to your AI can improve performance.

4. Assign dedicated knowledge managers

Designate responsible individuals

Having specific team members focused on maintaining your knowledge base ensures it stays accurate and effective. Even if you can't dedicate resources full time, assigning responsibility to a person who is responsible for content curation makes a significant difference in the quality of the content.

Ensure consistent formatting and style

Keeping a uniform style across your help center will make it easier for AI to search and find the right articles.

• Implement a style guide: Establish guidelines for writing and formatting to maintain consistency.

• Standardize formatting: Use consistent headings, fonts, and styles throughout your knowledge base.

Continuous content review

Regular maintenance keeps your knowledge base up-to-date and relevant.

• Routine checks: Schedule regular audits to update or remove outdated content.

• Monitor AI interactions: Analyze how your AI is performing to identify areas for improvement.

• Solicit feedback: Encourage users or support agents to provide feedback on the helpfulness of articles. Make sure you remove articles that aren't helpful or are out of date.

The effectiveness of AI is directly linked to the quality of the information it accesses. Investing time in refining your knowledge base is an investment in better customer service. By implementing these best practices, you can optimize your knowledge base for AI integration, resulting in more accurate and helpful interactions with your customers.